The Commonwealth-State governments' Supported Accommodation
Assistance Program (SAAP) assists around 16,500 clients on any
given day, according to 1998-99 estimates released today by the
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The Program provides support and accommodation for people who
are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
In 1998-99, 54% of SAAP clients were women. Approximately 36% of
all clients were between 15 and 25 years of age, while 8% of
clients were aged 50 or more. In almost 50% of cases, relationship
breakdown or family conflict was cited as the main reason for
seeking assistance.
- In agencies targeting young people, the main reason most
frequently given was relationship or family breakdown (25%).
- In agencies targeting single men, financial difficulty (26%)
and substance abuse (18%) were most commonly given as main
reasons.
- Domestic violence was cited as the main reason for seeking
assistance in 14% of cases for agencies targeting families; 19% for
those targeting single women, and 72% for agencies targeting women
escaping domestic violence.
- People using agencies targeting families or targeting a range
of groups most commonly gave financial difficulty or eviction as
main reasons (36% combined).
In agencies for single men, accommodation services were provided
in 92% of support periods, compared to 66% in agencies targeting
young people. Two-thirds of support periods in agencies for women
escaping domestic violence involved counselling services.
Counselling services were provided in 16% of support periods in
agencies for single men.
Nearly 91,000 people received support and/or accommodation under
the SAAP program in 1998-99. This figure compares with 94,000
clients assisted in 1997-98, and the 83,000 clients assisted in
1996-97. These 91,000 people had about 163,000 support periods
throughout the year.
Head of the SAAP National Data Collection Agency at the AIHW, Mr
Justin Griffin, said that in 10% of cases clients reported having
no income immediately before receiving support from SAAP
agencies.
'However, this figure was much higher for young people-86% of
those aged under 15 years, and 24% aged 15-19 years had no
available income,' Mr Griffin said. 'In more than half of all cases
(55%) clients were not in the labour force and in 36% they were
unemployed and looking for work.'
In addition to accommodation and related support services, SAAP
also provided one-off assistance to casual clients. In 1998-99,
more than 1.3 million occasions of one-off assistance were provided
by SAAP agencies to families and individuals.
5 April 2000
Further information: Mr Justin Griffin, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1206; Dr Ching Choi, AIHW, tel. 02 6244 1197; and Mr
Doug Limbrick, Department of Family and Community Services, tel. 02
6212 9021.
For media copies of the report: Publications Officer,
tel. 02 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability.