Skip to content

Download as PDF [1MB]

Executive Summary

Homelessness can affect anyone.  In Australia, around 105,000 people are homeless on any given night.  While the overall rate of homelessness has been relatively stable over the last 12 years, increasing numbers of children, families and older people are experiencing homelessness.  Since 2001, there has been a drop in the numbers of young people who are homeless.  Indigenous people are over-represented in the homeless population.

Homelessness includes people who are sleeping rough, as well as people staying in temporary, unstable or substandard accommodation.  Many people who are homeless cycle between homelessness and marginal housing.  People are staying in crisis accommodation for longer because they have nowhere else to go.

Homelessness is not just a housing problem.  Homelessness has many drivers and causes, including the shortage of affordable housing, long term unemployment, mental health issues, substance abuse and family and relationship breakdown.  Among women, domestic and family violence is the main reason for seeking help from specialist homelessness services.

Just maintaining the current effort on homelessness will see an increase in the number of Australians who are homeless due to the growth in populations at risk of homelessness, such as older people in housing stress and children in care and protection.

Investing in services to prevent and reduce homelessness delivers benefits not only to those vulnerable to homelessness but also to the entire community. 

The White Paper Vision

Homelessness is everyone’s responsibility.  Ending homelessness requires sustained long-term effort from all levels of government, business, the not-for-profit sector and the community.

The Australian Government, with the agreement of state and territory governments, has set two headline goals to guide our long term response to homelessness:

Interim targets will measure progress towards these goals.

The White Paper Strategy tailors the national response to the needs of particular groups within the homeless population, including children, older people, young people and Indigenous Australians.  Clear principles will guide the response to homelessness to ensure it is client-centred, respectful and effective.

The new National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA), to commence in January 2009, gives a full picture of the Commonwealth and state and territory effort on housing and homelessness. 

This Agreement provides $6.1 billion over the five years from 2008–09 on measures including social housing, assistance to people in the private rental market, support and accommodation for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and assistance with home purchasing.

Under the NAHA, the Council of Australian Governments has approved additional funding of $1.2 billion for five years from 2008-09 as a down payment on the 12 year reform agenda outlined in this White Paper.

$800 million of this funding will be spent on services to prevent and reduce homelessness - delivered through the National Partnership on Homelessness.  A further $400 million will increase the supply of affordable and supported housing for people who would otherwise be homeless - delivered through the National Partnership on Social Housing.

Detailed Implementation Plans for each National Partnership will be agreed between the Australian Government and each state and territory in the first half of 2009.

Wherever possible, homelessness should be prevented.  People who experience homelessness should move quickly through the crisis system to long-term housing and at the same time should get help to reconnect them with education, employment and the community.  Both the specialist homelessness system and the mainstream system have roles to play to help people participate socially and economically in their communities and to maintain long term housing.

The response to homelessness will be implemented through three strategies:

  1. Turning off the tap: services will intervene early to prevent homelessness
  2. Improving and expanding services: services will be more connected and responsive to achieve sustainable housing,  improve economic and social participation and end homelessness for their clients
  3. Breaking the cycle: people who become homeless will move quickly through the crisis system to stable housing with the support they need so that homelessness does not recur.

Turning off the tap

Homelessness can be prevented by tackling the structural drivers of homelessness such as entrenched disadvantage, unemployment and the shortage of affordable housing; and targeting groups who are at risk of homelessness such as older people in housing stress, women and children leaving violence, Indigenous Australians and people leaving state care.

The response involves many portfolios in all levels of government. Significant major reforms are already under way such as the Closing the Gap Package for Indigenous Australians, the National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy and the proposed National Child Protection Framework. Prevention strategies should focus on key transition points and life events. There are some excellent local homelessness prevention initiatives. Over the next 12 years, effort will be focused on delivering evidence based prevention programs more widely across the country.

Initiatives under this strategy include:

Improving and expanding services

All people who are vulnerable to homelessness will need help from mainstream services such as Centrelink and health and employment services. Those who become homeless may also seek help from the specialist homelessness sector. At present, they have to approach each service they need separately, often repeating their story over and over again.

Mainstream services must identify people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness so they can receive all the support they need. Services must also review their policies and practices to ensure they do not make the lives of their homeless clients even more difficult. There should be ‘no wrong doors’ for people who are homeless when they seek help.

Specialist homelessness services are needed to provide a crisis response to people who have no accommodation, to assist them with their transition to stable housing and to provide a source of expertise on homelessness. But specialist homelessness services cannot be expected to deliver the entire homelessness response.

People will get much better help if mainstream and specialist homelessness services work better together. Improving information technology systems across services will also help.  Developing advanced practitioner positions in specialist homelessness services will drive this integration and provide enhanced career opportunities for skilled staff.

Legislation will underpin the national response to homelessness, setting standards to deliver the best quality services possible.

Breaking the cycle

For some people, homelessness is an isolated event – it happens once and for a short time. For others, a small minority, homelessness is part of a chaotic and uncertain life of poverty and disadvantage. These people tend to cycle in and out of homelessness and when they do find housing, it tends to be short term.

An increase in the supply of affordable housing and specialist housing models that link accommodation and support is critical to reducing homelessness. 

People who are chronically homeless need wrap-around support that addresses all their needs.  People who participate in work and their community are more likely to leave homelessness permanently. 

Services targeting people sleeping rough in Australia are underdeveloped.  Assertive outreach programs are needed to get them into stable housing, to address their health issues and to assist them to stabilise their lives.

Children who experience homelessness are more likely to become homeless when they reach adulthood.  Many children who are accommodated in the specialist homelessness service system have witnessed or been victims of domestic violence.  They need specialist assistance to help them deal with the traumas of homelessness and violence and get them back to school and participating in recreational activities.

Initiatives under this strategy include:

Research

The Australian Government will develop a national homelessness research strategy to support the White Paper.  Homelessness research priorities will include population-based research, cost-benefit analysis, analysis of the effectiveness of interventions and longitudinal studies.  Improved information technology systems will assist integration between homelessness services and mainstream services and facilitate reporting against COAG’s performance indicators.

Implementation and governance

To drive the agenda on homelessness, the Prime Minister will appoint a Council on Homelessness   The Council will monitor the achievement of the goals and targets set out in the White Paper by 2013 and 2020. 

It will report annually to the Prime Minister.  Principles established by the Social Inclusion Board will guide the Council’s work.

The Australian Government will also establish the Bea Miles Foundation to work in partnership with the business and corporate sectors to harness their efforts in reducing homelessness.

The COAG Reform Council will monitor progress against the outcomes and performance indicators in the NAHA.

The response to homelessness will be underpinned by legislation that guarantees that people who are homeless are treated with dignity and respect, and receive quality services.

Return to top

Chapter One: Scoping the Problem

Background