Unassisted requests for services
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Key findings Unassisted requests for services in 2023–24 Unassisted requests for services over time Services requestedKey findings and insights
In 2023–24:
- There were around 300 unassisted requests per day on average, a total of around 110,000 unassisted requests throughout the period, which was an increase from 108,000 in 2022–23.
- More than three-fifths (63%) of unassisted requests involved a request for short-term or emergency accommodation, most commonly not provided because there was no accommodation available at the time.
- Around two-thirds of unassisted requests were made by females.
Specialist homelessness services (SHS) in Australia supported, on average, an estimated 74,400 people each day in 2023–24. However, each day there were also people who approached agencies who were unable to be offered any assistance, termed unassisted requests for service.
Unassisted requests for services are instances where a person seeks support from a SHS agency and receives no assistance at the time of request. The information required for reporting is limited as it is not always appropriate for an agency to collect the same detailed information as they would if the person was to become a client.
These figures are limited to people who approach SHS agencies for support, which may not reflect the level of unmet support for the whole of the Australian population. Results from the 2014 General Social Survey suggest that of those who had experienced homelessness in the last 10 years, approximately 67% did not seek assistance during their most recent experience of homelessness (ABS 2014).
The unassisted requests data does not reflect that some people may seek support from multiple different agencies on the same day, or that people unassisted on one day may become an SHS client and receive support on another day.
Analysis of how often an unassisted person requested assistance and how many were SHS clients at some point during the 2023–24 year can be examined and understood where the statistical linkage key (SLK) was complete and valid. In 2023–24, around 52% of all unassisted requests had a valid SLK. Of the clients with a valid SLK, in 2023–24:
- on average, each unassisted person approached an agency 1.5 times (Historical data table HIST.UNASSISTED)
- around half (48%) of the unassisted people became SHS clients and received services at some other point during 2023–24 (similar to 2022–23, 49%).
The service use experience for the remaining 51% of people with a valid SLK were unknown. They may have received assistance from a non-SHS service, used their own support networks or continued to experience unstable housing or homelessness without SHS support.
Also, some states/territories have central intake models, that is, agencies that link clients to specific services suited to the individual client's needs. This may decrease the number of unassisted requests for services for jurisdictions operating central intake services that deliver some sort of service to a client as part of the intake triage process.
See Technical notes for more information on measuring unassisted requests in the SHSC.
Unassisted requests for SHS support in 2023–24
Across Australia in 2023–24, there were around 110,000 unassisted requests made for SHS support; on average, around 300 unassisted requests per day.
In 2023–24, on average each day:
- Around two-thirds (66%) of unassisted requests were made by females and 34% by males (where both age and sex were known; Supplementary table UNASSISTED.2).
- Around one-quarter (23%) of unassisted requests were made by females aged 25–34; for males the most common age group was 0–9 (20%), most commonly presenting as part of a family group.
- The majority of unassisted requests made by single adults with children (87%) were by females (Supplementary table UNASSISTED.7).
Unassisted requests for services over time
The proportion of unassisted requests for SHS support by people presenting alone has risen over recent times, from 56% of requests in 2018–19 to 65% in 2023–24.
Some key trends in unassisted SHS requests over time include:
- The number of unassisted requests increased from 105,000 requests in 2021–22 to 110,000 in 2023–24 (Historical data table HIST.UNASSISTED), primarily due to increases in New South Wales, Queensland and the Western Australia. For further details, see the data quality information and Technical notes.
- The proportion of unassisted requests made by people presenting alone increased from 56% of requests in 2018–19 to 65% in 2023–24, while the proportion of unassisted requests from single parents decreased (38% to 30% respectively) (Historical data table HIST.UNASSISTED).
Services requested
More than three-fifths (63%) of unassisted requests for SHS support involved a need for short-term or emergency accommodation in 2023–24. The most common reason a request could not be met was due to the agency having no accommodation available at the time.
In 2023–24 (Figure UNASSISTED.1):
- Requests for short-term or emergency accommodation were more likely to be made by females (on average 109 unassisted requests per day) than males (63 unassisted requests per day) (Supplementary table UNASSISTED.4).
- One-quarter (23%) of daily unassisted requests involved housing or accommodation other than short-term or emergency accommodation.
Figure UNASSISTED.1: Most requests for assistance were for short-term or emergency accommodation, 2023–24
Bar chart shows the highest daily average unassisted request is for Short-term or emergency accommodation (171.4 unassisted requests/day).
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2014) General Social Survey: Summary Results, Australia ABS website.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021) Estimating Homelessness: Census ABS website.