Homelessness growing worse in Australia, census data shows   

ABC News
March 15 2018


The number of homeless people in Australia jumped by more than 14,000 — or 14 per cent — in the five years to 2016, according to census data which also reveals a "significant" increase in older women on the streets and a growing group living in overcrowded accommodation.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said 116,000 people were homeless on census night in 2016, representing 50 homeless people per 10,000.
The facts on homelessness:   

    Tonight 116,427 will be homeless
    That's a 14 per cent increase in homelessness over 5 years
    Every day, 250 people are turned away from crisis centres across the country
    Homelessness increased in NSW, VIC and QLD
    There was a slight decline in the NT

Homeless people include those sleeping on the streets, in cars, at crisis centres and in overcrowded accommodation.

Paul Jelfs from the ABS said the number of women over 65 who had become homeless in the five years to the 2016 census was significant.

"This is probably related to things like domestic violence, social relationship breakdowns and economic status, where they just don't have enough money to support themselves, or sufficient superannuation," he said.

The statistics also showed people aged between 20 to 30 made up a quarter of all homeless.

"There's some really significant overcrowding in that space," Dr Jelfs said.

About 8,200 people across the country will be sleeping on the streets tonight, Dr Jelfs said, not including those in crisis accommodation or sleeping in cars or elsewhere.

The figures were no surprise to Jenny Smith, the chair of Homelessness Australia.

"[What] these figures tell us is what we know; homelessness is getting worse in Australia," she said.
The 'invisible homeless'

The ABS said the number of people staying in overcrowded places had seen one of the biggest increases.

The 2016 figure was up from 2011 by about 10,000, taking the number of people in overcrowded accommodation to 51,000.

"We're seeing severe overcrowding in homes where we would need to see an extra four bedrooms in a house to accommodate everyone properly," Dr Jelfs said.


Ms Smith said people in overcrowded accommodation were the "invisible homeless".

"We can see [homelessness] all around us with the rough sleeping that we see in all our cities and towns and, while it has grown, it's only 7 per cent of the problem," she said.

"These figures tell us that more people are sleeping on couches, have uncertain tenure in housing centres and are quadrupled up in severe overcrowded houses."

She said more needed to be done to increase affordable social housing.

"The costs of renting, paying the bills and putting food on the table just don't add up," Ms Smith said.

VincentCare Victoria chief executive John Blewonski called for a national strategy to address homelessness.

"We've seen a range of responses by state and local governments but the reality is we need a joined-up strategy," he said.

    "We need that led by the Federal Government stepping up to the plate and really responding to a national strategy that can get the sort of stock on the ground that we need to house the people we've been talking about today," he said.

"We're certainly aware of crisis — people living in housing crisis, the rough sleepers we see on the streets — but the significant numbers that stand behind those numbers are people who are in need of long-term, safe accommodation which can only be addressed through a national housing strategy."
Living in car 'embarrassing'

John Koutsintas is one of Australia's many homeless.

He sleeps in his car and uses the Ozanam Community Centre in North Melbourne regularly so he can have a shower and eat a sandwich made by volunteers.

    "It's frustrating. It gets cold, it gets hot. I can't move the car so I get parking tickets. It's embarrassing," he said.   



His car has been his home since his relationship broke down almost a year ago, and he is waiting to get into public housing.

"I'm at the top of the list and it's still a two-year wait," he said.   

"I can't really get a job because I don't have clothes and I have to come here just to have a shower."

He said he had been a car detailer for 25 years and he hoped he would be able to get work once he had a fixed address and a roof over his head.

Housing

Australia’s Humanitarian Settlement Services (HSS) program gives support to refugees on arrival, and throughout their initial settlement period, including finding accommodation and sourcing basic household goods such as kitchen equipment linen.

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/when-refugees-arrive-in-australia--this-is-wha...

We are a generous nation 

With all that running around in the last two years, John Koutsintas should have applied for a job or two.

What's wrong with the sons and daughters of Australia not looking after their elderly parents? Our wealth and status obsessed society is definitely bringing about the death of the Australian family.
Hammer.

