Definition of Homelessness

There is an ongoing debate about the meaning of ‘homelessness’. A number of recent social policy reports and social researchers provide summaries of these debates in the Australian context. For example, see the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, ‘ Australia’s Welfare 2003’, particularly Chapter 9 about ‘Services for People Experiencing Homelessness’ (AIHW Cat No Aus 41, 2003).

See also the online report, ‘The Debate about Definition’ by Chris Chamberlain & Guy Johnson for the Victorian Department of Human Services in 2000.

In 2000 a national Technical Forum was held in an attempt to resolve the debate for public policy. The Commonwealth and State Ministers for Housing wanted to achieve a consensus about ‘an appropriate definition of homelessness in order that work on this subject can proceed with a common understanding…’:Housing Ministers Conference, 13 October 2000. The Forum effectively endorsed the ‘cultural definition’ of homelessness.

The ‘cultural definition’ was developed by Chris Chamberlain & Guy Johnson (see Chris Chamberlain & David MacKenzie, ‘Understanding Contemporary Homelessness: Issues of Definition and Meaning’ (1992) 27(4) Australian Journal of Social Issues 274).

The ‘cultural definition’ of homelessness proposes that a person is homeless if they fall into one of the following three groups:

Primary homelessness

People without conventional accommodation, such as those living on the streets, sleeping in parks, squatting in derelict buildings, or using cars or railway carriages for temporary shelter;

Secondary homelessness

People who move frequently from one form of temporary shelter to another. It covers: people using emergency accommodation (such as hostels for the homeless or night shelters); teenagers staying in youth refuges; women and children escaping domestic violence (staying in women’s refuges); people residing temporarily with other families (because they have no accommodation of their own) and those using boarding houses on an occasional or intermittent basis;

Tertiary Homelessness

People who live in boarding houses on a medium to long-term basis. Residents of private boarding houses do not have a separate bedroom and living room; they do not have kitchen and bathroom facilities of their own; their accommodation is not self-contained; and they do not have security of tenure provided by a lease.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics used this ‘cultural definition’ of homelessness for its Homeless Enumeration Strategy during the 1996 and 2001 Census’.

National Estimates

Current research estimates that there are about 100,000 people who are homeless in Australia at the present time.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics 1996 Census on Housing and Population was the first census to attempt a national estimate of the number of people who are homeless on census night. The ABS developed a Homeless Enumeration Strategy for the 1996 Census to improve the questions asked during the census, and the methods for locating people to participate in it.

Supplemented by SAAP Data Collection Agency data, the 1996 Census data was analysed to produce a national estimate of 105, 304 people. See Chris Chamberlain, Counting the Homeless: Implications for Policy Development.

The 1996 Census Homeless Enumeration Strategy was evaluated prior to the 2001 Census in order to improve the accuracy of the national estimate.

The analysis of the 2001 Census was prepared by Chris Chamberlain & David MacKenzie and published in their report, Counting the Homeless 2001 and its Corrigendum. According to Chamberlain & MacKenzie, about 99, 900 people were homeless in Australia on Census night, 7 August 2001. Recognising that homeless people move in and out of homelessness, the researchers proposed that it is reasonable to use a national figure of 100, 000 for public policy purposes.

The national estimate of homelessness in 2001 was 5, 404 less than the national estimate of 105, 304 in 1996.

The apparent drop in the number of homeless people in Australia between 1996 and 2001 led to a response from the Federal Government welcoming the news as an indication of the effectiveness of existing government program responses. However, a closer analysis of the Report reveals that, in fact, there has not necessarily been an improvement in the housing circumstances during that period.

The drop in the national estimate of homeless people between 1996 and 2001 was due primarily to a change in the operational definition of homelessness for remote Indigenous communities, and not to an improvement in the accommodation situation in Australia. Unfortunately, the change in definition makes it more difficult to draw comparisons between the 1996 and 2001 data regarding homelessness trends. Chamberlain and MacKenzie acknowledge this difficulty.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported in 2003 that the rate of homelessness in Australia has been increasing over the last twenty years.

The view that homelessness is a serious and growing social concern in Australia is supported by the extent to which homelessness has become a policy priority for both government and social researchers.

Government Homelessness Policies

Responsibility for policies and programmes that might impact on people who are experiencing homelessness in Australia is shared by Federal, State and Territory and Local Government authorities, as well as non-government, voluntary and charitable organisations.

Most Federal, State and Territory Governments have some form of Homelessness Policy and/or Strategy, or are developing one. The following sets out current web-based government homelessness policy or strategy documents.

Federal

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

Northern Territory

Victoria

Western Australia

In addition, some local government authorities have adopted policies or programmes regarding homelessness. In Australia, most local government authorities do not take a primary role in the provision of social housing. However, local government plays an important role in regulating public spaces, both through local government by-laws, and patrolling services. In addition, local government funds and coordinates a range of support services.

There are some examples of local government homelessness policies and programmes on the web:

Brisbane City Council

Parramatta City Council

South Sydney City Council

The Local Government Association of New South Wales has developed a model homelessness policy for use by local government authorities.

