Specialist homelessness services annual report 2023–24

The long-term welfare of Australian Defence Force (ADF) members is important as Defence members, like any other Australian, may experience homelessness for a number of reasons, including:

• Complex personal needs – mental health issues and other complex vulnerabilities can be reflective of the unique demands of service (McFarlane et al. 2011).
• Financial stress – employment can become an issue for ADF members when transitioning from service to civilian life (Searle et al. 2019).
• At 30 June 2024, there were 57,200 permanent current serving ADF members (Defence 2024) and an estimated 586,200 living former serving members (DVA 2024). An estimated 5.3% of recently transitioned veterans experience homelessness over a 12-month period (Hilferty et al. 2019). 

Identified risk factors for veterans contributing to a high risk of experiencing homelessness can include higher levels of psychological stress during service; and relationship breakdown and unemployment following transition from the ADF(Hilferty et al. 2019).

Eligible current serving ADF personnel can access housing and rental assistance through Defence Housing Australia. Current or former ADF members can access a range of housing and homelessness services through government and non-government organisations, including access to subsidised housing loans, home support loans (cost of maintenance and modifications to their own homes that encourage independent living), insurances, other benefits and discounts (Defence 2022).

Client characteristics

In 2023–24, among the 1,600 SHS clients who were current or former members of the ADF, in addition to the key information in Figure ADF.1: 

• Almost 5 in 10 (46% or 680) with a known labour force status in 2023–24 were unemployed, 4 in 10 (42% or 620) were not in the labour force, and around 1 in 10 (12% or 180) were employed when they first presented to a SHS agency.
• Around two-thirds (66% or 1,100) had at least one of three selected vulnerabilities (family and domestic violence, a current mental health issue or problematic drug and/or alcohol use), greater than the proportion among all SHS clients (60%).

Figure ADF.1: Key demographics, SHS clients who are current or former members of the ADF, 2023–24

Living arrangements

In 2023–24, around three-quarters (76% or 1,200) of clients who identified as current or former members of the ADF lived alone or were single parents living with their children. Around one-third (33% or 200 clients) of female clients were single parents living with their children, compared to 5.6% (54 clients) of males (Supplementary table CLIENTS.45).

Service use patterns

The length of support received by clients who identified as current or former members of the ADF has increased from a median of 53 days of support in 2017–18 to 60 2022–23 and 66 days of support in 2023–24.. These clients had an average of 2.6 support periods per client in 2023–24 (Supplementary table CLIENTS.48).

Clients’ needs and main reason for assistance

Main reasons for seeking assistance

For those SHS clients who identified as current or former members of the ADF experiencing homelessness the main reasons for seeking assistance in 2023–24 were (Supplementary table ADF.5):

• housing crisis (25% or around 215 clients)
• inadequate or inappropriate dwelling conditions (25% or 215)
• previous accommodation ended (8.4% or 72).

For those at risk of homelessness:

• housing crisis (25% or 175 clients)
• family and domestic violence (15% or 105).

Services needed and provided

In 2023–24, the provision of support services to clients varied based on their identified need on presentation (Figure ADF.2, Supplementary table ADF.2 and CLIENTS.24):

• Advice/information was the most likely service needed by clients (89% or around 1,400 clients) and was provided to 99% of those who needed it.
• Almost two-thirds (61%) of clients needed accommodation and it was provided to 53% of those who needed it.  This compares with 2022-23 when 66% of clients needed accommodation.

Compared with all SHS clients, clients who identified as current or former members of the ADF were more likely to need:

• Advocacy/liaison (65% compared with 54% among all SHS clients)
• assistance to sustain a tenancy or prevent tenancy failure or eviction (40% compared with 30%)
• material aid/brokerage (43% compared with 37%)

Figure ADF.2: Clients who identified as current or former members of the Australian Defence Force: services needed and provided, 2023–24

Housing situation

In 2023–24, of those clients who identified as current or former members of the ADF (Supplementary tables ADF.3 and CLIENTS.11):

• On presentation to services more than half of clients (55%) were experiencing homelessness (compared with 48% of all SHS clients):
  • 22% (345 clients) were rough sleeping 
  • 20% (around 310 clients) were in short-term or emergency accommodation. 
• Just under half (45%) presented to services at risk of homelessness (compared with 52% of all SHS clients):
  • 29% (450 clients) were in private or other housing 
  • 9.2% were in public or community housing.