Homelessness
New figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show an 8 per cent increase in the homelessness rate on 2006 figures, a fact that should be a matter of concern for all Australians. The figures demonstrate that there is still a lot of work to be done to address homelessness and that far too many Australians are being pushed to the margins of society; struggling to find a way out and rebuild their lives.
The figures show that 105,237 people in Australia are experiencing homelessness, with 60 per cent of those under the age of 35. In NSW, the results showed that there were 28,190 people experiencing homelessness up by 21 per cent on 2006 figures.
Perhaps surprising to many people is that 41 per cent of these are women, 13 per cent are under the age of 12 and 56 per cent are under the age of 35.
Continue reading "Homelessness should not be a first world problem" »
There aren’t many social ills as badly misunderstood as homelessness.
Several years ago Mission Australia conducted a survey which asked Australians to estimate the number of homeless people on any one night.
Over half believed the figure was less than 10,000. The true number is closer to 90,000. But perhaps the reason people so underestimate the problem is because increasingly homelessness is not about a man sleeping rough on an inner city park bench, but more likely to be a family in the suburbs.
Continue reading "Homelessness does not always look like this" »
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Claudia says:
@Peter. The information contained in the article is not a misrepresentation nor is it a headline grabber. And your proposition that a kid sleeping on a couch is not a homeless person is an uneducated statement. Do some research; I think you will be surprised. Read more »
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andrew says:
Longer mortgages make housing less affordable, not the other way round. Allowing 30 year mortgages has raised borrowing power and since vendors will charge what buyers are willing to pay - surprise surprise house prices have gone up. If you jump on a home loan calculator you will see that… Read more »
This week marks the tenth anniversary of the establishment of Anti-Poverty Week. It is a timely opportunity to think about what experiencing poverty means in Australia in 2012 and more importantly, what can be done to address it.
Australia is undoubtedly doing very well on most economic and social indicators. We have had largely uninterrupted economic growth for the last 20 years, survived the GFC without too much pain, unemployment remains very low and high school completion rates are the highest they have ever been.
You could be forgiven for thinking that poverty is not an issue that should concern us greatly.
Continue reading "Rich excuses and poor outcomes on poverty" »
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adsor_mcgoo says:
I think we need to be more worried about your spelling. Read more »
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gnome says:
Sloan- we meet again-is “euthanise” lawyerspeak for “euthanase”? I guess it’s the little things that cause your wife to be the barrister while you lurk in the shadows soliciting? Your little straw men don’t help (again)? Do you know what the poverty line is? Can you connect it with any… Read more »
Later today there’s a very good chance Australia’s official number of homeless people could drop significantly.
Ordinarily, any drop in homeless numbers is cause for celebration. But this result, unfortunately, has nothing to do with Australia’s success at getting more people back into long-term accommodation. In fact there is a danger that this ‘drop’ could be seized upon to derail the nation’s assault on homelessness. Let me explain…
The Census provides us with the only national and state/territory count of homeless people. While the homeless count has its challenges, it’s still hugely significant for governments and homeless agencies and is of considerable interest to the broader community.
Continue reading "Misleading stats could leave the homeless out in the cold" »
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Poking the Dead says:
Didn’t take you long to figure out this is the home of redneck right wingers. Most of us just come here to poke them and have a bit of fun. They’re like zombies. If this site had sound available with the comments, all you’d hear is BRAAAAIIIIINNNNSSS in a real… Read more »
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nathan says:
i work in a homeless shelter and on the last 2 census nites our forms were never colected.the one bfore that i was living in a homeless shelter and did the forms for the worker out of bordom. six monthes later i went in to say hi and the forms… Read more »
This week is Homeless Person’s Week and for seven days coins will be collected, awareness raised and pledges made to reduce the number of Australians who don’t have a place to call home.
Recent research from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare puts that figure at more than 100,000, of which almost half are under the age of 25. On the 12th of August, Homeless Person’s Week and International Youth Day will collide, prompting consideration of some of the most vulnerable in our community: those who are both young and homeless.
Complex combinations of mental illness, low levels of education, family breakdown, financial struggles, and a severe lack of services leave homeless young people in a precarious situation.