For web-based writings about current Australian government policies, see:

Australian Council of Social Services, ‘Working Toward a National Homelessness Strategy – ACOSS Response’ (ACOSS, 2001)

Australian Federation of Homelessness Organisations, ‘Working Towards a National Homelessness Strategy: AFHO Response’ (AFHO, 2001)

Brotherhood of St Laurence, 'Submission to the Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Homelessness: Response to National Homelessness Strategy Consultation Paper' (Brotherhood of St Laurence, 2001).

Sue Ellery, ‘Homelessness: Not Just a Short Term Solution. The Western Australian Homelessness Strategy’, Paper delivered to the 2003 National Homelessness Conference, Brisbane, 6 – 8 April 2003)

Tony Newman, ‘The Strategic Thrust of the Victorian Homelessness Strategy’, (Paper delivered to the 2003 National Homelessness Conference, Brisbane, 6 – 8 April 2003)

David Wright-Howie, 'Homeless Strategies in Australia: Will They Make A Difference?' (2003) 16(2) Parity 4

See also the September 2003 Special Edition of Parity on Comparative Homelessness Strategies in Australia.

Homelessness Social Policy and Research

There is a significant body of social policy writings and research about the nature and extent of homelessness in Australia. The following is a recent selection.

General

ACT Council of Social Services, ‘Needs Analysis of Homelessness in the ACT: Final Report’ (ACTCOSS, 2002)

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, ‘Australia’s Welfare 2003’, particularly Chapter 9 on ‘Services for People Experiencing Homelessness’ (AIHW, 2003)

Chris Chamberlain, ‘Homelessness in Victoria’ ( Monash University, 2000)

Netty Horton, ‘A Decade of Change’ (2003) Parity Online

David Mackenzie & Chris Chamberlain, 'Homeless Careers: Pathways in and out of Homelessness' (Swinburne and RMIT Universities, 2003)

Mission Australia Research and Policy, ‘Homelessness: What Australia Says’ ( Mission Australia, 2002)

Papers from the 2003 National Homelessness Conference , ( Brisbane, Queensland, 6–8 April, 2003)

Indigenous Homelessness

Australian Federation of Homelessness Organisations, ‘Indigenous Homelessness Briefing Paper’ (AFHO, 2000)

Australian Federation of Homelessness Organisations, 'Homelessness in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Context and Its Possible Implications for the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program' (AFHO, 1999)

Mike Berry et al, ‘Indigenous Homelessness: A Discussion Paper on Indigenous Homelessness in Victoria’ (RMIT, 2001)

Anne Coleman, ''Sister, It Happens to Me Every Day': An exploration of the needs of, and responses to, Indigenous women in Brisbane's inner city public spaces' (Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council, 2000)

Keys Young, 'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Context and it's possible Implications for the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program' (Commonwealth of Australia, 1998)

Gabrielle Hansen & Catherine Roach, 'Coping with Mainstream Housing Values: A Noongar Perspective' (Paper presented at the 3rd National Homelessness Conference 'Beyond the Divide', Brisbane, 6 - 8 April 2003)

Housing Ministers’ Advisory Council, 'Proceedings of the National Indigenous Homelessness Forum' (Melbourne, Victoria, 4-5 March 2003)

Chris MacQueen, ‘Developing a Vision to Address Indigenous Homelessness’ (2003) March Australian Federation of Homelessness Organisations News 6

Paul Memmott, Stephen Long and Catherine Chambers, ‘Categories of Indigenous ‘Homeless’ People and Good Practice Responses to Their Needs’ (Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, 2003)

People Living In Public Spaces, Fringe Dwellers and Public Place Dwellers

William Bartlett Day, ‘A View From the Long Grass’ (1999) Parity Online

William Bartlett Day, ‘Aboriginal Fringe Dwellers in Darwin, Australia: Cultural Persistence or a Culture of Resistance?’ (PhD Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Western Australia, 2001)

Dillon and Savage Consultants. 'The Parkie Problem and some ideas for strategies: A discussion paper about displaced and other homeless Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Cairns' (1994)

Anne Coleman, ''Sister, It Happens to Me Every Day': An exploration of the needs of, and responses to, Indigenous women in Brisbane's inner city public spaces' (Queensland Government and Brisbane City Council, 2000)

Anne Coleman, ‘Five Star Motels: Spaces, Places and Homelessness in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane’ (PhD Thesis, School of Social Work and Social Policy, The University of Queensland, 2000)

Phil Crane, 'Reducing Public Space Tensions in the Northern Territory' (2001)

Marcia Langton, ‘The Long Grass People of Darwin’ (1998) 11(4) Parity 24

Paul Memmott, Stephen Long, and Catherine Chambers, 'Categories of Indigenous 'Homeless' People and Good Practice Responses to Their Needs' (Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, 2003).

Chris Middenthorp, 'Homelessness and Public Space: Unwelcome Visitors' (2002) 15(1) Parity 18

Young people

Chris Chamberlain, ‘Youth Homelessness 2002’ (RMIT, 2000)

Phil Crane & Jillian Brannock, ‘Homelessness among Young People in Australia’ (National Youth Affairs Research Scheme, 1996)