An estimated 20,000 Australians who were homeless or at risk of
homelessness were provided with accommodation or services each day
for a two-week period in February and March last year, according to
a report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare (AIHW).
Services and support were provided under the Commonwealth-State
governments' Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP).
The report Demand for SAAP Assistance 2000-01 shows
that SAAP agencies accommodated around 6,800 people each day in
February/March 2001. A further 10,600 people received other types
of substantial assistance, and 2,300 Australians received some type
of casual assistance.
There were occasions, however, when SAAP agencies could not meet
the demand.
Head of the SAAP National Data Collection Agency at the AIHW,
Justin Griffin, said agencies were unable to meet all requests for
immediate accommodation each day.
'On any given day, about 260 clients leave the accommodation
provided under the Program, a similar number start their
accommodation and about 340 potential clients have unmet requests
for immediate accommodation. These potential clients were
accompanied by about 190 children.
'One must bear in mind, however, that this does not mean 340
different potential clients each day. The report shows that some
keep returning to agencies on subsequent days in their quest for
assisted accommodation.'
'Some of the potential clients were referred to other SAAP
agencies for accommodation (an average of around 140 per day).
'Overall, around 1 in every 1,000 Australians aged 10 years or
more used SAAP services on a daily basis.'
Other findings from the report show that:
- The movement of people into and out of SAAP accommodation
dropped at weekends, as did the number of unmet requests for
accommodation.
- Information and meals were the most common forms of casual
assistance provided.
- Information and referrals for accommodation were the most
common forms of casual assistance received by people seeking more
substantial support.
- The provision of casual assistance (e.g. meals, information,
etc) dropped off considerably at weekends.
- The SAAP program is a network of 1,238 non-government agencies
as well as local governments who provide important services to
those Australians who are most disadvantaged.
6 December 2002
Further information: Justin Griffin, AIHW, tel.
02 6244 1206
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for details.