DOCUMENT LIBRARY

Here are some ideas for the National Homeless Person week 2013.

Confused about the new youth refuge enhanced model?? Come prepared to find out about and ask questions on these 2 new models.

This is a brochure produced by the Australian Electoral Commision to inform people experiencing homelessness how they can enrol to vote.

This is a poster produced by the Australian Electoral Commission to inform people experiencing homelessness about how they can enrol to vote.

Social exclusion is measured across a range of life domains, such as access to material resources, employment, education, social participation and community attachment such as volunteering. ‘Marginal’ and ‘deep’ forms of social exclusion are found to be distributed across all housing tenures. High proportions of households resident in public housing are socially excluded households (80%), followed by outright owners (41%); private rental (39%), and purchaser owner households (16%).

This study suggests that in addition to focusing on local areas characterised by entrenched, concentrated disadvantage, joined-up policy responses to disadvantage also need to address issues of geographically dispersed social exclusion. There is a need for both household-based and place-based initiatives to support socially excluded households and to enhance the living environments in which many live.

Social exclusion is measured across a range of life domains, such as access to material resources, employment, education, social participation and community attachment such as volunteering. ‘Marginal’ and ‘deep’ forms of social exclusion are found to be distributed across all housing tenures. High proportions of households resident in public housing are socially excluded households (80%), followed by outright owners (41%); private rental (39%), and purchaser owner households (16%).

This study suggests that in addition to focusing on local areas characterised by entrenched, concentrated disadvantage, joined-up policy responses to disadvantage also need to address issues of geographically dispersed social exclusion. There is a need for both household-based and place-based initiatives to support socially excluded households and to enhance the living environments in which many live.

Link to document:

This survey was designed to provide a reference point for how the out-of-home care system is faring in 2013 from the point of view of the children and young people living in it. It covers all the life domains identified under the Looking After Children framework and those articulated by the Australian Government in the Outline of National Standards for Out-of-Home Care.

In West Heidelberg, repair requests from tenants are often not responded to by the local public housing office, are delayed for lengthy periods of time or are not completed properly. As a result, many public tenants in the area are living in substandard conditions. Clearly, the Victorian public housing system is struggling to meet the obligations placed on it as a landlord under the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic) (“the RTA”).

Private Rental Housing Pathways for young people aged 18-25 who are recovering from a diagnosed or emerging mental illness who have commenced or are in the process of, re-engaging with their employment and education/training aspirations.

This report looks at the role that community sector and government organisations play in reinforcing this scaffolding and considers how supports can be further strengthened to promote better outcomes for all young Victorians.

Looking to find a pathway for your client into the mental health system? Come prepared to ask questions specifically on behalf of your client

This paper analyses the circumstances that led to people being disconnected from utilities, the impacts of disconnection, and how people manage to finance reconnection. It is based on 171 surveys and four interviews with consumers disconnected in the second half of 2012. Findings are compared with Cut Off survey results from 2004 and 2008, noting a number of significant changes over the past eight years.

The research reveals that paid workers are just as likely as pensioners and the unemployed to be disconnected from electricity, gas or water. Disconnection is most often the result of long-term financial stress rather than a one-off event. Furthermore, a significant number of respondents reported an unusually high utility bill and debt prior to disconnection. There was also a high proportion of people who felt that retailer payment plans were unaffordable, and a large number of people did not know that vouchers or payment assistance existed to pay utility bills in emergency situations. This suggests a strong need to improve and promote existing support services and for utility retailers to engage with consumers in ways that are tailored to their needs to avoid disconnection, especially for paid workers who may not be eligible for government assistance.

This paper explores existing wellbeing frameworks at global and local levels that are relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote Australia.

This project charted the range of pathways into and within the current Australian social and affordable housing system. It developed a better understanding of the various ways by which people in different places and with different abilities, desires and needs, access social and affordable housing.

SUMITT Workshop Registration Form for all SUMITT training and registration.

This document has dates and geographic locations of upcoming VHAP consultations that will be run by KPMG on behalf of the Department of Human Services.

In 2010–11, Australia’s welfare state, which includes health, education and income support payments, accounted for approximately $316 billion in government expenditure and 65% of total government expenditure.
By way of comparison, Australia’s three levels of government received $358 billion in tax revenue in 2010–11, of which $138 billion was received through income tax payments. • Of the $316 billion spending on the welfare state, approximately half, or $158 billion, can be attributed to tax-welfare churn.

