Profile of humanitarian entrants accessing homelessness services
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22% of humanitarian entrant SHS clients were under the age of 18 when first accessing SHS
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More than 1 in 4
humanitarian entrants were living as one parent with child/ren when they first accessed homelessness services
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1 in 4 humanitarian entrant SHS clients have experienced mental health issues
Demographics
Of the total humanitarian entrants who used a Specialist Homelessness Service (SHS) between 2011–12 and 2020–21:
- The most common age group was 25 to 34 year olds (23%)
- 22% were under the age of 18
- 45% of clients had an address registered in Victoria on the Medicare Consumer Directory. This is consistent with the overall SHS data which also has high rates of SHS clients in Victoria (AIHW 2024).
- There was a higher proportion of females than males in all age groups except 0 to 9 and 10 to 14, where the proportion of males was 52% for both age groups in humanitarian entrants and 51% for both age groups in other permanent migrants
- Sudan was the most common country of birth (24%) recorded (Figure 11).
Figure 11: Demographic of SHS clients when they first access SHS services, by cohort 2011–12 to 2020–21
Bar graph showing the distribution of various demographic characteristics amongst SHS clients when they first present for support, with humanitarian entrants and other permanent migrants cohorts shown. Other permanent migrants SHS clients were generally older and from different countries of birth than humanitarian entrants.
Notes:
- Age calculated at the 31st of December of the financial year in which SHS was first provided to the client.
- State of residence as recorded on the Medicare Consumer Directory on the 31st December of the financial year in which SHS was first provided to the client.
- Country of birth as stated in the Department of Home Affairs’ Settlement Database.
- Migrants with a birth place listed as Sudan in the Settlement Database may include migrants whose birth place is in the area which is now the country of South Sudan which gained independence in 2011. Therefore a birth place of Sudan may include South Sudanese migrants.
- Differences between states may not reflect demand or service availability but may reflect differences in humanitarian entrant populations, and state and territory policies and service provision models.
- Victoria has the largest number of SHS services and high rates of SHS clients (AIHW 2024).
Further data on the demographics of humanitarian entrants and other permanent migrants can be viewed in the Data tables.
Living arrangement and presenting unit type
The living arrangement of a client describes who a client is usually living with when they present to a SHS. Presenting unit type indicates how a client presents to a SHS agency.
Between 2011–12 to 2021–22, among humanitarian entrant SHS clients first accessing the SHS:
- the most common living arrangement was one parent with child/children (27%)
- 61% of humanitarian entrants presented alone
- there were differences in living arrangement and presenting unit type reported for men and women (Figure 12).
Figure 12: Living arrangement and presenting unit type for humanitarian entrant SHS clients, by sex, 2011–12 to 2020–21
Bar graph showing the proportion of humanitarian entrant specialist homelessness services clients by living arrangement and presenting unit type at first support by sex. Females had a higher proportion living as a lone person, males had a higher proportion living as one parent with children. Both sexes most often presented alone.
Notes:
- Living arrangement and presenting unit type are reported when first attending for receiving SHS support.
- Children may be reported as presenting alone to a SHS agency for several reasons, see the Technical notes for further details.
Comparisons with other permanent migrants can be explored in the Data tables.
Socioeconomic characteristics of humanitarian entrant SHS clients
The ability to sustain adequate housing can be impacted by various socioeconomic factors including, but not limited to employment, education and income.
Among humanitarian entrant SHS clients when first receiving SHS:
- A high proportion were either not in the labour force (34%) or unemployed (42%) (Table 8a).
- Females were more likely to not be in the labour force (39% of females compared with 27% of males). Males were more likely to be unemployed (36% of females compared with 51% of males)
- Government income support was the most common main source of income (70%) (Table 8b) with the most common payment type being different for males and females - JobSeeker (formerly NewStart -44% of males) and parenting support (30% of females).
- More than 1 in 4 (27%) were currently students of any kind compared with almost 1 in 6 (16%) other permanent migrants (Table 8c).
Labour force status | Proportion of humanitarian entrant SHS clients (%) | Proportion of other permanent migrant SHS clients (%) |
---|---|---|
Not stated | 13.9 | 22.8 |
Employed | 7.8 | 18.6 |
Not in labour force | 34.1 | 26.4 |
Unemployed | 41.9 | 30.1 |
Source: Refugee health linked data set
Main source of income | Proportion of humanitarian entrant SHS clients (%) | Proportion of other permanent migrant SHS clients (%) |
---|---|---|
Newstart allowance | 25.4 | 13.6 |
Parenting payment | 16.8 | 10.8 |
Youth allowance | 8.9 | 3.2 |
Other government benefit | 9.2 | 8.0 |
Nil income | 7.7 | 20.4 |
Employee income | 4.5 | 15.7 |
Not stated | 13.0 | 25.7 |
Source: Refugee health linked data set
Student status | Proportion of humanitarian entrant SHS clients (%) | Proportion of other permanent migrant SHS clients (%) |
---|---|---|
Yes, preschool, primary or high school. | 15.1 | 9.1 |
Yes, university student | 2.8 | 2.1 |
Yes, vocational education and training | 5.1 | 3.1 |
Yes, other, or not stated | 3.8 | 2.1 |
No | 55.6 | 58.6 |
Not stated | 17.6 | 25.0 |
Source: Refugee health linked data set
Note: Definitions of the responses in the above tables and how these responses are collected can be explored via the SHS data definitions on the AIHW website.
