More than one in five children under 18 who sought help from homelessness services were turned away because providers were pushed to the limit, in staggering figures revealed by a report by Australia’s peak body.
Figures revealed in Homelessness Australia’s 2024 Child Homelessness Report revealed that of the 95,847 children, including 15,902 unaccompanied by a parent or carer, who sought homelessness support services in the 2022-23 financial year, 19,833 were turned away and unable to receive any support.
Despite 76,014 children receiving help from specialist services, more than one in three (25,414) remained homeless, representing a 3.2 per cent year-on-year increase; Queensland reported a 20 per cent increase and numbers in South Australia grew by 15.9 per cent.
The figures were released ahead of Homelessness Week 2024, which will be officially launched by newly appointed Housing and Homelessness Minister Clare O’Neil on Monday, in her first public appearance since taking office.
Homelessness Australia chief executive Kate Colvin said it was “devastating” that children were being turned away due to a lack of resources and services.
The sector is also being hit by a “perfect storm” of factors: the housing and cost of living crisis is leading more people to turn to homelessness services, while a shortage of affordable rentals means it is now much harder to rehouse people who have lost their homes.
“What happens at the front door of homelessness services is that there are only a limited number of staff and often by 11am all the appointments for that day are full and all the resources to place people into emergency accommodation for the night have already been expended,” she said.
“What that means is that someone who has nowhere to sleep that night has to sleep on the street or in their car.”
Of 95,847 children under 18 who sought homeless support services, 19,833 were turned away and were unable to receive any support (file image)
Other countries, such as the UK, have protections in place to prevent young people from becoming homeless (file image)
Ms Colvin added that while turning away vulnerable children from resource-limited services has become “normal”, other countries have protections in place to prevent this from happening.
“In the UK, homeless services are provided by local government, and families and children are entitled to homelessness support and accommodation,” she said.
‘In the UK there are no homeless children because they are provided with accommodation, and we don’t have that.
“This is not what happens in every other country, where children are left homeless and denied services. This is something that should shock us and change.”
Paying tribute to former Housing and Homelessness Minister Julie Collins for her work to restore federal government investment in social housing, Ms Colvin also called on Ms O’Neil to prioritise increasing supply.
“The new minister’s priority is really to boost government investment in social housing and work with states to turn this around so that when people are looking for low-cost rentals, they can find somewhere to live,” Colvin said.
The 2024 report on the situation of homeless children found that more than one in five children seeking help from homeless support services are turned away.
New Housing and Homelessness Minister Clare O’Neil is expected to speak at the official launch on Monday.
‘The other priority involves really investing in homeless services, so that when families and children come to them, there’s a worker there who can help them.’
The report also made five recommendations, including calls for the government to commit to halving homelessness in five years and ending it within 10, as well as focusing on prevention and early intervention by increasing the supply of social and affordable housing, inbound support for tenants and strengthening support for at-risk groups.
The agency also called for a specific Action Plan for children and youth, as well as a Housing and Homelessness Plan for First Nations, as Indigenous children account for 32 percent of children experiencing homelessness.
Ms. O’Neil’s office was contacted for comment.
