Reducing homelessness - An Australian example (Part 1)

The future of homelessness is in our hands - photo courtesy of Tiny Homes Foundation

By Mateja Mihinjac

In 2008 the Australian Government released its first White Paper on homelessness in which it announced a plan to cut homelessness in half and house all rough sleepers (a British term for those sleeping in the street) by 2020. Seeing little progress, the leading Australian charities have jointly committed to reaching this goal by 2025.

However, one of the major reasons behind homelessness is rarely discussed - housing affordability.

SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM

Australia is one of the world’s wealthiest nations and it seems unacceptable that it cannot provide affordable housing to all citizens when a sizable number of homes remain unoccupied. Yet, in 2016 the number of those experiencing homelessness in Australia on any given night was estimated at 105,000.

Exact homeless figures are always difficult to estimate, but this amounts to around 0.45% of the Australian population, a national figure that has remained relatively stable since 2011. For comparison, England’s estimates are around 275,000 (0.5% of population) while the US estimates 564,708 (0.2% of population).

To make matters worse, concentrated homelessness has increased in major city downtown areas in spite of a slight downward trend around the world.

Rising numbers of homeless people are concentrated downtown  

THE PARADOX OF PUBLIC SPACE

The homeless frequently occupy public spaces of city centers which offer them safety and access to resources. Yet, as with other cities around the world like Denver and Miami, some Australian cities employ social cleansing by removing homeless groups or banning homeless camps as bad for tourism even though homelessness is not illegal.

For example, the Melbourne Mayor has recently announced a proposal for a complete ban of rough sleepers in the city. These practices displace the homeless to peripheries of cities, pushing them farther away from much-needed services thereby reducing their prospects of ever resolving homelessness. We can do much better!

Next blog – tiny homes and other solutions.