By Amy ChengMonday 2 Aug 2021Social JusticeReading Time: 3 minutes
Some forms of homelessness are so hidden that people experiencing it may not even be aware they are living in places that do not adequately meet their needs, according to national charity Mission Australia.
This year, Mission Australia is urging all people experiencing homelessness to accurately record their living situation on Census night – August 10.
Most people associate homelessness with rough sleepers who have no roof over their heads, but this only makes up a small percentage of people considered homeless.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, a person is considered homeless if they do not have “suitable accommodation alternatives”.
Their current living arrangements could be in a dwelling that is inadequate, they have no tenure or they have no control of or access to space for social relations.
This includes severely overcrowded dwellings, couch surfing, crisis accommodations, boarding houses and shelters and refuges.
“Most of us, we know when we go to sleep every night we can go out and go to work and we know that when we come home our bed is going to be there.” – James Toomey, Mission Australia CEO
CEO James Toomey said these people are essentially living in a place that is not adequate to meet their needs.
“Most of us, we know when we go to sleep every night we can go out and go to work and we know that when we come home our bed is going to be there,” he told Hope 103.2.
“We’re not going to find someone else in it or our mattress in the corridor or we’re sleeping in a chair or something like that.”
People living under these conditions don’t have any rights, he said.
“When you own something or when you rent something you get various rights under law that are protected in terms of who’s coming in and out of your house and the way in which you use it,” Mr Toomey said.
“You don’t have any of those things if you’re living in a severely overcrowded situation.”
Better data needed
The 2016 census showed that 116,427 people across Australia were experiencing homelessness, but Mr Toomey believes this figure could be even higher because people are not accurately recording their living situations.
There could be several reasons for this, he said, including a lack of awareness of what constitutes homelessness, the shame and stigma of being homeless and misinformation about how census data is used.
For example, tenants housing too many people in their dwellings could be fearful of getting into trouble.
“Don’t fear that the information is going to be shared to your disadvantage, it’s only to everyone’s advantage that we get accurate information from the census,” Mr Toomey said.
“If the problems of severe overcrowding, in particular, are better understood with data then it is more likely that resources will be able to be made available to affect the problem.”
In particular, a better understanding of the different categories of homelessness, such as severe overcrowding, people living in temporary shelters and rough sleepers, could help the government to better address the problem of homelessness.
“Knowing the scale and size of those different categories helps us as a sector and also helps governments to be able to understand what they need to do to address a particular problem,” Mr Toomey said.
The 2021 Australian Census is on Tuesday 10 August, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics website stating that this year “you can complete your Census as soon as you receive your instructions, if you know who will be home on Census night”.