As the much maligned 2016 census comes to a close, it is worth looking back on 2011’s results to get a better grasp on Australia’s battle with homelessness. Whether it be homelessness in the form of improvised living areas, such as tents or sleeping out, or the use of boarding houses, the figures in the last census were at an all time high. While this data showed that homelessness is experienced by all ages and demographics in Australia, the most devastating statistic in this data was the outstanding rise in the proportion of homeless youths.
This rise was seen particularly in the level of homeless students, with pre-school, infants and primary school aged children being the most effected. In the 2011 census, there was close to twice as many children experiencing homelessness at this age than there were at secondary school and tertiary school ages.
[infogram id=”3a1d8546-bc22-4ea2-834a-a804fe2b7314″]From 2006 to 2011, the total number of young children experiencing homelessness of any kind increased from 7,640 to 9,730. Of all the categories listed (including improvised dwellings, supported accommodation, temporary housing, boarding houses and temporary lodging) the highest increase was seen in children living in severely crowded dwellings, where households didn’t meet standards set by the Canadian National Occupancy Standard (CNOS), such as no more than two to a bedroom or a parent occupying a separate room to the children. This figure rose from 4,630 children to 6267 over the course of five years.
[infogram id=”8ab487a2-30cd-4723-88a8-c4c499a38ab3″]The data also looked at living environments that weren’t considered “homeless”, but were still compromising and unstable, including persons in other crowded dwellings (that may not have been severe but were still an unsuitable way to live), which consisted of 8,018 young children and persons who are marginally housed in caravan parks, of which 319 were pre-school, infants and primary school aged children.
The number of people living without a home is set to increase even more so in the 2016 census. But why are primary schoolers, infants and pre schoolers the most effected? A main explanation for this is that often, it can actually be safer for these children to live on the streets, than to remain in a violent home. Unlike tertiary and some secondary school students, these children are entirely dependent on an adult for housing. Thus, if their parents fall victim to homelessness through violence, so will they.
In article for The Age, Melbourne City Mission’s director of homelessness services, Sherri Bruinhout, said this rise could be explained by the fact that more and more mothers are leaving violent relationships, as a result of family violence campaigner, Rosie Batty, being named Australian of the Year in 2015. She said “unfortunately we weren’t as well equipped to deal with that and we were under the pump”, meaning despite the $152 million dollar funding for family violence housing assistance, the number of victims was still too high.
Although a number of initiatives have been employed to combat this increase in youth homelessness, a research report by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, School students who are homeless: finding solutions, said “this improvement has not been uniform across the country” and “early prevention is key”. Another report by Roy Martin of Hanover Welfare Services called ‘The Empty Lunch Box’ said primary school teachers can recognise and then assist students experiencing homelessness through signs such as un unkempt appearance, absenteeism, antisocial behaviour and an empty lunchbox.
