In an Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Occasional Paper, Counting the Homeless; Implications for Policy Development, it was estimated that on census night 1996 there were 20,579 people in improvised dwellings, or sleeping out in Australia. When these figures were added to the figures for those in boarding houses (23,299), those in Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) accommodation (12,926) and those staying with friends and relatives (48,500), a total of 105,304 people were estimated to be 'homeless' in Australia on that one night.
When the ABS study was released in December 1999, the Minister for Family and Community Services, Senator Jocelyn Newman, noted in a media release that the study 'has taken a broad and inclusive definition of homelessness which has resulted in a much higher figure than some other estimates.'
The difficulty of obtaining agreement on a set of figures to indicate the number of homeless people in Australia is attributable, in part, to the problem of how to define homelessness or, to put it another way, who to include as 'homeless'.
Chris Chamberlain, author of the ABS Occasional Paper referred to above, says that '[t]here can be no meaningful public debate about the best policy responses to assist homeless people, unless there is reliable information on the number of homeless people in the community'.
The Supported Accommodation Assistance Program Act 1994 defines a 'homeless' person as follows:
For the purposes of this Act, a person is homeless if, and only if, he or she has inadequate access to safe and secure housing. (Section 4)
The Act goes on to define 'inadequate access to safe and secure housing'.
For the purposes of this Act, a person is taken to have inadequate access to safe and secure housing if the only housing to which the person has access:
In its publication, Australia's Welfare 1999, Services and Assistance, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) pointed to five situations on which definitions of homelessness tend to focus. These are:
Most definitions, including that in the SAAP Act, allow for considerations of 'safety' and 'security' as well as the need for basic shelter.
Chamberlain suggests that different definitions arise for different purposes. These fall into two main forms. There are, he says, 'service delivery definitions', such as that included in the SAAP Act, and 'advocacy definitions', such as the one used by the Council for Homeless Persons in 1995:
A homeless person is without a conventional home and lacks most of the economic and social supports that a home normally affords. She/he is often cut off from the support of relatives and friends, she/he has few independent resources and often has no immediate means and in some cases little prospect of self support. She/he is in danger of falling below the poverty line, at least from time to time.
It may be helpful to think of 'degrees' of homelessness, from the seemingly destitute 'rough sleeper' to those who have a shelter but who are unsafe in that shelter or who lack security of tenure and are therefore at risk of homelessness. It is worth bearing in mind too that a count or an estimate taken at a point in time cannot represent the episodes of homelessness that individuals or families may experience over time and which may involve a range of temporary solutions or responses.
According to Chamberlain, there is an 'emerging consensus' around a three tiered idea of 'primary', 'secondary' and 'tertiary' homelessness. The three tiered model is a cultural definition based on 'minimum community standards' of housing. Thus, anyone living below what is accepted as a minimum standard can be classified as 'homeless'.
more info? try the Australian Parlimentary Library - on Homelessness
Shelter Poverty: New Ideas on Housing Affordability - Michael E. Stone (1993)
The New Housing Shortage - Graham Hallet (1993)
A right to Housing - Bratt, Stone et al (2006)
Cooper, Yvette, MP, "Effective Homelessness Prevention", April 12, 2006.
Culhane, Dennis [30], "Responding to Homelessness: Policies and Politics", 2001. [31]
Vissing, Yvonne [38], "Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Homeless Children and Families in Small-Town America", 1996.
Schutt, Russell K., Working with the Homeless: the Backgrounds, Activities and Beliefs of Shelter Staff, 1988.
Vissing, Yvonne, "The $ubtle War Against Children", Fellowship, March/April 2003.
Homelessness: A Sourcebook - Fantasia & Isserman (1994)
Homelessness: A Prevention-Oriented Approach - Rene I. Jahiel (1992)
Australia Parliamentary Library
Homeless
Australia Federation of Homeless Organization
Government Housing & Homelessness
Homeless Forum
Housing Summitt
Australia Housing Urban Residential Institute
Info Exchange
Youth Homelessness in Melbourne
Homeless Directory
Documentaries
An End to Housing Affordability (online)
The End of Affordability (online) Part 1 - Part 5
The Street: A Film with the Homeless
Please Help End Homelessness (2006)
Faces of Homelessness (2006)
Australia's Crisis - Housing Affordability (2007)
Housing Affordability - A Real Estate CEO's Perspective (2007)