Poverty, Homelessness and Disadvantage

Topics

Poverty

• Preliminary Report: Survey on the Impact on Families of the Economic Downturn, FAHCSIA (2009). The Survey was conducted to help understand the different ways in which families have been affected by, and responded to, the downturn and the changing economic environment. A survey of 1,650 families with at least one child aged under 18 years was conducted between May and June 2009.
• The effect of relationship breakdown on income and social exclusion, De Vaus et al (2009). This report uses data collected from the first seven waves of the HILDA survey and adopts a multidimensional approach to the financial circumstances of men and women following divorce by measuring equivalent household income, experience of financial hardship and subjective measure of perceived prosperity. 
• Families, Incomes and Jobs, Volume 3: A Statistical Report on Waves 1 to 5 of the HILDA Survey, Bruce Headey and Diana Warren. This report highlights that income and consumption are not closely correlated and the three groups lone mothers, people who are separated or divorced and people with a disability are flagged as having poor networks and lacking in social capital. A more detailed overview by FRSA of this report is available.
• 2006 State of the Family "Life on a Low Income" report by Anglicare Australia highlights the complex and precarious balancing act low income families must engage in in order to make ends meet. The report goes behind the statistics and tells some of the piognant real life stories of the 400,000 people who knocked on the door of one of forty-three agenices in the Anglicare Australia network during 2006.
• Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey Annual Report 2007, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research.  Funded by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Service and Indigenous Affairs, this household-based panel study collects information about economic and subjective well-being, labour market dynamics and family dynamics.
• ACOSS Submission to the Fair Pay Commission (2008). This submission calls for a substantial rise in minimum wages to help ease financial pressures on low paid workers from rising rents, food and fuel prices. It sets out new data on poverty among low paid households and gives a detailed analysis of the relationship between minimum wages and employment and incentives to work. Source: A(2007)  by Professor Tony . ustralian Policy Online.

Disadvantage and Locational Disadvantage

• Social Inclusion - Intergenerational Disadvantage - prepared for DEEWR by Professor Tony Vinson, University of Sydney (2009). This paper explores the meaning for the pattern of intergenerational disadvantage and attempts to estimate the extent, medium and cost of the passage of disadvantage from one generation to the next.
• Families on the Fringe, Healy et al, University of Queensland (2009). This report promotes the social inclusion of young  families moving to non-metropolitan areas.
• Compendium of Social Inclusion Indicators, Australian Social Inclusion Board (2009). These indicators are some of the first steps towards comprehensive performance measurement and evaluation of social inclusion in Australia. Some issues addressed include income, access to the job market, social supports and networks, effects of the local neighbourhood, access to services and health.
• Dropping Off the Edge, Professor Tony Vinson (2007). Commissioned by Jesuit Social Services and Catholic Social Services Australia to map the distribution of social disadvantage throughout Australia. Each State and Territory provided detailed information on more than twenty different variables that are relevant to the measurement of social disadvantage.  This information has been combined with data more readily available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Copies of the report are available through the order form on the web page, and detailed interactive maps and statistical data are now available online.
• Census of Population and Housing: Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (2008). The Australian Bureau of Statistics has developed four downloadable summary measures on Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), based on data from the 2006 Census. Within each index a SEIFA score is given showing how disadvantaged that area is compared with other areas in Australia. Source: Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth.
• Intergenerational Disadvantage - prepared for the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations by Professor Tony Vinson, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney. This is the fifth of a series of commissioned papers on social inclusion/exclusion. For some time now work participation statistics in Australia have shown the apparent prolongation of the disadvantages experienced by some parents in the lives of their offspring. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 1994) data has indicated that young people whose parents are not in work have lower labour force participation rates and higher unemployment rates than young people with at least one parent at work. More recently, information gathered from a group of jobseekers showed that young people with one or both parents in work were significantly more likely to have found stable employment over a one-year period than young people whose parents were not in work (ABS, 1998). It is the meaning of this type of pattern that is explored in this paper and an attempt is made to estimate the extent, the medium and cost of the passage of disadvantage from one generation to the next.

