Houseless
StatisticsIf you are using the statistics set out below,
please use the term houseless or houselessness in place of the term homeless or
homelessness. The 2001 Population Census data: - 99,900
houseless people in Australia (105,304 in 1996)
- 54% adults
over 24 years of age
- 10% under the age of 12 years
- 36%
young people between 12 and 24 years
- 42% of houseless
people were female
- 58% were single (58,116)
- 19%
were couples (18,840)
- 23% were families (22,944 people
or 6,745 families
Homeless Statistics: HouselessnessOn
census night in 2001, only 14,251 (14.25%) of people considered by the census
to be houseless were staying in services funded through the Supported Accommodation
Assistance Program (SAAP). SAAP, jointly funded by Commonwealth and State Governments,
provides funds for crisis services to houseless people around the country. Yhe
following information relates only to SAAP clients (2002-2003 data) - Male
(42%)
- Female (58%)
- Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islanders (18%)
- People
from non-English speaking backgrounds (14%)
- Average
age of female clients: 30
- Average
age of male clients: 33
People
aged 18 and 19 years had the highest rate of SAAP service usage at 145 clients
for every 10,000 in the general population. The
next highest usage rates were by 15-17 year olds and 20-24 year olds, among whom
there were 114 and 113 clients, respectively for every 10,000 people. Nationally,
nearly one-third (31%) of support periods were provided to males aged 25 years
and over presenting alone at SAAP agencies and 21% were provided to female clients
with children. Unaccompanied
females aged 25 years and over accounted for 15%, while unaccompanied males and
females under 25 years accounted for around 13% of support periods each. Overall,
6% of support periods were for couples with or without children. Males with children
accounted for just 1% of all support periods. Most
common reasons for houselessness (SAAP survey): - Domestic
and family violence (22%)
- Eviction/previous
accommodation ended (11%)
- Relationship/family
breakdown (11%)
- Usual
accommodation unavailable (11%)
- Financial
Difficulty (10%)
The
most common reasons for each client group are: Male
alone, aged under 25 - Usual
accommodation unavailable (16.7%)
- Relationship/family
breakdown (16.5%)
Male
alone, aged 25 or over - Financial
difficulty (15.4 %)
- Usual
accommodation unavailable (14.9%)
Female
alone, aged under 25 - Relationship/family
breakdown (21.5%)
- Domestic
violence (12.3 %)
Female
alone, aged 25 or over - Domestic
and Family Violence (43.9%)
Couple
with no children - Eviction/accommodation
ended (21%)
- Financial difficulty
(14%)
Couple with
children - Eviction/accommodation
ended (26.7%)
- Usual accommodation
unavailable (14.1%)
Male
with children - Eviction/accommodation
ended (20.9%)
- Relationship/relationship
breakdown (17.7%)
Female
with children - Domestic
and Family Violence (51.8%)
- Eviction/accommodation
ended (9.1%)
Further research
including survey data, population samples and factual information is being collated. A
search on any of the following word combinations should give further information: - homeless
- shelter
- poverty
- development
- homelessness
- research
- data
- survey
- population
- facts
- statisatics
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