Homelessness FAQs
Contents
- How many people receive SAAP support in Australia?
- Are all homeless people in Australia supported by SAAP?
- How many homeless people are there in Australia?
- How is homelessness defined?
How many people receive SAAP support in Australia? ^top
The SAAP NDCA collects information about the number of homeless people and people at risk of homelessness receiving SAAP assistance and their characteristics and circumstances. For detailed information, see the homelessness publications on this site.
Are all homeless people in Australia supported by SAAP? ^top
No. SAAP is the major government response to homelessness. However, there are other programs (government and non-government) that assist homeless people. In addition, not all homeless people seek assistance or can be supported by SAAP (see the Demand for SAAP assistance by homeless people report in homelessness publications on this site).
How many homeless people are there in Australia? ^top
The ABS estimates that on Census night 2001, there were 99,900 homeless people in Australia. For more information about estimates of the total homeless population see How is homelessness defined (below) or look at the Counting the Homeless publication via the ABS website
How is homelessness defined? ^top
A key issue for estimating the extent of homelessness lies in defining it. Different definitions of homelessness have been proposed to accommodate the extensive range of circumstances that could be considered to be a homeless experience-from a person having no shelter at all, to a person occupying shelter that compromises their health or safety. The definition of a 'homeless person' underpinning the SAAP National Data Collection is a 'service delivery' definition that establishes criteria for the provision of assistance.
SAAP definition of homelessness (SAAP Act 1994):
A person who does not have access to safe, secure and adequate housing. A person is considered not to have access to safe, secure and adequate housing if the only housing to which they have access:
- damages, or is likely to damage, their health; or
- threatens their safety; or
- marginalises them through failing to provide access to adequate personal amenities; or the economic and social supports that a home normally affords; or
- places them in circumstances which threaten or adversely affect the adequacy, safety, security and affordability of that housing; or
- has no security of tenure-that is, they have no legal right to continued occupation of their home.
- A person is also considered homeless if he or she is living in accommodation provided by a SAAP agency or some other form of emergency accommodation.
In contrast, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) applied the 'cultural definition' of homelessness devised by Chris Chamberlain and David MacKenzie in the 2001 Census of Population and Housing homeless enumeration strategy (see Counting the Homeless). Cultural definitions of homelessness suggest that homelessness should be defined by reference to the community standards for housing of the place and time where the definition is to be used. Using this definition, the Census attempted to count every homeless person in Australia using the broad categories of:
- primary homelessness (people without conventional accommodation, including improvised dwellings)
- secondary homelessness (people who move frequently from one form of temporary shelter to another; includes people in SAAP accommodation) and
- tertiary homelessness (medium- to long-term boarding house residents).
The 2001 Census results showed that there were 99,900 homeless people in Australia on Census night 2001. The Census used a household-based collection methodology, which under-counts highly mobile people with no permanent residence, but includes in its count people who are inadequately housed but have not sought assistance from a homeless program. The ABS count of homeless people includes a total of 14,250 people (adults or unaccompanied children) in SAAP accommodation on Census night 2001 (ABS 2003:32).
There are difficulties with directly comparing the number of people in SAAP accommodation with the 2001 Census because of the different definitions. The major service delivery count (that is, SAAP clients) will be smaller than the cultural definition because there are people who need services but do not seek them. Also, there are people who are defined as homeless under the cultural definition, but do not consider themselves as homeless (for example, people living in boarding houses).