HOMELESSNESS FACTS | The Untold Stories

Facts about Homelessness

15% of homeless women have an alcohol use disorder, while 36% of women have a drug use disorder ('Down and Out in Sydney' Report, 1998)
Homeless people have higher

rates of problematic substance use than people in the general community (Teesson et al. 2003, as cited in Homelessness and Substance use, Johnson & Chamberlain)
Drugs have displaced alcohol as the most commonly abused substances, with heroin being the most used drug among those who are homeless (Horn 2001, as cited in Homelessness and Substance use, Johnson & Chamberlain)
Substance abuse and (the fallout from addictive behaviours) rarely cause someone to become homeless. However, many people who face homelessness use substances as coping mechanisms, or tools for socialisation and security. (Homelessness and Substance use, Johnson & Chamberlain)
"In a benchmark study, 1000 people were asked to identify the causes of homelessness. Their most common answers were drug addiction (identified by 91% of respondents), mental illness (81 %), domestic violence (81%), and alcoholism (80%). Three out of every four people interviewed said homelessness was primarily caused by the poor decisions of homeless people themselves." (Hanover Welfare Services, 2006)

82.4% of single parents were female (Census, 2011)
There is a growing number of single elderly women becoming homeless later in life, due to: "being forced out of the workforce early, having insufficient superannuation/savings to fund the costs of living, discrimination in the housing market, the death of an income earning spouse, poor health or serious illness, often resulting directly or indirectly from abuse, and separation/divorce." (Homelessness.org.au)

105, 237 people are homeless in Australia, that's approximately 1 in every 200 people (ABS, 2011).
48.6 people are homeless per 10, 000 people in Queensland alone (Homelessness Australia, 2012)
56% are male and 44% are female
25% are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders
30% are born overseas
25% of people who access homelessness services have a disability (AIHW, 2005)
93% of homeless people reported at least one experience of extreme trauma in their life.('Down and Out in Sydney' Report, 1998)

Domestic or family violence is the most common cause of homelessness. With 55% of female clients citing this reason for homelessness, while 25% of all clients cite it as the cause (AIHW, 2012).
1/3 Women will experience violence in their lifetime
30% of children who receive funding for homelessness come from a family where domestic violence is prominent (AIHW,2012)
Murder is one of the leading causes of death for women aged under 45 (Positioning Paper, 2011)
"For 30 years or so it became normalised that women and children were the ones who were expected to lose their home in order to leave an abusive relationship, but gradually during the last decade there has been a growing feeling that this is unjust and that when possible it is the perpetrator who should be forced to leave and the women and children enabled to safely remain in their home." (Positioning Paper, 2011)

Financial difficulty is the second largest contributor to homelessness in Australia.
On the whole women earn less than men (Cassells, 2010, as cited in Homelessness Australia)
75% of part time workers in Australia are women
Many women are economically dependant on their partner, due to their role as the main caregiver.
There is a housing shortage of 500, 000 affordable and available houses for the bottom 40% income earners (National Housing Supply Council, 2013)
"Growing up in a household where no parent works, or has ever worked, and being born into a situation of intergenerational disadvantage and poverty may mean there are no economic resources to draw on in the event of a financial crisis. This problem is compounded for families living in private rental as opposed to social housing as the increasing unaffordability of the private rental market means that families are spending a substantial proportion of their take home pay on housing costs." (Homelessness.org.au, 2013)
12% of the Australian population live in poverty, while 17% of young people face the same dilemma (ACOSS, 2012)
"Between 1960 and 1990 house prices were between three to four times the average annual income, now this has more than doubled to between seven and eight times the average income." (Homelessness.org.au, as cited in AAH, 2011)
Rent rises due to income-based rents are disincentives to seek higher paid employment.

27% of the homeless population are under the age of 18 (ABS, 2011)
Around half the homeless community reported that their parents were also homeless during some period of their life (Flatau et al.,2013)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander intergenerational homelessness is at a rate of 70%
1/10 Australian households face housing stress (Australians for Affordable Housing, 2011)
1/4 Australian households in the private rental market face housing stress (Australians for Affordablle Housing, 2011)
"Young people who experience homelessness are more likely to disengage with education and employment and to be exposed to factors which are detrimental to their health, such as: drug use, inadequate nutrition, limited access to medical care and school, unsafe sexual encounters and violence." (Homelessness.org.au, 2013, as cited in FaHCSIA)
In the last 20 years home ownership among the 25-44 age group has declined by 15% (Ibid)

Why this is an issue which must be addressed

1/5 Women will experience sexual assault in their lifetime
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (1989) found that 50-75% of young people in SAAP services (Supported Accommodation Assistance Program) had experienced sexual assault.
In a study by Alder (1991), 70% of young women and 20% of young men had been sexually assaulted while homeless - only 20% had discussed it with any service provider.
A study of women and men who were homeless in Sydney (Buhrich, Hodder, & Teeson, 2000) found that half of all the women and 10% of the men had been raped in their lifetime.