Tax-welfare churn, the process of levying taxes on people and then returning those taxes to the same people in the form of income support payments and welfare services, simultaneously or over the course of an individual’s lifetime, continues to be a problem in Australia.

Churn imposes a number of social and economic costs such as high taxes, administration costs, inefficiency, rent-seeking, paternalism, and welfare dependency.

While Australia has relatively low levels of churn when compared to other developed countries, this does not mean governments and policymakers should ignore the issue.

ABS data show the Australian welfare state provides a ‘benefit tsunami’ once someone retires because the welfare benefits that elderly individuals receive substantially exceed their tax contributions after they retire.

Governments have recently committed to further expansion of the welfare state via increased pension payments, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), and school education reforms—all of which exacerbate the financial crisis we are heading towards.

When combined with the fiscal pressures of an ageing population and expected lower tax revenue growth, it is clear the Australian welfare state is unsustainable on current trends.

There are a number of possible reforms that, in addition to being worthy policy changes in their own right, would have the additional benefit of reducing tax-welfare churn.

For example, Australia’s system of retirement savings is in dire need of reform. Aligning and increasing the preservation and age pension eligibility ages, combined with a requirement to use superannuation savings to purchase an annuity, will go far to reducing lifetime tax-welfare churn, welfare dependence, and future fiscal pressures.

There are numerous possible reforms to income support payments (including Family Tax Benefits and the Disability Support Pension), education and health that can reduce churn. This report outlines a selection of possible reforms.

Finally, this report briefly outlines the concept of a ‘personal savings and loan account,’ a tax-effective savings vehicle that would allow people to receive welfare benefits in the form of income contingent loans and make tax-free contributions to cover income support, health and education expenses.

It is well documented that alcohol-related problems compromise individual and social health, and wellbeing. The individual harms are numerous, including premature death, loss of enjoyment and loss of social utility through fear of crime and victimisation. The misuse of alcohol, particularly among those most at risk in our community, presents a major challenge for all levels of government. In this paper, a study is presented that provides a better national-level estimate of the costs of alcohol-related problems in Australia. Despite taking a conservative estimate, the aggregate of a range of societal costs substantially outweighs the tax revenue for the Commonwealth generated from the sale of alcohol. Results of this study provide evidence to policymakers regarding costs to the criminal justice system, costs to the health system, costs resulting from lost productivity and costs related to alcohol-related road accidents. Such evidence will provide an understanding of the economic tradeoffs that are present when making decisions that affect all Australians. Proposals are provided in the conclusion for a greater investment in prevention, based on the sound evaluation of prevention and diversion strategies by comparison with treatment options, in order to ensure better investments for the nation.

This report presents estimates of health expenditure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their non-Indigenous counterparts for 2010-11. The reports are produced every 2 years. This is the seventh report in the series.
In 2010-11, health expenditure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was estimated at $4,552 million, or 3.7% of Australia's total recurrent health expenditure. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population comprised 2.5% of the Australian population on 31 December 2010.

Per person health expenditure

In 2010-11, average health expenditure per Indigenous Australian was $7,995, compared with $5,437 per non-Indigenous Australian. This represents an Indigenous per person ratio of 1.47-that is, $1.47 was spent on health per Indigenous Australian for every $1.00 spent per non-Indigenous Australian.

This ratio (1.47) was an increase from 1.39 in 2008-09. Some of this increase may be due to improvements in the accuracy and quality of the estimates in this report.

Areas of health expenditure

In 2010-11, publicly provided services, such as public hospital and community health services, were the highest expenditure areas for the Indigenous population. For example, the average per person expenditure on public hospital services for Indigenous Australians ($3,631) was more than double that for non-Indigenous Australians ($1,683).

For health services that have greater out-of-pocket expenses, such as pharmaceutical and dental services, Indigenous expenditure is generally lower relative to the non-Indigenous population. For example, the average per person expenditure on dental services was $149 for Indigenous Australians, compared with $355 for non-Indigenous Australians.

Funding sources

The Australian Government (44.8%) and the state and territory governments (46.6%) combined funded 91.4% of the total health expenditure for Indigenous Australians in 2010-11. The non-government sector, which includes out-of-pocket payments by individuals, funded 8.6%.

For non-Indigenous Australians, the Australian Government (44.5%) and the state and territory governments (23.7%) funded 68.1% of the total health expenditure. Non-government sources and individuals funded the remaining 31.9%.

Health expenditure trends over time

Between 2008-09 and 2010-11, all government (Australian and state and territory governments) health expenditure on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people increased by $847 per person (in constant prices). This represented an average annual growth rate of 6.1%. The corresponding figure for non-Indigenous Australians was 2.6%. Expenditure per person for Indigenous Australians was higher in all areas of expenditure for 2010-11 compared with 2008-09.