Homelessness

• Counting the homeless 2006: New South Wales, Chamberlain & MacKenzie (2009). This report introduces new information from the Counting the Homeless 2006 national project on: the social characteristics of the homeless population and the geographical distribution of homeless people as well as information regarding marginal caravan park dwellers and Indigenous homelessness.
• Australian Government Which Way Home, A new approach to homelessness May 2008. A green paper released by the Australian Government, examines the root causes of homelessness, overviews programs and services delivered by the community, government and business sectors, and highlights three new approaches to homelessness. This green paper calls for community input in order to shape how homelessness will be addressed into the future.
• Women, domestic and family violence and homelessness: a synthesis report by Australian Government Office for Women / FaHCSIA (posted 04-10-2008), homelessness due to domestic violence is widespread; this report finds that there is no one pathway or solution to homelessness and investigates the support and accommodation needs of women and children affected by domestic and family violence.
• Australia's Homeless Youth: A Report of the National Youth Commission into Youth Homelessness (2008).  This was an independent community inquiry funded by the Caledonia Foundation, a private philanthropic foundation focused on sustainable futures for young Australians, which found the number of homeless young people aged between 12 and 18 has doubled in Australia to 22,000 in the past two decades.
• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Housing Assistance in Australia provides an overview of the types, extent and benefits of government assistance available to homeowners and renters as well as to people experiencing homelessness, due to factors including affordability, family conflict, domestic violence, discrimination, disability or health status.
• Putting Children First (2007) is a report by Melbourne City Mission which explores the concerns and needs of families with children who are homeless. Report findings revealed that families were waiting on average 13 months for long term housing; that all families had unmet needs; that caseworkers needed more time with families in order to address children's needs; the absence of preventative measures that address the root causes of homelessness, and there is an urgent need for Federal and State Governments to collaborate with the community sector and implement reforms immediately. Melbourne City Mission also released a Plan for Change(2007) to guide future Government responses to homelessness.
• Children's Experience of Homelessness, Australian Institute of Child Protection Studies for the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services (ACT Govt.) This project aimed to explore the following questions: What are the experiences of homelessness from the child's perspective including their school experience? What are the impacts of homelessness on children's social and emotional development? What is the relationship between homelessness and child protection services? What are the service and policy implications of these experiences? Tim Moore, Debbie Noble-Carr, Morag McArthur. Report: Finding their Way Home (PDF, 3.4mb) (2007)
• Youth Homelessness: case studies of the reconnect program: Final Report (2001) by Ceri Evans and Sheila Shaver and prepared for the department of family and community services by the Social Policy Research Centre. This report explores the initial development of the Commonwealth's Reconnect program by focusing on the system of support for young people, as it is operating in four localities in urban, rural and regional areas.
• Australia's strengths and challenges in responding to homelessness: An international comparison (2008) by David Wright-Howie, Council to Homeless Persons. This paper argues that whilst homelessness in Australia is substantial and needs attention, we are well placed, compared to other Western countries, to develop a comprehensive national plan to prevent and reduce homelessness.
• Which way home? A new approach to homelessness (2008), Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. This green paper is the first step in developing a new national approach to homelessness. It seeks to promote public discussion of homelessness, highlight the challenges faced by people who are homeless, and suggest ways forward.
• The cost-effectiveness of homelessness programs: a first assessment (2008) Paul Flatau and others / Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.  Provides a first assessment of the cost-effectiveness of homelessness programs operating in Australia.
• More than a bed: Sydney’s homeless speak out (posted 08.07.2008), Wesley Mission. Based on interviews with some of the most marginalised in the Sydney community, this report examines the causes of homelessness and the reasons why people remain homeless.
• Homelessness is a human rights issue (posted 21-07-08), Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission . More than just a housing issue, homelessness is considered in this paper in the context of the many ways that it impacts on a person's ability to enjoy basic rights and freedoms.

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