“Having one place of residence means I could switch off the survival mode,” Kelly said.

That safe space and a Link housing scholarship helped her into university, where she would eventually become a lawyer.

“If your children aren’t safe, and if they’ve got nowhere to put their heads down, all you think about is providing that for them,” she said.

Redbridge polling obtained exclusively by 9News shows that 73 per cent of voters identify housing affordability as important for their vote.

A further 54 per cent of voters say they are more likely to support a party with plans to increase social housing.

Only 5 per cent say they’d be less likely.

“Wherever you go, you find people these days can’t afford to rent privately and pay the bills as well,” Community Housing Industry Association chief executive Wendy Hayhurst said.

Labor passed the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund to finance more public housing.

The Community Housing Association want it quadrupled.

“My big focus is delivering on that $10 billion,” Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said. 

“That’s a big amount of money that will seriously impact our housing market in this country.” 

The Coalition said it would spend more on infrastructure facilitating homes in the future.

The cost of housing remains the biggest contributor to the cost of living, and the cost of living is the biggest issue in Australian households.    

“You’ve got to look at homelessness all the way to home ownership, and you would expect that from a Labor government,” Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said.

“We’ll always look at what more we can do.

“We get that people who rely on Commonwealth Rent Assistance are on low incomes, and housing costs really eat into your budget.”

The crossbench, too, wants more.

“If every piece of law you’re putting up this week does not reduce the cost of living, then you’re failing this country,” Senator Jacqui Lambie said.