Report on Government Services 2023

Government and non‑government specialist homelessness services deliver a range of services to clients — including supported accommodation, counselling, advocacy, links to housing, health, education and employment services, outreach support, brokerage and meals services, and financial and employment assistance.

Accessing homelessness services in Australia

Systems for the assessment, intake, referral and ongoing case management of specialist homelessness services clients vary across states and territories, ranging from agency-based to centralised management models. This variation may affect data comparability for specific performance indicators. Three broad summary categories are identified here — table 19.1 summarises the intake and referral systems used in each jurisdiction and identifies the category with which they most closely align.

• Community sector funding and support — Assessment of client needs and intake into services is managed by individual specialist homelessness service providers in line with State or Territory policies. Referral to other service providers is made if clients’ needs are not able to be met by the initial provider. These systems may be supported by a coordinating service that links clients to local specialist homelessness service providers. Coordinating services may also make an initial assessment of clients’ needs (but do not provide homelessness services directly).
• Central information management — Assessment of client needs, intake and referral is managed by any specialist homelessness service provider using State/Territory central information management tools. The central information management system supports the identification of appropriate services for the client and indicates the availability/vacancy of those services across specialist homelessness service providers. Client information may be shared between providers upon referral (with client consent).
• Central intake — Assessment of client needs, intake and referral is managed by one or more ‘central intake’ agencies. Central intake agencies prioritise client access to services and, for specialist homelessness services, only refer clients as services and/or vacancies are available. Central information management tools may be used to share information between central intake agencies and specialist homelessness service providers.

a The category provided is the most closely aligned to the jurisdictions intake and referral system. Each State and Territory’s intake and referral system has its own characteristics.

Source: State and Territory governments.

The NHHA aims to contribute to an effective homelessness service that responds to and supports people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to achieve and maintain housing and address the incidence and prevalence of homelessness (COAG 2018).

Government funded specialist homelessness services are jointly funded by the Australian Government and State and Territory governments, via NHHA funding (Homelessness component — matched equally between the Australian Government and State and Territory governments).

Direct expenditure on specialist homelessness services is undertaken by State and Territory governments. Recurrent government expenditure on specialist homelessness services in 2021-22 was $1.3 billion (or $51.86 per person in the population; table 19A.1) — 96.7 per cent of which was provided to agencies to deliver specialist homelessness services. The remaining 3.3 per cent was attributed to State and Territory government administration costs (table 19A.1).

Population

Data on the prevalence of homelessness are sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS 2018). Nationally in 2016, approximately 49.8 Australians per 10 000 people in the population were homeless on Census night — an increase of 4.6 per cent from 2011 (table 19A.2).

According to the ABS definition of homelessness, there are six homeless operational groups (rates are provided in table 19A.2). The proportion of the homeless population in each group varies. In 2016, people living in supported accommodation provided by specialist homelessness service providers comprised approximately 18.3 per cent of the homeless population. The majority of homeless people were ‘persons living in severely crowded dwellings’ (43.8 per cent) (see sub‑section 19.4 for what constitutes ‘severely crowded’). Similar proportions of homeless people were staying temporarily in other households (15.3 per cent) and in boarding houses (15.1 per cent). Only 7.0 per cent of homeless people were in improvised dwellings, tents or sleepers out and 0.6 per cent were in other temporary lodgings on Census night 2016 (table 19A.2).

Services

'Access of selected equity groups to homelessness services’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide specialist homelessness services in an equitable manner.

‘Access of selected equity groups to homelessness services’ is defined as the proportion of all clients whose need for accommodation or services other than accommodation was met and who are in one of the following three population groups:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• people born in non‑main English speaking countries
• people with disability.

Disability is defined for this indicator as people who identify to the service provider as having a long‑term health condition or disability and needing assistance with self‑care, mobility or communication (core activities) — this may underestimate the number of clients with disability who need support to access and maintain housing.

This is a proxy measure as it only captures people who are clients of specialist homelessness services with an identified need for service(s), rather than all people in the population who need services. In addition, relative need among each population group for specialist homelessness accommodation and other services is unknown.

In general, the selected equity groups’ representation in the group of clients whose needs are met should be broadly similar to or higher than their representation in the population. Several factors need to be considered in interpreting the data — in particular, cultural differences can influence the extent to which each of the three population groups’ access specialist homelessness services.

Nationally in 2021-22, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had a higher representation (28.4 per cent) among all people accessing specialist homelessness services compared with the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the total population (3.4 per cent) (table 19.2).

Nationally in 2021-22, people born in non-main English speaking countries and people with disability had a lower representation among all people accessing specialist homelessness services compared with their representation in the total population (tables 19A.5–6).

‘Unmet demand for homelessness services’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to ensure that services are accessible to people who need them.

Unmet demand for homelessness services is defined as the proportion of people who do not receive specialist homelessness services that they need. It is reported using a proxy measure for two broad service types — accommodation services and services other than accommodation.

