Use of homelessness services by contemporary ex-serving Australian Defence Force members 2011–17

Of the 1,215 ex-serving ADF SHS clients, 35% (or 425 clients) were DVA clients. Of the ex-serving non-SHS clients, 37% were DVA clients.

Among ex-serving ADF SHS clients, the demographic and service characteristics of DVA clients (compared with the 790 non-DVA clients who used SHS) were as follows (Table 14):

• The proportions of men and women were similar—78% were men and 22% were women (compared with 77% and 23% respectively among non-DVA clients).
• DVA clients were older as at the end of the reporting period (30 June 2017)—71% were aged 35 and over, compared with 47% of non-DVA clients.
• DVA clients discharged from the ADF at an older age—29% were aged 35 or over at discharge, compared with 17% of non-DVA clients.
• DVA clients had a similar service group profile to non-DVA clients—68% were Army members (compared with 72% of non-DVA clients), 22% were Navy members (compared with 20% of non-DVA clients) and 10% were Air Force members (compared with 8% of non-DVA clients).
• DVA clients had served for longer—34% served for 10 years or more, compared with 14% of non-DVA clients.
• DVA clients were more likely to have operational experience—29% had operational experience, compared with 8% of non-DVA clients.
• At the start of support, DVA clients were less likely to be unemployed, but more likely to not be in the labour force, compared with non-DVA clients—31% were not in the labour force, compared with 23% of non-DVA clients. Almost half of non-DVA clients were unemployed (48%), compared with 39% of DVA clients.
• DVA clients were more likely to have been discharged for an involuntary medical reason—37% discharged for this reason, compared with 2% of non-DVA clients.

Table 14: Demographic and service profile of ex-serving ADF SHS clients, by DVA client status, 2011–12 to 2016–17

Notes

1. DVA clients were identified through linkage with the DVA client data base, see the Technical Notes for more information.
2. Unless otherwise stated, the denominators used for calculating percentages in the table above are 425 for DVA clients and 790 for non-DVA clients.
3. Service is recorded at discharge and is current as at 30 June 2017.
4. Operational experience is only counted for ex-serving ADF members hired on or after 1 January 1999, due to a change in the data collection approach on that date (denominator of 249 for DVA clients, 638 for non-DVA clients).

Source: AIHW analysis of linked PMKeyS–SHSC data 2011–12 to 2016–17.

Among ex-serving ADF SHS clients, the profile of service use of DVA clients (compared with non-DVA clients) was as follows:

• The proportion of DVA clients homeless at the start and end of support was similar to the proportion of non-DVA clients—43% of DVA clients were homeless at the start and 40% at the end of support, compared with 47% and 41%, respectively of non-DVA clients.
• DVA clients were more likely to seek assistance for financial reasons—28% listed their main reason for seeking assistance as financial reasons, compared with 22% of non-DVA clients.
• DVA clients were less likely to use accommodation services than non-DVA clients—34% had at least 1 night of accommodation across the 6-year period, compared with 40% of non-DVA clients.
• DVA clients were very similar to non-DVA clients in the number of support days received—56% of both DVA clients and non-DVA clients had up to 45 support days across the reporting period.
• DVA clients received a similar amount of financial assistance to non-DVA clients—78% of DVA clients received between $0 and $200, similar to non-DVA clients (79%).