CHFV has prepared a submission commenting on the discussion paper produced, “Towards a more effective and sustainable community services system.” This is the over-arching reform process that has the potential to influence the outcomes of other processes such as the THM review and even the Housing Framework.

This project investigated forced exits from private rental accommodation in Australia. It sought to understand practitioner responses and systems of service integration to assist these people be reintegrated back into suitable accommodation.

In 2011, the ABS conducted a review of the methodology used to count people who live in housing that is below the minimum community standard. The results of the review suggested that there was an overestimation of homelessness in a number of categories including boarding houses, resulting in a reduction of individuals classified as living in boarding houses.

This report, funded by the Australian Government under the National Homelessness Research Agenda, investigates whether boarding houses are in fact disappearing as census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) suggests. It fits into an ongoing academic and policy discussion regarding the enumeration of homelessness in Australia. The researcher contends that significantly larger numbers of people are experiencing tertiary homelessness through living in boarding houses than has been previously identified.

Homeless people with children have complex needs and service providers who deal with them require a level of expertise in a wide range of issues. Training for these service providers can be difficult to provide, particularly for services operating in a rural or regional context, so online resources have been developed by a number of organisations to fill some gaps in knowledge.

This report, funded under the Australian Government’s National Homelessness Research Agenda, reviews two sets of online training materials that support service providers working with homeless children. It aims to establish whether having access to freely-available materials can increase the awareness, knowledge and confidence of workers in specialist homelessness services in regards to working with homeless children. The two packages are the Australian Catholic University’s Kids ‘R’ Central package (also titled Kids Central) and the United States National Center on Family Homelessness Understanding Traumatic Stress in Children booklet.

The researchers contacted 123 employees of specialist homelessness service providers who worked with children. Respondents were asked to rate their agreement with statements regarding homeless children’s needs, and their own skills in addressing these needs, both before and after reading the training materials. Respondents were also asked to identify any aspects of the resource they liked or found useful as well as what they did not like.

As only a very low percentage of respondents had actually read the training materials, the ability to draw conclusions from the quantitative results is limited. However, some useful conclusions may be drawn from the qualitative reflections.

For most young people who drop out, this is where their education ends, leaving them moving from one dead-end job to another, at risk of homelessness and addictions, wholly dependent on welfare payments for survival. And Gary’s story is all too common.

One-quarter of all young Australians aged 18 to 25 are neither learning nor earning. Keeping young people in school has been a high priority of 30 years of federal and state governments. For several reasons, the economic and social costs of early school leavers are significant. Young people who drop out of school are more likely to be unemployed, to live in poverty, to be sick or suffer mental health issues, to have dysfunctional relationships, to abuse drugs and alcohol and find themselves on the wrong side of the criminal justice system.

Youth Studies Australia 32(1): 3-4.

Information flyer on Whitelion's Youth Programs

Nomination form for Whitelion Youth Programs

Publicly funded alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia provide services to people seeking treatment for their own drug use and people seeking assistance for someone else’s drug use.

Main findings on alcohol and other drug treatment services in 2010–11, including information on clients, principal drugs of concern and treatment types, are available from Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia 2010–11: report on the National Minimum Data Set (AIHW 2012). This supplementary report presents key state and territory findings on the treatment episodes closed in 2010–11.

In 2009 a national survey of specialist homelessness services was conducted to investigate how the needs of homeless children were being addressed.

A stratified sample of SAAP funded services was obtained and telephone interviews conducted with staff of participating organisations.

The interviews explored how the services identified and addressed the needs of children, what else they thought could be done to meet the needs of homeless children, issues around the prevention of family homelessness, and what they perceived as barriers and facilitators to working with other services in relation to children and their families.

Each year it is estimated that almost 2 million American youth run away from home, are thrown out of their homes, or otherwise end up homeless. As concerning as those numbers are, the risks runaway and homeless youth are exposed to when they find themselves on the street are even more so.

Running away from home dramatically increases the risk of victimization, both physically and sexually. Moreover, youth living on the streets exhibit much higher health risks including higher rates of substance abuse, suicide attempts, sexually transmitted disease, pregnancy and death.

Because runaway and homeless youth find themselves lacking skills and resources necessary to fully engage in employment, they are left with few legally permissible options for survival.

Flyer for Melbourne City Mission's upcoming Wheels Program in North Fitzroy commmencing on 27th March 2013.