Continue reading "Homelessness: blanket solutions don’t apply" »
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Pioneer Stock says:
What about families living on the street or in a car because of job loss and unable to pay their mortgage or rent, compassion and empathy and a helping hand is needed urgently, always remember Charity begins at home, God Bless all these poor souls, Please Gillard look after our… Read more »
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jade (the other one) says:
@Janey - are you seriously going to deny that drug addiction, and long-term use does not lead to mental illness? Really? I don’t doubt that some sufferers of mental illness choose to self-medicate using drugs, as I stated. But I seriously doubt that this is the majority of drug addicts.… Read more »
“My father’s violence became so bad that I witnessed my mother being pinned against a wall with knives”.
This is one of the lines from a letter I received during my youth consultation in a South Australian homeless shelter. Its author was a girl who I will call “Charlotte”. She gave me this letter without hope or expectation that I would share her story.
I was surprised to receive the letter. Charlotte had been silent throughout the consultation. Her face had looked so sad and empty that I thought it best to leave her alone. I was stunned to learn from reading that she was only 17-years-old. She looked much older. As I read on, it was easy to understand why.
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Laura says:
Meth Abuse Dot Org welcomes you to place cometnms on the subject of meth abuse and other similar topics. We look forward to your cometnms on meth abuse and any similar topic. Read more »
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Sajjad says:
Hi Rich,Are you able to elaborate at all?We don’t tyllacpiy reply to individual abuse requests but that’s not to say we don’t try and take preventative measures. Our outbound mail also passes through Cisco Ironport anti-spam appliances (although the filtering mechanisms in place aren’t as aggressive as we could make… Read more »
Where would you go if you had to sleep rough? Would you sleep in a cemetery, a doorway, a drain, an abandoned building?
People who work with the homeless see and hear some amazing, dark stories – one of the oddest they tell is that desperate people have been known to sleep in cemeteries, even climbing into graves to find shelter and safety.
An Adelaide homeless man was found living in a drain a few years back – they worked out he’d been there for six years.
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Gregg says:
@OITHC A late reply for you but better than none and no snippity meaning but merely the thought that a night nor even a week is much of a taste for what it’s be like hence the opening ” Maybe we ought to arrange a real trial “ If you… Read more »
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thomas vesely says:
gather at the main railway station, go to sleep. do it in your hundreds….. force them to address the problem… Read more »
Each night in Australia 105,000 people are homeless, including 7,500 families. Each June leading Australian CEOs and business leaders sleep rough for one night in support of the Vinnies CEO Sleepout.
Contrary to common perceptions about homelessness, 44 per cent of homeless people are women, many of these accompanied by children. It is a shocking fact that more than 12,000 Australian children under the age of 12 are experiencing some form of homelessness. A further 22,000 young people aged 12 to 18 are homeless, most of them estranged from their families. That’s more than 34,000 kids without a place they can call home.
Speaking at the recent launch of the Vinnies CEO Sleepout 2012, Dr John Falzon, St Vincent de Paul Society CEO, National Council said: “Children who are homeless are more likely to become homeless later in life and raise families who, in turn, also become homeless. You can guess why we haven’t solved the problem.”
Continue reading "I once was lost but now I’m found, thanks to Vinnies" »
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marley says:
@Free - I didn’t say half, I said 40%. Women make up 44% of all homeless and 40% of primary homeless. Or so this report says. If you have a problem with it, take it up with the authors. http://www.homelessnessaustralia.org.au/UserFiles/File/Fact sheets/Fact Sheets 2011-12/Homelessness & Women 2011-12(8).pdf And before you start… Read more »
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Constance Fairleight says:
@Scotchfinger just to set the record straight. My name is Constance, and I am the woman in this article. My husband, the man that I married because I loved and trusted him, betrayed my trust in the worst way a man could possibly betray a woman. I did not include… Read more »
One in 200 Aussies are homeless on any given day. And whenever a serious, intractable problem arises, commentators often suggest that the government raise an army of homeless people to fix it.
That’s what an American business has done. Except, not exactly with an army, and with the intent of solving a problem that’s more of the first world variety: Wireless internet access.
A marketing company has turned homeless people in Austin, Texas, into walking, talking wireless hot spots.
Is it just me or does your wireless router look like it could do with a feed and some warm, clean clothes?
