Youth Facts and Stats

Housing and homelessness

2008

Housing and homelessness

2001-2007 

Topics

Homeless young Australians: Issues and responses
Youth homelessness in rural Australia, 2006
Homeless people in SAAP: Annual Report 2004–05
Homelessness in Australia, 2003–04
Children in the Homeless Service System, 2004
Youth homelessness in Victoria, 2001–02
Homeless young people assisted by SAAP 2002–03
Number of homeless youth, 2001
Report on homeless young Australians, 2001
Housing for young adult households, 1994–95 and 2003–04

Homeless young Australians: Issues and responses

A report compiled by Mission Australia has compared the different beliefs and concerns of young homeless people with similarly aged Australians that live in a stable home.

The report, Homeless Young Australians: Issues and responses were based on Mission Australia's 2006 National Survey of Young Australians.

Approximately 15,000 young people (aged 11–24) took part in the 2006 survey. They were asked to rank, in order of importance, what they valued most, their concerns, who they turned to when they needed advice and who they admired.154 respondents identified themselves as homeless or living in insecure housing.


Key findings of this survey include:

• Only half of the young homeless respondents valued 'family relationships' the most, compared to three quarters of other young Australians.
• Results show that homeless young people valued 'environmental issues' more than people that live in stable homes (21% compared to 8%).
• 'Drugs and alcohol' issues are the main concern for most homeless young people. However, 'body image' was their second top concern, 40% indicating that it was their main issue (compared to 28% of those in stable housing).
• 'Sexuality issues' were a concern for a larger proportion of homeless young people compared to those who live in stable homes (one in five compared to one in ten).

Mission Australia spokeswoman Anne Hampshire said that having homeless young people say that 'body image' is their main concern, reflects how not having a stable home – particularly sleeping outside – can have a major impact on their personal appearance and self-esteem.

She also noted that another concern these young homeless people had was 'sexuality'. This result shows that young homeless people are affected by sexual assault both before and after becoming homeless. This is also one of the reasons why young people become homeless (e.g. as a result of family conflict).

Other findings include:

• Young people without a stable home are more likely to seek help from the internet (37% compared to 7%).
• Young homeless people are more likely than other young people to identify 'entertainers' as one of the top groups of people that they admire the most (20% compared to 7%).

Source: Mission Australia 2007, Experiences of young homeless people make for surprise, media release, 06/08/07 [viewed 1/10/07].

Sunday Mail, 12/08/07, p.34.

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Youth homelessness in rural Australia, 2006

Two projects of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI): 70020, Evaluating the Miller Foyer pilot project and 40160, Developing models of good practice in meeting the needs of homeless young people in rural areas, have examined the issues faced by young people at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness in Australia.

Some key points:

• Young people (aged 16–25 years) in rural areas experience homelessness very differently to their urban peers, due to limited employment and education options and inadequate formal support networks.
• Young people in regional centres prefer to stay in the region rather than access accommodation and emergency services in larger cities or towns, indicating that family and friendship support was essential to their wellbeing – connections that would be lost by relocation to urban services.
• Gender is particularly significant in the pathway into and experience of homelessness affecting the reasons why young people are at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness and their ability to access services and accommodation. Also affecting young people's access to services and accommodation are:
• • race
  • sexuality
  • the presence of children and/or pets
  • employment status
  • disability

• Children and youth who had been placed into the care system are very likely to experience homelessness, particularly in the context of insufficient foster places for vulnerable teenagers.
• Young people from low-income families who have previously experienced homelessness are more likely to become homeless themselves.
• Young people are generally not aware of the services, variety of benefits and assistance available to support them before they become homeless, and generally only access assistance through pre-established connections. This is particularly true of young men.

Findings:

• Young people living in rural areas face many of the challenges confronting urban youth, but are also distinguished by a number of factors that make their experiences of homelessness distinctive including:
• • difficulties in finding employment
  • often expensive, rental housing markets that offer sub-standard housing and often discriminate against youth.

The research shows that there are limited support services in rural areas for young people and those that exist tend to be concentrated in the larger regional centres.
There is a strongly developed sense of community amongst many homeless young people, valuing friendship and support networks and placing considerable priority on staying within a familiar physical environment rather than relocating to metropolitan regions that are perceived by the young people as 'dangerous'.


Source: AHURI Research & Policy Bulletin, Issue 82, August 2006.
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI)
http://www.ahuri.edu.au

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Homeless people in SAAP: Annual Report 2004–2005

The annual report of assistance given to clients of the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program, Homeless People in SAAP: SAAP National Data Collection Annual Report 2004–05, has been released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

The report's findings include:

• An estimated 157,200 people, including 56,800 children, received accommodation or other services through the program.
• One in every 70 people aged 18–19 accessed a SAAP service during 2004–2005, with the rate being higher for teenage girls (one in 56).
• The main reasons that women aged under 25 years without children accessed the service were family/relationship breakdown (20%) and the unavailability of usual accommodation (13%).
• The main reasons that men aged under 25 years accessed the service were the unavailability of usual accommodation (19%), relationship/family breakdown and the ending of previous accommodation (15%).

Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare media release
[viewed 17/01/07].

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Homelessness in Australia, 2003–04

Annual report of the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program: Homeless People in SAAP: SAAP National Data Collection Annual Report 2003–04, has been released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

Some findings:

Main reason clients gave for seeking agency support was domestic violence (20% of cases overall). However, the main reason varied according to age and gender.
Other reasons given by clients for seeking support:

• financial difficulty (14% of all cases) - the most common reason given by unaccompanied male clients aged 25 years and over
• unavailability of usual accommodation (11%)
• eviction or the ending of previous accommodation (10%)
• relationship or family breakdown (9%).

One in every 130 Australians (an estimated 152,900 people) received accommodation or other support services for the homeless in 2003–04. Of these people,

• 100,200 were adults or unaccompanied children
• 52,700 were children accompanying their parent or guardian.
• One in 54 children aged 0–4 years accompanied their parent or guardian to a SAAP agency at some time during 2003–04.
• In the 18- to 19-year-old age group, one in every 71 used a SAAP service.

'In other findings, females were more likely to use SAAP services than males (59% compared to 42%), and this was true across all States and Territories, and most SAAP clients (85%) were born in Australia, with Indigenous clients accounting for 17% of all clients.'

Source: The Age, 18/3/2005, p.8.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare media release [viewed 17/01/2007].

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Children in the Homeless Service System, 2004

Every day 200 children and their families are turned away from the homeless service system (AIHW 2004).

• One in every 75 Australian children under 12 will access a homeless service in 2004.
• 53,800 children (under 18) accompanied their guardian to a homeless service in 2002-2003.
• 88% of accompanied children were 12 years and under.
• 67% of support was to accompanying children escaping domestic and family violence.
• 86% of children accompanied a female guardian.
• 11,100 children arrived at homeless services on their own.

Over two-thirds of support periods to accompanying children in the homeless service system are for children escaping domestic violence.

Source: AIHW (2004) Children accompanying homeless clients 2002-2003, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra.

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Housing for young adult households, 1994–95 and 2003–04

• Between 1994–95 and 2003–04, the proportion of young adult households who owned their home fell from 48% to 44%.
• The proportion who owned their home with a mortgage was 40%, while the proportion that owned their home outright decreased from 9% to 5%.
• In 2003–04, there were 4.7 million young adults (aged 18–34 years) in Australia and 71% (3.3 million) of them lived away from their parent(s). This was similar to the situation in 1994–95 (70%). Of the young adults living away from their parents in 2003–04, the great majority (88% or 2.9 million) were living in young adult households (i.e. households where the reference person was aged 18–34 years).
• In 2003–04, there were 1.7 million young adult households, making up 22% of all households.

Tenure and living arrangements of young adult households — 2003–04

		Couple family with dependent children	One parent family with dependent children	Couple only	Other family households (a)	Lone person	Group household	Total
		%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Owner		63.1	19.7	57.4	45.7	28.4	14.6	44.3
	Owner without a mortgage	4.6	2.1	2.9	18.8	3.0	0.7	4.5
	Owner with mortgage	58.6	17.5	54.5	26.9	25.4	13.9	39.9
Renter(b)		34.1	77.8	38.4	50.5	66.6	83.2	52.1
	State/territory housing authority	1.8	20.3	0.3	2.7	3.4	0.7	3.5
	Private landlord	29.9	53.3	35.7	46.7	61.4	80.6	46.3
Total(c)	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
	'000	'000	'000	'000	'000	'000	'000	'000
Total number of households		493.5	170.5	410.0	148.3	336.1	177.3	1735.7

(a) Includes other single family households and multiple family households.
(b) Includes other landlord type.
(c) Includes other tenure type.

Home ownership:

• In 2003–04, home ownership among young adult households was highest (63%) among couple families with dependent children.
• Couple-only households had the second highest home ownership: 57%, followed by other family households with 46%.
• Other family households were the household type with the highest level of outright ownership with 19% owning their homes without a mortgage compared with 5% of all young adult households. The other family households (who make up 9% of young adult households) are a diverse group including multi-family households, sibling households and couples living with other adults.
• While home ownership rates for most types of family households decreased between 1994–95 and 2003–04, home ownership for other family households moved against this overall trend and increased from 38% to 46% over the period.

