Specialist homelessness services annual report 2024–25

People experiencing problematic drug and/or alcohol use are especially vulnerable to experiencing housing instability or homelessness (Coombs et al. 2024). Problematic use can have wide-ranging effects on a person’s mental and physical health, income, employment, education, and other areas of life that may make it difficult to maintain stable housing or transition out of homelessness.

The relationship between problematic drug and/or alcohol use and homelessness is complex and can work in both directions. While substance use may increase the risk of housing instability, experiences of homelessness can also contribute to or exacerbate problematic use. For example, research from homelessness services in Melbourne found that 43% of people experiencing homelessness reported alcohol or other drug use problems, and two-thirds of these individuals developed these problems after becoming homeless (Johnson and Chamberlain 2008).

This chapter focuses on SHS clients who were seeking support for problematic drug and/or alcohol counselling, self-reported problematic drug and/or alcohol use, or were referred or provided services by a rehabilitation facility. The characteristics, service use patterns and housing outcomes of this cohort are presented below.

For more information about people with problematic drug and/or alcohol use experiencing homelessness in Australia, and the policy and government response, please see Clients with problematic drug and/or alcohol use.

Client characteristics

To compare selected characteristics and experiences across the SHS client groups presented in this report, please refer to the Client group comparison visualisations.

Presenting unit and Living arrangements

Most clients (90% or 22,000) with problematic drug and/or alcohol use presented to SHS agencies for assistance alone, higher than for all SHS clients (63%). A further 6.7% (or around 1,600) of clients were single with one or more children, lower than for all SHS clients (29%) (Supplementary tables CLIENTS.9 and CLIENTS.44).

The living arrangements reported by SHS clients with problematic drug and/or alcohol use at the beginning of support were different from the overall SHS population and other client groups. In 2024–25 (Supplementary tables CLIENTS.10 and CLIENTS.45):

• About 63% (or around 15,200) of clients with problematic drug and/or alcohol use were living alone at the beginning of SHS support, higher than the proportion for all SHS clients (34%) 
• Fewer clients with problematic drug and/or alcohol use were living as one parent with child(ren) (11% or 2,600 compared with 34% of all SHS clients).

Client needs and main reason for assistance

Main reasons for seeking assistance

Few SHS clients (4.7%) with problematic drug and/or alcohol use reported problematic drug or substance use issues as the main reason for seeking SHS assistance (Supplementary table SUB.5). More than 1 in 6 (18%) clients identified housing crisis as the main reason for seeking SHS services, and 1 in 7 (15%) identified inadequate or inappropriate dwelling conditions.

The most common main reasons for seeking assistance among clients with problematic drug and/or alcohol use who were experiencing homelessness at the start of support were (Supplementary table SUB.6):

• inadequate or inappropriate dwelling conditions (21% or 3,000)
• housing crisis (19% or 2,900 clients)
• family and domestic violence (10% or 1,500).

For those at risk of homelessness the main reasons for seeking assistance were (Supplementary table SUB.6):

• family and domestic violence (18% or 1,600 clients)
• housing crisis (16% or 1,400)
• transition from custodial arrangements (10% or 900).

Service use patterns

In 2024–25, clients received a median of 108 days of support, down from 119 days in 2021–22, an average of 2.7 support periods per client, and a median of 41 nights of accommodation (Supplementary table CLIENTS.48).

Services needed and provided

Services provided to clients range from the direct provision of accommodation, such as a bed in a shelter, to more specialised services such as counselling and legal support. These services are either provided to the client directly by the agency or the client is referred to another SHS agency or specialised service.

In 2024–25, clients with problematic drug and/or alcohol use were more likely than all SHS clients to need certain services (Figure SUB.2, Supplementary tables SUB.2 and CLIENTS.24), including:

• drug/alcohol counselling (31%, compared with 2.8% of all SHS clients)
• short-term housing (63%, compared with 40%)
• medium-term housing (50%, compared with 30%)
• mental health services (27%, compared with 7.7%)
• living skills/personal development (34%, compared with 15%)

Housing situation and outcomes

This section highlights changes in clients’ housing situation between the start and end of support. That is, the place they were living before and after receiving assistance from a SHS agency. The data includes only clients who ceased receiving SHS support during the financial year and were no longer receiving ongoing support from a SHS agency. 

Specifically, it compares clients’ housing at the start of their first support period in 2024–25 with the end of their last support period in 2024–25. It does not capture changes that occurred during a support period, nor changes throughout the year between different support periods.

While housing outcomes for SHS clients generally trend toward more stable housing, clients with problematic drug and/or alcohol use were more likely than other SHS client groups to experience homelessness –particularly rough sleeping– both at the start and end of SHS support. Around 1,500 clients who began support rough sleeping remained in this situation at the end of support (Supplementary table SUB.3).

In 2024–25, SHS clients with problematic drug and/or alcohol use were more likely than other clients to be rough sleeping at the start of support (24% compared with 13% of all clients) and at the end of support (16% compared with 8.5% of all clients) (Supplementary tables SUB.3 and CLIENTS.31). 

In 2024–25, of the 8,900 clients with problematic drug and/or alcohol use who were known to be experiencing homelessness at the start of support (Figure SUB.3 and Supplementary table SUB.3):

• around 5,500 clients were homeless when support ended
• around 2,000 clients were in short-term accommodation, and 1,900 clients were rough sleeping when support ended.

In 2024–25, of the 5,700 clients who were known to be at risk of homelessness at the start of support:

• many clients maintained their housing situation when support ended; around 1,400 clients maintained public/community housing and around 1,300 clients maintained private housing.
• 1 in 5 clients (21%) were experiencing homelessness when support ended, a greater proportion than any other client group.