Rates of homelessness vary widely across Australia, not only
between states and territories but within them, according to
national research commissioned by all jurisdictions and published
today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The eight new state and territory Counting the Homeless
reports provide a state and territory breakdown and analysis of
national data published by the ABS last September in the
Counting the Homeless 2006 national report. They include
discussion of characteristics of people experiencing homelessness
and provide extensive analyses of their circumstances, drawn from
experience of people working with the homeless.
Report co-author, Associate Professor Chris Chamberlain from
RMIT University, said the differences in homelessness between the
states and territories fell into four main groups:
- Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Victoria: 42
homeless people per 10,000 population (1364, 27,374 and 20,511
people respectively).
- South Australia and Tasmania: 53 people per 10,000 (7,962 and
2,507 people respectively).
- Queensland and Western Australia: 68 and 69 per 10,000 (26 782
and 13 391 people respectively).
- Northern Territory: 248 homeless people per 10,000 (4785
people).
'Expressing homelessness as a rate per 10,000 means that
differences between one area and another can be highlighted,'
Professor Chamberlain said.
Report co-author, Associate Professor David MacKenzie of
Swinburne University, said the reports showed higher rates of
homelessness in inner city areas.
'This is not because inner city areas are necessarily socially
disadvantaged areas, but because people there are more likely to be
transient, having often come from other areas, and there are more
homeless services closer to the inner city,' Professor MacKenzie
said.
In Sydney, where there were almost 16,000 homeless people in
2006, the rate of homelessness in Inner Sydney was 133 per 10,000,
while in the inner city ring of suburbs it was 53 per 10,000, and
in the outer suburbs it was 22 per 10,000.
Almost 15,000 people were homeless in Melbourne. The rate of
homelessness in the city centre was 129 per 10,000, dropping to 38
per 10,000 in the inner city ring and 28 per 10,000 in the outer
suburbs. There were 246 people per 10,000 who were homeless in
inner Brisbane, whereas the overall rate for Brisbane was 56 per
10,000, with 5,395 homeless people across all areas of the
city.
In Perth there were 6,720 homeless people. In central Perth, the
rate of homelessness was 109 per 10,000 compared with 47 per 10,000
overall. And in Adelaide where there were 5,213 homeless people,
the rate of homelessness in the inner city was 457 per 10,000
compared with 47 per 10,000 for Adelaide overall
Outside cities, homelessness rates in northern Australia are
very high. In the Kimberley region, for example, there were 1,870
homeless people but a rate of 638 people per 10,000. These rates
partly reflect issues of Indigenous transience and inadequate
housing, although non-Indigenous Australians also experience higher
rates of homelessness in remote areas.
Thursday 9 July 2009
Further information: Associate Professor Chris
Chamberlain, mob. 0434 109 182, Associate Professor David
MacKenzie, mob. 0412 104 873
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. (02) 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications area
for the availability of Counting the
Homeless 2006.