Renters:

• In 2003–04, group households had the highest rate of renting among young adult households at 83%.
  More than three-quarters (78%) of one parent families with dependent children were renting, as were two-thirds (67%) of lone person households.
  One parent families had the highest rate of renting public housing with 20% of all one parent families with dependent children renting from state/territory housing authorities.
  In contrast with the decline in home ownership from 1994–95 to 2003–04, levels of renting have increased across all household compositions except the other family households.

First home buyers:

• In 2003–04 there were 271,000 (13%) young adult households who had bought their first home within the previous three years. These households made up 69% of all first home buyer households in 2003–04 compared with 73% in 1994–95.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 4102.0 – Australian Social Trends, 2006 [20/07/2006], Housing for Young Adult Households
[viewed 17/01/2007].

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Youth homelessness in Victoria, 2001–02

Number of young people using the services of the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP): 11,100 (estimated)
Percentage presenting as couples and/or with children or in other family groupings: 20%

Reasons for seeking assistance:

• Relationship or family breakdown: 18.6%
• Eviction or previous accommodation ended: 17%
• Domestic violence: 14.2% of the young women

Duration of assistance:

• 69% of support periods for young males lasted less than four weeks; 31% for more than four weeks.
• 63% of support periods for young women lasted less than four weeks; 37% for more than four weeks.
• Young people from non-English speaking backgrounds had longer support periods on average.
• Indigenous young people had shorter support periods on average.
• Where domestic violence or psychiatric illness was the main reason for seeking assistance, the most common duration of support was 1–3 days.

On Census night in 2001, an estimated 4,663 young people in Victoria aged 12–18 years of age were homeless.

Victoria has an estimated rate of homelessness at 10 per 1,000 of young people in the 12–18 years age group at any one time (the same as NSW). The rate of youth homelessness nationally is an estimated 14 in every 1,000 of the youth population.

Source: Office of Housing, Department of Human Services, 2004, Youth Homelessness Action Plan, first stage report, DHS, Melbourne [viewed 17/01/2007].

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Homeless young people assisted by SAAP 2002–03

Number of homeless young people assisted by the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) during 2002–03: 34,400.

Aged under 15: 1,800
Aged 15–19: 17,400
Aged 20–24: 15,200

The highest prevalence of SAAP use was among people aged 18–19 years; the next highest rates of use were by 15–17-year-olds and 20–24-year-olds. The highest rate of use was by 18–19-year-old females.

Young SAAP clients by age and gender:

	Percentage of all clients		Percentage of gender group			Number
Age	Male %	Female %	Male %	Female %	Total %	Total Number
Under 15	0.8	1.1	1.8	1.9	1.9	1,800
15–17	3.8	5.8	9.1	10.0	9.6	9,300
18–19	3.4	4.9	8.0	8.5	8.3	8,100
20–24	6.2	9.5	14.7	16.4	15.7	15,200

Source: Homeless People in SAAP: SAAP National Data Collection Annual Report 2002–03 (SAAP NDCA Report Series 8, No. 8), Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra, 2003, AIHW's catalogue of publications [viewed 17/01/2007].

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Number of homeless youth, 2001

Figures for homeless young people on Census night, August 2001.

Number of homeless children aged 0–11: 9,941
Percentage of the homeless population aged 0–11: 10%
Number of homeless youth aged 12–18: 26,060
Percentage of the homeless population aged 12–18: 26%
Number of homeless youth aged 19–24: 10,113
Percentage of the homeless aged 12–24: 36%
Total number of homeless people on Census night, August 2001: 99,900

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Hidden homelessness in Australia, cat. no. 2050.0, Corrigendum 20500_2001, ABS, Canberra [viewed 17/01/2007].

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Report on homeless young Australians, 2001

Number of homeless young people (12–18) on any one night: 26,000
Increase in homelessness for age group since 1994: 8.4%

Area with highest number of homeless youth: Northern Territory (69 out of every 1,000)

Average age of homeless youth: 15

Percent of homeless youth still at school: 41%

The Youth Homelessness 2001 report, prepared at RMIT University's Centre for Youth Affairs and funded by the Salvation Army and state governments measured the number of public and Catholic high-school students who were homeless at the time of the August 2001 census and combined the figures with data from hostels and refuges.

The Northern Territory had the highest proportion of homeless youth (69 out of every 1,000); New South Wales and Victoria had the smallest proportions (each with an average of 10 out of every 1,000). Across the nation, more girls than boys were homeless and 41% of the total were still at school. The report makes the point that schools are important sites for early intervention to prevent recurrent and long-term homelessness.

Source: Youth Monitor, Youth Studies Australia, v.21 n.3, Sept 2002, p. 7. (Australian, 16/7/02, p.5; Herald Sun, 16/7/02, p.11; Sydney Morning Herald, 16/7/02, p.5; West Australian, 17/7/02, p.39; Age, 18/7/02, Editorial, p.16).

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