Homelessness in Australia

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This article describes Homelessness in Australia. The majority of long term homeless people are found in the large cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The Australian Bureau of Statistics breaks this down into 5 groups:^[1]

"Rough sleepers" - people who are living on the streets, with no formal shelter at all.
Emergency shelters
Temporarily residing with friends
Boarding houses
Trailer park residents

Of 100,000 homeless people in Australia on census night in 2001:^[2]

54% were Male
36% were between the age of 12 - 24
10% were under the age of 12
8.5% were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
23% were staying in boarding houses
49% were staying with friends and relatives
14% were sleeping rough
14% were staying in services funded through the SAAP

Common causes^[3]

Domestic and family violence (22%)
Eviction/previous accommodation ended (11%)
Relationship/family breakdown (11%)
Usual accommodation unavailable (11%)
Financial Difficulty (10%)

Many of the current homeless population in Australia were previously mentally institutionalised which has been caused by the de-institutionalisation which had begun in Australia during the 1980s and hostels for the homeless are reporting growing numbers of homeless mentally ill people seeking refuge.^[4]

In Brisbane, there are approximately 4000 predicted homeless, 400 of which squat within the downtown area, in alley ways, on streets, under bridges and in parks. This is a growing problem for the city due to the rise in housing and food prices.