Specialist Homelessness Services analysis
The Specialist Homelessness Servies (SHS) data supplied for the linked dataset used in this project was derived from the Specialist Homelessness Service Collection (SHSC). Data are reported for the period 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2022. The extraction of data from the SHSC used existing linkage maps that included clients up until 30 June 2021. Due to this, data for the 2021–22 financial year only includes existing clients and will not include data for clients who first access SHS in this financial year. Small changes may have occurred since the time that data were extracted for linkage.
Data Specifications
For definitions of terms relating to SHSC data used in this report see the AIHW homelessness topic page glossary.
The SHSC includes data for clients who receive services from specialist homelessness service agencies funded under the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA). Nationally 1,698 agencies delivered specialist homelessness services to almost 278,300 clients during 2020–21, in all states and territories (AIHW 2022).
A specialist homelessness service is an organisation that receives government funding to deliver accommodation related and/or personal services to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Under the NHHA, these agencies are required to participate in the SHSC.
Other organisations not directly funded by governments also provide a wide range of support services to people in need; these organisations are not required to provide data to the SHSC. Also, NHHA funded agencies may provide support beyond the NHHA directly funded support packages; this support is also excluded from the SHSC.
The SHSC is a service-based collection, not a demand-based collection. Due to this, any changes should be interpreted as changes to the number of clients serviced by the specialist homelessness agencies, and not be interpreted as changes in the demand for service.
The SHSC is a support period based collection and client level information is derived from information collected at the support period level. A support period is the period of time a client receives services from a SHS agency. A support period starts on the day the client first receives a service and ends when:
- the relationship between the client and the agency ends, or
- the client has reached their maximum amount of support the agency can offer, or
- a client has not received any services from the agency for a whole calendar month and there is no ongoing relationship.
The end of the support period is the day the client last received services from the agency.
Analysis methods
The SDB records that linked to the MCD will be used to define the denominator for the migrant cohorts. This denominator will be used to derive the proportion of the humanitarian entrant and other permanent migrant population who used a homelessness service in the reported period. All other measures for the homelessness services analysis will be reported as the proportion of the total population (study cohort) who used a homelessness service in the reporting period.
The data presented in the section ‘Profile of humanitarian entrants accessing homelessness services’ is presented at the client level, derived from the information provided at the first support period for each client, except the data provided mental health issues ever identified which is derived from information provided across all support periods provided to the client.
Age at first presentation
The age of a SHSC client when they first received support was calculated at the 31st of December of the financial year in which their first support period began.
Children presenting alone
Children may be reported as presenting alone to a SHS agency for several reasons:
- It is possible that a child physically presented with an adult to an agency, but only the child required and received SHSC services. In this case, the child is reported as ’presenting alone’ as the accompanying adult does not have an SHSC support period that can be linked to the child client.
- A child may have presented with an adult to a SHS agency and both received services, but the agency worker may not have properly linked the child to the accompanying parent/guardian when opening a support period for the child; hence the child is reported as presenting alone.
- Service was sought by and provided to the child only (without an accompanying adult) and therefore the child is the only client and is reported as presenting alone.
Data presented on reasons for seeking assistance and need for services is presented at the support period level with all instances of support (support periods) counted separately in these analyses. A client who presents for the main reason of family and domestic violence on ten separate occasions will be counted in the data 10 times. Similarly, a client who is identified as needing assistance sustaining housing on 5 separate occasions will be counted in the needs analysis 5 times. Due to this the data presented reflects the service provision to the whole humanitarian entrant population as a whole and not the relative requirements and profiles of individual clients.
Occupancy, tenure and dwelling type information are combined to determine housing situation, which is then further aggregated to homelessness status. Clients are considered to be homeless if they are living in any of the following housing situations:
- No shelter or improvised dwelling: includes where dwelling type is no dwelling/street/park/in the open, motor vehicle, improvised building/dwelling, caravan, cabin, boat or tent; or tenure type is renting or living rent-free in a caravan park.
- Short-term temporary accommodation: dwelling type is boarding/rooming house, emergency accommodation, hotel/motel/bed and breakfast; or tenure type is renting or living rent-free in boarding/rooming house, renting or living rent-free in emergency accommodation or transitional housing.
- House, townhouse or flat (couch surfing or with no tenure): tenure type is no tenure; or conditions of occupancy is couch surfing.
Clients are considered to be at risk of homelessness if they are living in any of the following housing situations:
- Public or community housing (renter or rent free): dwelling type is house/townhouse/flat and tenure type is renter or rent-free public housing, renter or rent-free-community housing.
- Private or other housing (renter, rent-free or owner): dwelling type is house/townhouse/flat and tenure type is renter-private housing, life tenure scheme, owner―shared equity or rent/buy scheme, owner-being purchased/with mortgage, owner-fully owned, rent-free-private/other housing.
- Institutional settings: dwelling type is hospital, psychiatric hospital, disability support, rehabilitation, boarding school, adult correctional facility, youth/juvenile justice detention centre or immigration detention centre.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2022) Specialist homelessness services annual report 2020–21, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 05 June 2024.