• Unmet need for accommodation is measured by:
  • the number of clients with an identified need for short term or emergency accommodation or medium term/transitional housing or long-term housing who were not provided with or referred for these services (although they may have received other types of services), divided by the number of clients who had a need for short term or emergency accommodation or medium term/transitional housing or long-term housing
• Unmet need for services other than accommodation is measured by:
  • the number of clients with an identified need for at least one service other than accommodation (and no need for accommodation services) who were not provided with or referred for a service other than accommodation, divided by the number of clients who had a need for at least one service other than accommodation (and no need for accommodation services).

This is a proxy measure as it only captures people who are clients of specialist homelessness services with an identified need for service(s), rather than all people in the population who need services.

A low or decreasing proportion of clients with unmet demand is desirable.

Nationally, the proportion of clients with an identified need for accommodation who did not have this need met was 33.9 per cent in 2021-22, an increase from 32.3 per cent in 2020-21. Clients with unmet demand for services other than accommodation accounted for 2.0 per cent of the total demand for those services in 2021-22 (figure 19.2a).

‘Addressing client needs’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to identify and address individuals’ needs as appropriate.

‘Addressing client needs’ is defined as the proportion of clients whose needs are identified and who receive services matching those needs as appropriate, and has two measures:

• the identification of client needs and how they can be appropriately addressed is measured as the proportion of closed support periods (for clients) with an agreed case management plan

  In some instances, a case management plan may be judged to be inappropriate (such as when a support period is short term — for example 24 hours). Jurisdictions with some central intake models may record a relatively low number of closed support periods where clients have an agreed case management plan and a relatively high number of clients with unmet need for services because, while all eligible clients receive an assessment, the provision of or referral for service is determined by their level of need relative to other clients.

• the provision of services to address clients’ needs is measured as the proportion of clients (with closed support periods) with an identified need for particular service types who are provided with (and/or referred for) at least one service of that type.

Holding other factors constant, a high or increasing proportion is desirable for:

• support periods where clients have an agreed case management plan
• clients who received services that matched their needs and/or were referred to another agency for that purpose.

Nationally in 2021-22, an agreed case management plan was in place for clients in 55.4 per cent of closed support periods, an increase from 52.0 per cent in 2017-18 (figure 19.3a).

Nationally in 2021-22, of all clients with closed support periods who needed homelessness services, over half (112 597, or 55.9 per cent) needed accommodation or accommodation related assistance (table 19A.12). Of these clients, 62.7 per cent were directly provided with and/or referred for a service, down from 64.3 per cent in 2020‑21 (figure 19.3b). Data for 'provided only' and 'referred only' are available in table 19A.12.

Prioritisation of client needs and identification of goals for clients to work toward during support is a key aspect of case management. Case management goals achieved after support are reported as contextual data in table 19A.15.

‘Client satisfaction’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide high quality specialist homelessness services.

‘Client satisfaction’ is defined as the extent to which clients find homelessness services and programs to be helpful and of a high standard.

Measures for this indicator are under development.

‘Achieving quality standards’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide services that are of high quality, provided by qualified staff in a safe environment.

‘Achieving quality standards’ is defined as the proportion of specialist homelessness services that meet nationally agreed quality standards.

A high or increasing proportion is desirable.

Data are not yet available for reporting against this indicator as there are currently no nationally agreed quality standards for specialist homelessness services.

‘Cost per day of support’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide specialist homelessness services in an efficient manner.

‘Cost per day of support’ is defined as total government recurrent expenditure on homelessness services divided by the number of days of support for clients receiving support and/or supported accommodation.

Across jurisdictions, there may be varying treatments of expenditure items (for example, superannuation) and different counting and reporting rules for generating financial data. Differences in expenditure data across jurisdictions may reflect to some extent differences in the way these data are compiled rather than variations in costs.

A low or decreasing cost per day of support may represent an improvement in efficiency, but may also indicate lower service quality, less complex client needs or longer waiting times for services.

Nationally in 2021-22, the cost per day of support for clients averaged $47.45 — an increase in real terms of 20.2 per cent from 2017-18 (figure 19.4). Costs can also be measured per completed support period or per client accessing homelessness services. Nationally in 2021-22, the cost per completed support period was $3249 (a real increase from $2201 in 2017-18) (table 19A.17) and the cost per client accessing homelessness services was $4901 (a real increase from $3371 in 2017-18) (table 19A.18).

‘Economic participation’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to support people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to achieve social inclusion and greater economic participation.

‘Economic participation’ is defined as the change in the proportion of clients with the capacity to actively participate in the economy between the start and end of support. Two proxy measures are reported for clients aged 15 years or over (with closed support periods):

• ‘achievement of employment, education and/or training on exit’ — the change in the proportion of clients who are employed and/or enrolled in formal education/training between the start and end of support
• ‘achievement of income on exit’ — the change in the proportion of clients who have an income source between the start and end of support.

