Resources

Page contents: Victorian State Government homelessness strategy | Online resources/reports on youth homelessness | Homelessness Data

Victorian State Government homelessness strategy - Youth Homelessness Action Plan

The Victorian Homelessness Strategy (VHS) final report Directions for Change (2002) identified the need to develop and implement new service models for key client groups including young people. As a key strategic direction from the VHS, the Office of Housing has been undertaking the Youth Homelessness Action Plan with the aim of working towards a more integrated and holistic service response for young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

The Victorian Homelessness Action Plan is available from the Office of Housing website.

Online resources/reports on youth homelessness

Council to Homeless persons

Key CHP Youth Policy documents, including media releases, submissions to government legislative and policy reviews, policy statements, policy bulletins, research and other projects can be accessed in the Resources and Links section of the Council to Homeless Persons website.

Reconnect

The reconnect program is an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

The Reconnect program uses community-based early intervention services to bring about family reconciliation for young people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, and their families. Reconnect helps these young people improve their level of engagement with family, work, education, training and their local community.

For more information see the Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs website.

Australian Clearing House for Youth Studies

Youth Facts and Stats is a website which provides facts and statistics about Australia's youth.

Project i: homeless young people in Melbourne

Project i was one of the first, long-term studies conducted in Australia with homeless young people. It tracked the path of 165 newly homeless young people, aged between 12 and 20, over three years. The study examined how their pathways into and out of homelessness were affected by service delivery.

For more information see Project i.

Living well? Homeless young people in Melbourne.

The data presented in this report reveal a varied and complex picture of the health and living arrangements of homeless young people in Melbourne in the early twenty-first century. The findings both reinforce and challenge some of the popular stereotypes and understandings of homeless young people.

For more information see the Project i website.

Council to Homeless persons: Youth Policy

Street wise health advice" “674- A pocket guide to keeping well on the street”

The University of Melbourne’s Key Centre for Women’s Health in Society (KCWHS), produced the booklet – 674: A Pocket Guide to Keeping Well on the Street –based on research findings from Project i, a longitudinal study of 674 young people in Melbourne and Los Angeles.

Melbourne Citymission

The Homelessness service area comprises a range of services for those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Young people between the ages of 12-25 years can access early intervention, crisis accommodation, material aid, casework, outreach, refuge accommodation and support services while Adult & Family Services are available for single adults and families.

For more information see the Melbourne Citymission website.

Developing models of good practice in meeting the needs of homeless young people in rural areas

This project aimed to develop models of good practice in dealing with homeless young people in rural areas. Homelessness is often considered to be a problem of the capital cities and major urban areas, but there is a growing awareness of the non-metropolitan homeless population. Conventional accommodation services and supports may not be appropriate for homeless young people in rural areas, but it may be impossible to provide specialist facilities due to the sparseness of the population and limited resources.

Fore more information see the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute website.

Making the link between mental health and youth homelessness

This report describes the background, methods and findings of a UK study into homelessness and mental health among 16-25 year olds.

Available from the Centrepoint website.

Homeless Link - Young people

Homeless Link is the national membership organisation for frontline homelessness agencies in England.

For more information see the Homeless link website.

Crisis Help Network

Crisis Help Network is an up-to-date and regularly up-dated web site dedicated to providing information about organizations able to help people in crisis. It is compiled and maintained by people who are or have been in crisis, and whose experiences are invaluable to the worth of this resource

For more information see the Crisis Help Network website.

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Homelessness Data

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)

People experiencing homelessness may access a wide range of government services provided for the broader community. These include general health services, particularly drug rehabilitation programs, general community services and housing assistance. There are also programs specifically for people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness, such as the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP), which is the major government response to Homelessness. Other government programs include the Crisis Accommodation Program (CAP) (see the Housing Assistance Unit) and Reconnect, which is an early intervention program for young people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. More information about Reconnect can be found at the Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs website.

The Institute produces a number of reports each year on the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP).

Australia's health 2006
Australia's health 2006 is the tenth biennial health report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. It is the nation's authoritative source of information on patterns of health and illness, determinants of health, the supply and use of health services, and health services expenditure.

Homelessness Links Page
This page which is part of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare website contains information on:

• government housing assistance programs;
• non-government homelessness organisations;
• statistical and research information about homelessness and the housing sector in Australia;
• homelessness programs in other countries;

Australian Bureau of Statistics

ABS statistics on homelessness
This page provides national and statewide statistics on homelessness produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

2006 Census: Homeless People
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has developed a strategy to count homeless people for the 2006 Census. The Homeless People Enumeration Strategy involves a range of approaches which recognise and address social and cultural barriers to counting homeless people.

ABS Counting the Homeless 2001
The 1996 census was the first census to target Australia’s homeless population with a special enumeration strategy, using the cultural definition of homelessness (Chamberlain 1999). Counting the Homeless 2001 (cat. no. 2050.0) uses the same definition of homelessness, as well as following the methodological precedents established for the 1996 analysis. The aim was to replicate the 1996 analysis and examine changes in the homeless population over time.

Housing Arrangements - Homelessness - Australian Social Trends (2004)
On Census Night 2001, 99,900 people were homeless, including at least 14,200 people 'sleeping rough'.

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