ACBE report Topic: homelessness in Australia
Write a plan to educate the nursing staff on the illness and ways to prevent it from spreading.
March 14, 2020Evaluating Systems Thinking
March 14, 2020ACBE report Topic: homelessness in Australia
ACBE report Topic: homelessness in Australia
Contents
2.1. Poverty and Homelessness. 3
2.2. Social inequality and Homelessness. 3
ACBE report Topic: homelessness in Australia
The term homelessness is composed of individuals that are more often moving from one form of housing to another. They may as well be people that are supported by the Accommodation Assistance Program. This is called primary homelessness, on the other hand there is secondary homelessness where individuals live with other house stuff since they do not have another form of housing, and individuals stay up in boarding places for relatively short time. Tertiary housing is where the period of staying in a boarding shelter is over thirteen weeks. This is since the standard of living is below the accepted levels.
Poverty and social inequality are the major reasons of homelessness in Australia as well as other nations. This paper aims to at how the social policies and cultural aspects in Australia model the levels of inequality and the precise groups that do not have resources and therefore the rate of homelessness that they are faced with.
The paper states that social inequality is connected to homelessness at two levels: they impact the general generosity of the social groups and they impact the tendencies of precise households to acquire income, wealth, employment and housing. Structural aspects like poverty and social inequality may associate with vulnerability to bring about and keep homelessness.
2.1. Poverty and Homelessness
Homelessness in Australia is caused by poverty. The precise groups that are impacted are the aboriginal and Torres, jobless individuals, renters and the elderly. The cost of housing as a major implication on poverty, the levels of the expenditure for the low and medium income earners is the cost of housing. A number of people that live in poverty are in rental housing. The levels of rent in Australia have gone up by approximately 45% from 2003 and in other laces by over 70%. From 2006 the median weekly rent has constantly gone up above the rate of CPI and the mean three bedroom house in Sydney is priced at double as an individual on Newstart allowance. If we include the cost of housing into the approximation of poverty, the level of poverty rate goes up to 1%. Certain people in Australia that stay up in rental shelters offer over 30% of their income to rent (Chamberlain and Mackenzie, 2006, pg 22). This is the same as 650,000 individuals. A reason as to why the individuals that rent are at more risk to poverty. The government has come up with ways to help individuals with low income so as to acquire housing that is cheaper using the National Affordable Housing Agreement among other programs.
Figure 1: Source: (Chamberlain and Mackenzie, 2006)
2.2. Social inequality and Homelessness
Homelessness is the most extreme aspect of social inequality and is a rigid sign of social injustice in a community. The people that are not involved or hindered to take part in the community restrict their ability to get involved in mainstream society. It is at this point that when individuals are hindered from getting involved in life aspects that they tend to lose on the opportunities that present themselves.
The level of inequality in Australia is increasing. The plight of the disadvantaged individuals in terms of social aspects has brought about the variation. In 2011, the number of individuals that getting access to services and are redirected from the services is on the high, more so in regions of housing and homelessness and welfare services, though the biggest increase has seen a big size of people being turned back. The country through the government has put in place stringent measures that would manage the level of inequality in Australia.
3.1. Housing
In the past twenty years prior to 2003 Australia has seen an elevation in the numbers of homelessness. The absence of cheap housing and poverty as well as social inequality has been among the leading reasons for homelessness (Duffield, 2001). Housing is seen as a vital answer on handling homeless. Ever since the mid-eighties the government has put in place policies and legislations so as to handle homelessness attributed to be a national crisis, though there lacked enough housing to meet the needs of people. Around 2003 to 2004 the need for housing went high.
The absence of cheaper housing can bring about disease and diseases related to malnutrition or health issues that bring about homelessness. Another aspect is income earned; for instance Freeman (2002) states that in the 90s the renters allocated over half of their wages for rent (pg. 710).
3.2. Poverty
It is of great consideration that the size of income is a major contributor to homelessness. There are divided into a number of things. First of all, the absence of housing and then the high form of poverty, it is definite that the individuals living in abject poverty face extreme times when buying food and basic needs. The number of poor individuals has been higher in Australia, due to lack of help a number of low income houses go hungry. The reason for the levels of unemployment has been due to the absence of child care.
