Photographer : Cybele |
No fixed address"I walked behind this guy the other day. A homeless guy asked him for money.He looks right at the homeless guy and says ‘why don't you go get a job you bum’.People always say that to homeless guys like it is so easy.This homeless guy was wearing his underwear outside his pants.Outside his pants. I'm guessing his resume isn't all up to date."Underwear goes inside the pants—Lazy Boy
What is the issue?Adequate housing is a human right and is part of having a quality of life. However, each day almost 100,000 Australians are without safe, secure and affordable housing. This means there are heaps of people everyday without a roof over their head.
- Tonight half of Australia's homeless will stay with friends or family.
- About 2 in every 7 will find a bed in a boarding house.
- A lucky 1 in every 7 will find a bed in the homeless service system.
- 1 in every 7 will sleep rough on the streets of our cities and towns.
DefinitionsHomelessness is usually defined as not having a house to live in. But, it is also about having little or no safety or security. A homeless person may have no shelter at all or a shelter that compromises their health or safety.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) defines homelessness as:
- currently living on the street
- living in crisis or refuge accommodation
- living in temporary arrangements without security, for example, moving between the residences of friends or relatives, living in squats, caravans or dwellings, or living in boarding houses
- living in unsafe family circumstances, for example, where child abuse or domestic violence is a threat or has occurred
- living on a very low income and facing costly expenses or a personal crisis.
Who is homeless? There is a common view that homeless people are middle-aged, alcoholic men who sleep on a park bench. However, anyone can become homeless—young or old, families or single people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, or people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Why is it happening? There are many reasons why people
become homeless. These can be:
- poverty
- unemployment
- not enough affordable housing
- poor physical or mental health
- intellectual disability
- drug and alcohol abuse
- gambling
- family and relationship breakdown
- domestic violence
- physical and/or sexual abuse.
All these factors can cause a person to become homeless. They can also be one of the reasons why a person remains homeless. For example, drug and alcohol abuse can be both a cause and a result of homelessness.
How do I know this?Australian Federation of Homelessness Organisations,
http://www.afho.org.au/Australian Institute of Heath and Welfare 2005, Homelessness FAQs,
http://www.aihw.gov.au/housing/sacs/faqs.cfmMackenzie, D & Chamberlain, C 2001, Counting the Homeless, Australian Bureau of Statistics,
http://www.countingthehomeless.com.au.Mission Australia,
http://www.mission.com.au Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 25 (1),
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