So, it's the standard progressive solution then Borg. Make the tax payer foot the bill for the f#@k ups of individuals?
Hammer

An older person who has worked his entire life has received compulsory super contributions for the last twenty five years.  Between that, welfare, public housing, emergency services and the family; it's never enough. That's good I suppose;  I'm thinking of promoting up from working to skiving full-time, so I'll need the welfare increases, too.
Hammer.

Mr Hammer wrote on Mar 18^th, 2018 at 11:24am:


Super hasnt been there long enough for it to be enough for an older person who is now retired. It isnt "welfare" anyway since the pension was paid into by taxes.

Spot

Mr Hammer wrote on Mar 18^th, 2018 at 9:42am:


Who knows what their circumstances are. Maybe they are estranged from their family. maybe they don't have a family.

The barnacle

Sir Spot of Borg wrote on Mar 18^th, 2018 at 11:53am:


It is welfare in  that it is not self-finded like super annuities. I'm all for the pension- I'm hoping it still exists when I retire. At the same time, if your in you're sixties or late fifties and ypur homelrss and on welfare; you probably haven't made the best use of your working years. At what point does a person's problems cease being the sole prioriyy of the tax payer.

Mr Hammer wrote on Mar 18^th, 2018 at 1:45pm:


If you were born after 1962
There is NO PENSION

you will have to live on welfare or your own savings.

This is a fact

But the insidious part is the the benefits of the pension, cheap Rego, cheap travel, cheap stuff
Will all be gone

The grubberment looks after their own not the taxpayer.

They are using propaganda to convince the young that pensioners are parasites and that we are no longer contributors after all our years of work

And the young are falling for it, hook line and sinker
Calling for homes to be asserted tested and such.

But it's a double edged sword
You will get an even worse deal with a 70 plus retirement age, without a pension.

Mr Hammer wrote on Mar 18^th, 2018 at 2:32pm:


People born after 1962 are not the ones that are retired now.

Spot

Mr Hammer wrote on Mar 18^th, 2018 at 1:45pm:


Best use? Seriously? women couldnt get decent paying jobs in the 70s or even the 80s. They stayed home and looked after the kids.

Spot

Sir Spot of Borg wrote on Mar 18^th, 2018 at 2:37pm:


With all due respect, Spot, that's rubbish. My mother often earned more than my old man. Mum received super contributiins for the last twenty years of her working life.
Hammer.

I don't know about white collar professionals; but that was the case in every second household of us plebs in the working and lower middle classes.
Hammer.

I agree. Fumigate rich parasites and poor parasites.

Anyway... I always try to remember we started our existence as wild animals in an unpredictable environment. The worm and the lion both have one thing in common; they have to get off their a.r.s.e.s or starve. Also, if you value freedom, you won't fall into that soft, Marxist brainwashing that dictates you're owed something just because the world is unfair. Work, struggle and strive to make your own world better. You can't do that if you're constantly looking down for the welfare safety net.

Many aborigines are slaves; not because they're black. They're slaves because they've surrendered to that all prevailing victim culture that our political and media elite have deemed to be helpful. I may be a  box cutter from Roti Hill, but I don't owe anyone for my lifestyle.

Mr Hammer wrote on Mar 18^th, 2018 at 5:46pm:


Australian society has made it very hard to employ people, that is the problem.

Australia would be better served going back to a time when only one person per family needed to work, there was more work available back then.

Double post.

One of the worst things a  poster on OP can do is stumble into a dialogue wiithout CAREFULLY reading the article that precipitated the thread and at least a few of the posts. There is no mention of mental health or health generally because the article is about public housing availability and welfare spending and not our health care system. Concentrating while reading the article would have informed you of that. I concede that homelessness is a problem (der), my argument is that simply throwing sit down money at people who won't help themselves is not the answer. What's more, it seems like it's allways well healed, mealy mouth do-gooders that think it is.

tickleandrose wrote on Mar 19^th, 2018 at 1:21pm:

There are the homeless that are in their position for genuine reasons; these people deserve all the assistance and compassion we can muster. The homeless figures, however, are bolstered by f.u.c.k ups who know two things; how to sell a sob story and where the nearest Centrelink is.