Service geography
Key findings and insights
In 2023–24:
- Most SHS clients were supported by services located in Major cities (171,400 clients).
- The rate of SHS clients in Remote and Very remote areas was 3.8 times higher than in Major cities.
- Clients supported in Major cities and Inner regional areas were provided on average the most nights of accommodation.
- Family and domestic violence was the most common main reason for seeking assistance from SHS agencies in across all areas.
Accessing services can be increasingly difficult the further away a client lives from a major city (ABS 2023). The rate at which people seek support from SHS agencies can also vary by location due to varying service availability and region-specific factors, such as housing availability and affordability.
This section examines client service needs and characteristics based on the location of the SHS agency. That is, the specific areas where clients first received support. Although clients can access services in multiple remoteness area, clients are assigned to one remoteness area based on the SHS agency where they first sought support during 2023–24. The location details of agencies were classified into remoteness areas based on the 2021 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) (see Technical notes) (ABS 2023).
State-wide SHS operate in some states/territories and can assist a high number of clients over the phone. Therefore, service location data may not be accurate or relevant for some clients.
When interpreting regional service trends throughout this section, ‘urban areas’ refer to Major cities and Inner and Outer regional areas and ‘remote areas’ refer to Remote and Very remote areas, unless stated otherwise.
Clients accessing SHS in urban and remote areas in 2023–24
Most SHS clients (171,400 people or 61% of all SHS clients) accessed SHS services in Major cities in 2023–24, an increase from around 165,400 clients (60%) in 2022–23.
The highest rate of clients (340.7 clients per 10,000 population) accessed services in Remote and very remote areas, 3.8 times higher than in Major cities.
The number and rate of clients accessing SHS services varied by remoteness area in 2023–24 (Figure REG.1, supplementary tables HIST.REG and REG.7).
- The number of clients in Remote and very remote areas has generally increased since 2011–12, at an average annual rate of 4.0% per year.
- Clients in Inner regional areas on average received the longest amount of support, with a median of 74 days of support, an increase from 53 days in 2017–18.
- The median number of nights accommodated was greatest for clients in Major cities (48 nights) and Inner regional areas (44 nights), compared with 30 nights for clients in Outer regional areas and 4 nights for clients in Remote and very remote areas.
Figure REG.1: Service use patterns for SHS clients by remoteness area, 2019–20 to 2023–24
Bar chart shows across all five years, clients in inner regional areas had the highest median number of support days.
Characteristics of clients in urban and remote areas
The age profile of SHS clients receiving support across Australia was broadly similar, except there was a higher proportion of clients aged less than 10 in Remote and very remote areas.
SHS clients born overseas and clients with a current mental health issue were more likely to access SHS services in urban areas, than remote areas.
In 2023–24, the characteristics of clients who accessed SHS agencies in urban areas differed from those in remote areas. Clients in urban areas compared with clients in remote areas:
- were more likely to seek assistance because of housing crisis such as eviction (20%), while clients in remote areas often sought inadequate or inappropriate dwelling conditions (16%) (Supplementary table REG.1).
- were less likely to be aged under 10 years (16% of clients in major cities) compared with clients in Remote and very remote areas (18%) (Supplementary table REG.2).
- More than 9 in 10 clients (92%) receiving services in remote areas were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people (Supplementary table INDIGENOUS.6).
- Almost all (99%) SHS clients born overseas received support from SHS agencies in urban areas (Supplementary table CLIENTS.6).
- Most (98%) clients with a current mental health issue received assistance from agencies in urban areas (Supplementary table CLIENTS.46).
Services needed and provided
Requests for short-term accommodation was highest among SHS clients in remote areas than for urban and regional areas in 2023–24. Clients in remote areas more commonly had their request for short-term accommodation met than clients in non-remote areas.
In 2023–24 (Figure REG.2, Supplementary table REG.4):
- The need for short-term or emergency accommodation was highest among SHS clients of SHS agencies in remote areas – around 60% of clients needed this type of service.
- Around 94% of requests for short-term accommodation were met by agencies in remote areas (provided or referred), while clients of services in Major cities and Inner regional areas were less likely to receive this type of accommodation (70% and 55% provided, respectively).
- Need for mental health services was higher among clients of services in Major cities (9.0%) and Inner regional areas (8.1%) than those in Outer regional areas (6.0%) and remote areas (2.6%).
Figure REG.2: Clients by services needed, by provision status, by remoteness area, 2023–24
Stacked bar graph shows long-term housing was the most needed accommodation provision service in major cities and the least provided.
Outcomes at the end of support
Outcomes presented here highlight the changes in clients’ housing situation at the start and end of support. That is, the place they were residing before and after they were supported by a SHS agency. The information presented is limited only to clients who have stopped receiving support during the financial year, and who were no longer receiving ongoing support from a SHS agency. In particular, information on client housing situations at the start of their first period of support during 2023–24 is compared with the end of their last period of support in 2023–24. As such, this information does not cover any changes to their situation during their support period.
Around 7 in 10 (69%) clients in remote areas were housed at the end of support in 2023–24, compared with around 2 in 3 clients in other areas (Supplementary table REG.5 and Figure REG.3).
At the end of support, clients in Major cities and Inner regional areas were most likely to be living in private housing (42% and 43% respectively) in 2023–24; clients in remote areas were most commonly in public/community housing (57%).
Figure REG.3: Clients with closed support, by remoteness area, by housing situation at the beginning and end of support, 2023–24
Sankey diagram shows most clients started and ended support in private or other housing for all remoteness areas except Remote and Very remote.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2023) ‘Remoteness Areas’, Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3, ABS website, accessed 14 September 2023.