According to the report, homelessness services were forced to decline about 119,910 requests for help between 2014-15. That’s about 330 every day.
Overall, 255,500 people were assisted by specialist homelessness agencies across Australia in 2014–15, receiving nearly 20 million days of support and about 6.6 million nights of accommodation.
The main reasons for the unmet requests were because the agency was over capacity or the required specialised help, for example mental health or family issues, could not be offered.
“It’s often because the crisis accommodation is full up that day – demand continues to outstrip supply,” AIHW spokesman Geoff Neideck told AAP.
Most of those turned away were women, who made up about 212 or 65 per cent of unassisted requests.
Women with children made up almost a third of those turned away.
Family violence remains one of the top reasons for people seeking homelessness support.
Neideck says while there’s no specific data to show women fleeing violent partners are being turned away, the link was apparent given domestic violence was the most common reason for seeking help.
“It’s clearly that would be the case given the numbers of people taken up as clients,” he said.
Snapshot of homelessness in Australia:
- One in four unassisted requests for homelessness services were from females aged between 18 and 34
- Four in five requests from single people with children were from females; most of whom were aged between 18 and 34
- Estimated 119,910 requests for assistance that were not met, down 22 per cent from last year
- Fifty-one per cent of agencies cited a lack of accommodation available for unassisted requests
- Overall, 255,500 people were assisted by specialist homelessness agencies across Australia
- One in three clients sought support for domestic and family violence.
The report is available here.
AAP.