Further data on the socioeconomic characteristics of humanitarian entrants and other permanent migrants when they first access SHS can be explored in the Data tables.
Time since arrival when first accessing SHS
A higher proportion of humanitarian entrant SHS clients first accessed SHS within 1 year of arrival in Australia (17%) than other permanent migrant SHS clients (13%) (Figure 13).
Figure 13: Proportion of SHS clients by time since arrival when first accessing specialist homelessness services, by cohort, 2011–12 to 2020–22
Column chart of proportion of SHS clients by how long since they arrived in Australia when they first accessed specialist homelessness support. Humanitarian entrant and other permanent migrant where least likely to access report within 1 year of arrival in Australia.
Time since arrival in Australia | Humanitarian entrant | Other permanent migrant |
---|---|---|
Less than 1 year | 17.2 | 12.7 |
1 to 5 years | 28.6 | 35.5 |
More than 5 to 10 years | 30.5 | 30.2 |
More than 10 years | 23 | 21.6 |
Source:
Refugee health linked data set
Notes:
- Time since arrival in Australia is calculated from the time between the arrival date recorded in the Settlement Database and the episode start date of the first SHS support for that client
- The denominator is the total number of unique SHS clients who accessed support at any point between 2011–12 and 2020–21.
Referral source
No formal referral source was recorded for 31% of humanitarian entrant clients when first accessing SHS support. Of the humanitarian entrant SHS clients who did have a formal referral recorded:
- The top three referral sources were other agencies (18%), specialist homelessness agency/outreach worker (17%) and family or friends (13%)
- Immigration department or refugee support services were identified as the fourth most common referral source for 8.4% of humanitarian entrants.
For other permanent migrants, the most common referral source was the police (21%). In comparison, the police was a referral source for 6.7% of humanitarian entrants.
For detailed breakdown of referral sources see Data tables.
Clients with a mental health issue
Of humanitarian entrant clients who accessed SHS between 2011–12 and 2021–22:
- 1 in 4 (25%) were identified as ever having a mental health issue, compared with almost 1 in 3 (30%) other permanent migrant SHS clients- lower than all SHS clients (31%) (AIHW 2024).
- Females (27%) were more likely than males (21%) to be identified as having a mental health issue.
See Box 1 for how mental health issues were identified in the SHSC.
People with mental health issues are especially vulnerable to experiencing homelessness (Nilsson et al 2019). Mental health issues that increase psychological distress and impair decision-making in everyday life can contribute to employment issues, social support breakdown, and financial hardship (Johnstone et al. 2016, Kaleveld et al. 2018). These issues can lead to challenges with securing or maintaining housing (Brackertz et al. 2018). Also, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds experiencing mental health conditions may face additional challenges and vulnerabilities in accessing health services owing to shame, stigma and misunderstanding (Khatri and Assefa 2022) which may increase the risk of challenges with securing or maintaining housing.
Box 1: Identifying clients with a mental health issue in the Specialist Homelessness Services Collection (SHSC)
A client is identified as having a mental health issue if they were 10 years or older and in at least one support period within the reporting period:
- They reported ‘mental health issues’ as a reason for seeking assistance or the main reason for seeking assistance.
- At some stage during their support period, was assessed as having a need for psychological services, psychiatric services or mental health services.
- They were formally referred to the agency by a mental health service.
- They indicated at the beginning of a support period that they were receiving services or assistance for their mental health issues or had in the last 12 months.
- They had been in a psychiatric hospital or unit in the last 12 months.
- They had a dwelling type of psychiatric hospital or unit.
Brackertz N, Wilkinson A and Davison J (2018) Housing, homelessness and mental health: towards systems change, report to the Australian Government National Mental Health Commission, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Limited, accessed 05 June 2024.
Johnstone M, Parsell C, Jetten J, Dingle G and Walter Z (2016) Breaking the cycle of homelessness: Housing stability and social support as predictors of long-term well-being Housing Studies, 31(4):410-426, doi: 10.1080/02673037.2015.1092504.
Kaleveld L, Seivwright A, Box E, Callis Z and Flatau P (2018) Homelessness in Western Australia: A review of the research and statistical evidence, Government of Western Australia, Department of Communities.
Khatri RB and Assefa Y (2022) Access to health services among culturally and linguistically diverse populations in the Australian universal health care system: issues and challenges, BMC Public Health, 22:880, doi:10.1186/s12889-022-13256-z.
Nilsson SF, Nordentoft M and Hjorthøj C (2019) Individual-Level Predictors for Becoming Homeless and Exiting Homelessness: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Journal of Urban Health, 96(5):741-750, doi: 10.1007/s11524-019-00377-x.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2024) Specialist homelessness services annual report 2022–23, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 13 May 2024.