Homelessness support services are being overwhelmed, says a new report. Photo: stock
Three million Australians are at risk of homelessness as desperately-needed services are forced to close their doors.
The finding was contained in a new Homelessness Australia report launched today which revealed a 63 percent surge in numbers over a six-year period.
The report surveyed 23 specialist homelessness services over two weeks in September which revealed the measures taken to manage overwhelming demand.
The findings revealed that 83 per cent of services could not answer phone calls at times, 74 per cent could not respond to urgent emails and nearly 40 per cent of services were forced to close their doors during operating hours.
“Demand for homelessness services has erupted and the system is so under-resourced that people who are homeless can’t get in front of a worker who can help them,” says Kate Colvin, CEO of Homelessness Australia (HA).
“With more than three million Australians now at risk of homelessness, services are forced to … turn away families with children on one in five days,” she says.
“People who could have afforded private rentals just a few years ago are now resorting to couch surfing, sleeping in cars or pitching a tent.”
The research found families with children in need of crisis accommodation were turned away on one in five days surveyed while individuals with no dependents were turned away on one in two days.
The surge in demand is resulting in less service provision as workers help those already through the door. The survey found that during a typical two-week period services couldn’t answer phones for 325 hours (1 in every 13 operating hours), front doors were closed for 200.5 hours (1 in every 22 operating hours) and 666 urgent emails were unanswered.
HA estimates that from 2016-22, the number of Australians at risk of homelessness increased by 63% to between 2.7 and 3.2 million people. It points to a 17.9 per cent increase in rental stress as a driver for this increase.
“Homelessness services simply don’t have the staff to stretch to everyone needing help, and have to go on ‘by-pass’, and triage support to people each day,” Colvin says.
“This means opportunities to help people avoid homelessness are missed; and people go longer without support or miss out entirely, making the path out of homelessness longer, more brutal and less likely to succeed.”
STATE BREAKDOWN 2016-22
- QLD: 80 per cent more are at risk of homelessness since 2016 (from 318,656 to 715,067), 16.1 per cent of that due to greater rent stress.
- NSW: 64 per cent more at risk (from 271,241 to 696,442), with rental stress up 14.2 per cent.
- Victoria: 67 per cent more at risk (from 395,994 to 987,405) with 23.1 per cent rise in rental stress.
- Western Australia: 77 per cent more at risk (from 118,804 to 272,633) with a 23.1 per cent rise in rent stress.
- South Australia: 32 per cent more at risk (from 59,346 to 245,829) with 16.1 per cent due to rent stress.
- Tasmania: 25 per cent rise (from 18,158 to 90,458) with 11.3 per cent rise in rent stress.
- ACT: there was a drop of 34 percent (16,688 from -8,733) but a 31.3 per cent rise in rental stress.
- Northern Territory: 7 per cent more (from 1000 to 15,841) with a 26 per cent rise in rental stress.