Continue reading "Staring at your smartphone could help the homeless" »
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JB says:
Why don’t our overpaid Sports people and celebrities do something with their money and fame and work to help the homeless. Why, because they are too caught up in their own stupid lives! Some are homeless through choice. I would rather see these people be given a hand up and… Read more »
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John from Vaucluse says:
Just to enlighten you @Scotchfinger, when I protested about the price of the house that the real estate agent was flogging me in Toongabbie - he replied “Ah yes - but it is the Vaucluse of Toongabbie”. Read more »
As a relative newcomer to Sydney, I’ve discovered a phrase I almost never heard mentioned before I moved here: “Western Sydney”. As someone who lives in the Eastern Suburbs, the Western Suburbs aren’t really on my radar. I have little need to go out there.
I did, however, discover some new information about Western Sydney last weekend. Its new AFL team, the Giants, took the field against the Sydney Swans’ second XI. The hapless Giants kicked three goals and got smashed by over 100 points.
Wow. Furthermore, according to ABC’s Offsiders program, the NSW Government spent $45 million redeveloping a stadium which will play host to the team.
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Shifter says:
@Tally - you just want a little brother team to beat up on like the Dockers Read more »
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jim morris says:
I would like to introduce the concept ‘the ratchet principle’ (pronounced ratshit). It describes the phenomenon experienced by people who through bad luck or bad decisions sink financially. Every notch down gets easier but every attempt to rise back up becomes more difficult. For example, you lose your job and… Read more »
There are many things that trouble me about convicted paedophile Dennis Ferguson.
There is the debate about whether such offenders are ever capable of rehabilitation (I doubt it). There is the debate about whether we are doing enough to address the causal factors that hard wire this evil behaviour, transforming a person into a predator that destroys young people’s lives.
But one issue that seems to have escaped attention is how can a convicted paedophile from Queensland move to NSW and get himself a five year lease in public housing, while almost 40,000 more worthy tenants in NSW are waiting in the queue.
Continue reading "Red carpet for a paedophile while families are homeless" »
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Scott Morrison MP says:
Paul, who do you think has been running planning policy in NSW for the past 14 years. It wasn’t the Libs. Bob Carr said the place was full so just go live somewhere else. I suppose that’s what you’d call vision. Read more »
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Paul says:
Scott, point 4 - you starved the public housing system for years and now on the basis of one case - you claim the system is broke? How many thousands of people does the housing system work for - balance it up!The private rental market is also cactus because the… Read more »
David Cappo is a priest.
But he is one of the most powerful South Australians. Sure, he’s Vicar-General of the Catholic Church, a Monsignor and Dean of the Cathedral. He’s also our State’s Social Inclusion Commissioner, with a free range over social policy.
Monsignor Cappo is a member of our powerful Economic Development Board, and - most importantly - sits on “Ex-Com”, the Executive Committee of Cabinet, which includes me, the Deputy-Premier, and senior Ministers. Cappo has clout, and in order to get things done he sometimes has to act more like the Inquisition than a confessor.
Continue reading "A priest with punch: social inclusion explained" »
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Dissident says:
David Cappo is an unelected and unaccountable person appointed to a position of so-called power by a politician who is bereft of ideas and the capability to actually do things as a way of abrogating his responsibilities. Read more »
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Rob says:
I give Mike Rann credit for getting Cappo on board and letting him get some things done. In a political world dominated by dreary party hacks and ex-journalists, it is refreshing to see the impact that a leader with vision & verve can still make (I’m talking about Cappo in… Read more »
Walking to work this morning I saw a dead man sitting at a bus stop.
Well he wasn’t actually sitting, he was completely bent over from the waist and his hands dragged onto the concrete in front of him.
He was also surrounded by overfilled shopping bags and dressed in marked jeans and a grubby sweat shirt so at first glance I assumed he was homeless.
Continue reading "What makes someone stop and help a total stranger?" »
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Littleozzybloke says:
What makes someone stop and help a total stranger? This is why…because some people out here really do care.. As a local Community Action Group, Our project is to feed the Hungry and the Homeless, any community can do this..and it works. If a few dedicated volunteers looked after those… Read more »
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Tricia says:
Thank you for your article Lucy, it has given me much food for thought. Thank you also for your bravery in holding up a mirror for all of us to look into….but are we brave enough to look? The answer will be different for everyone, but at least your article… Read more »
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