One in every 130 Australians - an estimated 152,900 people -
received accommodation or other support services for the homeless
in 2003-04 through the government-funded Supported Accommodation
Assistance Program (SAAP), according to the SAAP annual report
released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
(AIHW).
Of these people, 100,200 were adults or unaccompanied children
and 52,700 were children accompanying their parent or guardian to
receive assistance from the 1,300 SAAP agencies operating across
Australia in that year.
Acting Welfare Division Head at AIHW, Justin Griffin, said the
report showed a large variation in the rates of SAAP service use in
the general population according to age, with very young children
the most likely to visit a SAAP agency.
'One in 54 children aged 0-4 years accompanied their parent or
guardian to a SAAP agency at some time during 2003-04. This is the
highest rate of use for any age group,' Mr Griffin said.
'The highest rate of use for clients was for 18-19 year olds,
with 1 in every 71 people in this age group using a SAAP
service.'
The report, Homeless People in SAAP: SAAP National Data
Collection Annual Report 2003-04, cited domestic violence as
the main reason clients gave for seeking agency support, with this
reason given in 20% of cases overall. However, the main reason
varied according to age and gender.
'Domestic violence was the primary reason for seeking support in
48% of cases involving females with children and in 39% of cases
involving unaccompanied females aged 25 years and over,' Mr Griffin
said.
The next main reason given by clients for seeking support was
financial difficulty (14% of all cases) - the most common reason
given by unaccompanied male clients aged 25 years and over -
unavailability of usual accommodation (11%), eviction or the ending
of previous accommodation (10%) and relationship or family
breakdown (9%).
SAAP agencies directly provided services for 90% of requests
during 2003-04, and were able to refer clients to other
organisations for a further 6% of requests.
Direct provision of requested services by SAAP agencies was
particularly high for basic support services such as meals and
shower facilities (provided in 98% of cases) and general support
and advocacy services (95%). Requests for housing or accommodation
were met in 83% of cases.
In other findings, females were more likely to use SAAP services
than males (59% compared to 42%), and this was true across all
states and territories, and most SAAP clients (85%) were born in
Australia, with Indigenous clients accounting for 17% of all
clients.
18 March 2005
Further information: Mr Justin Griffin, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1206 or 0413 384 570; Ms Anne Giovanetti, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1122, or 0407 915 851.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of Homeless People in SAAP: SAAP
National Data Collection Annual Report 2003-04, March
2005.