Specialist homelessness services annual report 2017–18

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) indicator was introduced into the Specialist Homelessness Services Collection (SHSC) in July 2017. The aim was to provide a better understanding of the extent to which veterans may need support from specialist homelessness services (SHS) agencies, as they were identified as a potentially vulnerable group with respect to homelessness.

In order to apply the ADF indicator, an agency records whether the client is a current or former ADF member, either on a full or part-time basis. The ADF indicator is not applicable to clients who may have served in non-Australian defence forces or reservists who have never served as a permanent ADF member. The ADF question is not asked of clients under the age of 18. Note that differences between the results of this and other publicly reported estimates may be due to differences in how an ADF member is defined.

It is important to note that variability in the implementation of this item means that coverage is incomplete and limited analyses are possible for 2017–18. As is common with new data items, there was a high number of ‘don’t know’ (14%) or ‘not applicable’ (29%) responses to the ADF question in 2017–18. A ‘don’t know’ response is selected if the information is not known or the client refuses to provide the information while a ‘not applicable’ response is selected if the client is under the age of 18. It is expected that data quality will improve over time. Further details about the ADF indicator in the SHSC are provided in Technical information.

Table ADF.1: Clients who have identified as current or former members of the Australian Defence Force: at a glance—2017–18

Note: The denominator for the proportion achieving all case management goals is the number of client groups with a case management plan. Denominator values for proportions are provided in the relevant national supplementary table.

Source: Specialist Homelessness Services Collection 2017–18.

Characteristics of clients who have identified as current or former members of the Australian Defence Force in 2017–18

In 2017–18, clients who self-identified as current or former members of the ADF (Table ADF.1):

• were supported for 43 days (median)
• around 1 in 3 (35%) clients received accommodation with a median of 31 nights of accommodation
• had an average of 2 support periods per client
• 2 in 3 (65%) had a case management plan and 1 in 5 (20%) had all case management goals achieved.

Around half (49%) of clients who self-identified as members of the ADF were experiencing homelessness at the time of seeking SHS support, which was higher than the general SHS population (43%).

The highest number of clients identified as current or former members of the ADF were in Victoria (Table ADF.2).

Table ADF.2: Clients who identified as current or former members of the Australian Defence Force by states and territories, 2017–18

Notes

1. Housing situation at the start of support excludes not stated.
2. Clients may access services in more than one state or territory. Therefore the total will be less than the sum of jurisdictions.

Source: Specialist Homelessness Services Collection 2017–18.