Thinking about the Australian continent, the long and beautiful beaches, the worldwide famous Sydney Opera House, and the beautiful scenery, Australia is a top destination for tourists. Homelessness, however, might not be the first picture that comes to the mind of visitors. After all, it does exist, and it can not be ignored. There are over 116.000 people currently homeless in Australia, and more than 25.000 of them are only 18 years old or even younger. Looking at the older population, more than 18.000 senior are considered homeless. What makes those statistics even more depressing, is the fact that nearly 16.000 children younger than 12 are also homeless. And more than 500 of them are sleeping on the streets every single night. They lack safety, warmth, education, proper development, and caring home.
Domestic and family violence – The start of being homeless
According to “Mission Australia”, the leading cause of becoming homeless is domestic and family violence. Those terms describe physical, sexual, emotional, social, or economic abuse. Many different risk factors can lead to domestic and family violence, with unemployment, alcohol, and drug use, as well as social isolation, being the lead causes. An example of domestic violence: Based on statistics and known cases, every week, one woman is murdered as a direct result of domestic violence in Australia. Following this, many women believe that the only escape route out of domestic violence is to leave their homes and often becoming homeless as a result.
A rising trend
Homelessness is rising in Australia. This trend can be seen by walking around busy urban areas and seeing the higher amount of “rough sleepers” in parks and alleys. The 2016 census statistics showed that in the period between 2011 to 2016 there was a total increase of 14% in overall homelessness in Australia. New census data will be released this year, but many organisations believe that they will show an ongoing increasing trend. Comparing urban and non-urban areas, major cities are the leader of increasing homelessness population trends – Sydney shows a rise of 48%, followed by Darwin with 36%. There are many reasons why the numbers of homeless people are rising so dramatically.
Reasons for the increasing number
According to experts, social security system changes and an inadequate welfare index are the main factors. Changes in the social security system often result in recipients receiving a lower social welfare payment with tighter restrictions. An inadequate welfare index means that the payments for the unemployed are significantly too low. Families who are suffering from unemployment are provided with too-small budgets, resulting in poverty, stress, and often no chance to afford decent housing. Recent ABS statistics show that within the last decade, rental stress has risen dramatically from 35% to 44% within Australia.
Help from the government?
Currently, there are over 1300 organisations that help homeless people in Australia. Two different governmental agreements (NAHA and NPAH) are building the funding strategies and the overall structure of this sector. Help from those various organisations is important for homeless people. It starts from accommodation services, providing of resources (food), skill improvement, administration services, financial pieces of advice and support, as well as employment and health resources – a much-needed help. Many of those organisations are asking the Australian government for a strict increase of funding, a clear restoration of funding and more affordable houses for people in need. A rigorous and ongoing re-engagement with the issue needs to be taken, and a long-term strategy has to be implemented. An urgent increase of governmental support and enough social housing needs to be provided in the nearer future. However, the answer from the government to those ideas and demands might surprise.
The Federal Government and a $56 million dollar cut
Domestic and family crisis services and homelessness helping organisations are currently asking the Australian government not to cut their budgets for 2021/2020. Unless the Federal Government agrees to full funding by the middle of 2021, the cut will take place. If the government takes this funding away, there will be major impacts expected for those organisations. Experts believe that one of the biggest impacts will be the loss of more than 500 frontline helpers. Many people who are fleeing from domestic and family violence are then facing the risk of being sent away.
A joint letter has been sent from over 180 CEOs from leading crisis services to the Australian government. They believe the cut is simply “heartless” and “cruel”. If the cut will take place and the government does take 56 million dollars away from the organisations, the short and long-term effects will be dramatic. According to experts of this sector, this is not the first failure – there have been missteps of the government that took place in the past. In 2014, the Australian government cancelled the National Rental Affordability program. This important plan was the last national housing construction program in Australia.