These are proxy measures as they only capture people who are clients of specialist homelessness services, rather than all people in the population who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Data are reported for all clients and for clients with an identified need for services of that type.

Holding other factors constant, an increase in the proportion from start to end of support is desirable for clients who are employed and/or enrolled in education/training and for clients who have an income source.

Data for clients in need of assistance are reported separately for employment status (tables 19A.20-23) and education/training status (tables 19A.24-26). While a decrease after support might indicate clients did not achieve the employment or education/training outcome sought, it does not mean that they did not achieve the alternative (for example, someone with an identified need for assistance in education/training may have found employment).

This is an indicator of outcomes in the short term. Longer term outcomes are important, but more difficult to measure.

Nationally in 2021-22, 24.0 per cent of clients were employed and/or enrolled in education and/or training after support, compared with 22.1 per cent before support (figure 19.5a).

Nationally in 2021-22, 92.0 per cent of clients had an income source after support, compared with 90.7 per cent before support (figure 19.5b).

‘Avoidance of homelessness’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to support people who are at risk of homelessness to achieve and maintain housing.

‘Avoidance of homelessness’ is defined as the proportion of clients who are at risk of homelessness (that is, are seeking assistance to avoid homelessness) that avoid homelessness. Clients commencing a support period ‘at risk of homelessness’ during the first six months of a financial year are considered to have avoided homelessness if they are recorded as ‘not homeless’ at the start or end of all subsequent support periods for the following six months.

This is a proxy measure as it only captures people who are clients of specialist homelessness services, rather than all people in the population who are at risk of homelessness.

A high or increasing proportion of clients at risk of homelessness who avoid homelessness is desirable.

Nationally in 2021-22, 80.3 per cent of clients at risk of homelessness avoided homelessness (figure 19.6). For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients at risk of homelessness in 2021-22, 79.0 per cent avoided homelessness (table 19A.30).

‘Achievement of sustained housing’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to support people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to achieve sustainable housing.

‘Achievement of sustained housing’ is defined as the proportion of clients living in and sustaining independent housing following support. Three proxy measures are reported:

• Achievement of independent housing on exit — the change in the proportion of clients (with closed support periods) living in independent housing between the start and end of support, reported for all clients and for clients with an identified need for assistance to obtain or maintain independent housing including ‘to obtain long term housing’, ‘sustain tenancy or prevent tenancy failure or eviction’, or, ‘prevent foreclosures or for mortgage arrears’. The reported data are for relatively short term outcomes achieved within a financial year. Longer term outcomes are also important, but more difficult to measure.
• Return to homelessness — the proportion of specialist homelessness services clients who change status from ‘homeless’ to ‘housed’ and back to ‘homeless’ in a 24 month reporting period. The 24 month reporting period is retrospective, commencing in a client’s last homeless month in the reference year. For example, for the 2021-22 reference year:
  • a client is in scope if they have at least one support period with a monthly housing status of ‘homeless’ between July 2021 and June 2022
  • if the in-scope client’s last homeless month is September 2021, the client’s monthly housing status is assessed for the 24 month period October 2019 to September 2021. If the client experienced a homeless-housed-homeless pattern at any time during that period, the client is considered to have returned to homelessness after achieving housing.
• Persistent homelessness — the proportion of clients who experienced homelessness for more than 7 months over a 24 month reporting period. The 24 month reporting period is retrospective, commencing in a client’s last support month in the reference year. For example, for the 2021-22 reference year:
  • a client is in scope if they have at least one support period with a monthly housing status of ‘homeless’ between July 2021 and June 2022
  • if the in-scope client’s last support month is September 2021, the client’s monthly housing status is assessed for the 24 month period October 2019 to September 2021. If the client has been homeless for more than 7 months in that period, the client is considered to have experienced persistent homelessness.

(Definitions of ‘homeless’ and 'housed' for specialist homelessness service clients are in the 'Key terms' section on the 'Explanatory material' tab.)

These are proxy measures as they only capture people who are clients of specialist homelessness services, rather than all people in the population who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Holding other factors constant, a high or increasing proportion of clients who achieved independent housing in closed support periods, a low or decreasing proportion of clients who returned to homelessness and a low or decreasing proportion of clients who experienced persistent homelessness are desirable.

Nationally in 2021-22, 62.5 per cent of clients (with closed support periods) achieved independent housing after support, compared to 53.3 per cent before support (figure 19.7a).

Nationally in 2021-22, 12.2 per cent of clients experiencing homelessness had returned to homelessness after a period of more secure housing (figure 19.7b).

Nationally, of all clients who experienced homelessness in 2021-22, 26.6 per cent experienced persistent homelessness (that is, were homeless for more than 7 months [30 per cent] over the 24 month reporting period) (figure 19.7c).