3.3. Social Inequality
The social variation in Australia has brought about homelessness. Education as a good example is an aspect for social mobility. The homeless section of Australians has taken away the advantage of school from children. The lack of homes highly affects the ability of children to go to school and 12% of school going children are not enrolled in schools as they become homeless (Duffield, 2001, 328). Race issue is another aspect where certain sections of the population are not allowed to be in certain areas of the country. They are hence forced to fill one area and not allowed to spread to certain areas due to their race, this brings about homelessness to a section of the population.
4. Homelessness: Poverty and Social Inequality
Homelessness in Australia goes on to be an issue in the present Australian society and is emblematic of social inequality and prejudice in an affluent community. Research shows that homelessness is connected to a wide range of risk aspects and harms that relate with them in a difficult manner. However the threats and pathways that bring about homelessness are contrasting and multifaceted, research constantly shows a number overlapping, causal aspects: family breakdown, health matters, joblessness, poverty and drugs amongst the youth (Duffield, 2001, 330). The number of homeless families from 2001 to 2006 has increased in Australia as seen in the figure below.
Figure 2: Source: (Chamberlain and Mackenzie, 2006)
Precise groups are over-represented in the homeless groups and are at a threat of being homeless like the young people in state care and the Aboriginal and Torres. There is high evidence that new comers in Australia and refugees are at risk of being homeless. The people that are homeless are left vulnerable to advancing a number health, social and economic outcomes.
According to Stephen and Fitzpatrick (2007, 202) the housing systems may add or counterbalance the impact the welfare rules on poverty and inequality. In Australia, housing policy inclines to supplement inequality. The ownership of a home is motivated by tax limitation for mortgage income and poverty taxes that go to the wealthier. In Australia, the size of social housing is not connected to the rate of homelessness. The increase in homelessness in Australia connects to the increase in housing affordability, with the lack of affordable houses being keen in the private sector.
According to the literature on homelessness, excluded sections of the population are more probable to be homeless. In Australia two features arise: the minority racial and ill health. The Aborigines and the Torress are more common in the sections of the population that are homeless (Homeless Task Force, 2008).
The individuals that experience ill health are over represented in Australia, although the occurrence of mental ill health in the homeless groups is in most cases exaggerated through below par sampling and estimation. A proper working housing scheme, welfare policies and employment may limit the general prevalence of homelessness, though other issues may arise due to other complex matters. However, the condition of being homeless is bound to bring about anxiety and stress, the connection between homelessness and mental health is bound to bring about social selection framework; this means that the individuals that are homeless are bound to be homeless. The connection is indirect.
The form of exclusion is the lack of income, either from employment or social advantages. The ability of people to acquire housing is an integrated aspect of housing costs and income; hence individuals with limited income are of a higher threat of being homeless. In the years before the 90s the rate of homelessness rose and in the salary of the blacks was only half that of the white houses (Miletic, 2012). The rate of lack of jobs was higher than that in the white families; 11% to about 6% respectively. In a number of studies, unemployment has been a major cause of homelessness.
The people with poor levels of social benefits and employment are at the threat of ill health. Certain sections of the country supplement federal disability charges, though it is not enough to acquire a house considering spending a lot on rent (Wulff and Reynolds, 2010, 8). Another form of exclusion is the lack of ability to acquire wealth. The discrimination in terms of employment, housing and credit impacts the allocation of wealth which is rigid than the allocation of income.
Another form of social exclusion is in housing which is relevant to homelessness. One common form of measuring residential discrimination is the variation index that computes the contrast in the allocation of two sections in a region. Though it is not permitted, it is common in the national setting around 2000, where the whites get more favorable treatment than the blacks. The agents that deal in real estates have placed white buyers of houses into white neighborhoods where they are many while the blacks are placed into places where the black population is highly represented. The black community for instance gets high priced loans (45%) so as to buy homes in low income societies compared to their white counterparts who get 15% in income. The impact is far above on prospects of individual households. The individuals that are bound to undergo homelessness are likely to have limited resources accorded to them.
Despite the high form of economy in Australia, the rate of homelessness has gone on to be constant at 53 for every 10, 000 of the demographic. Or below 105,000 homeless individuals, though the decline in the housing sector has gone on to affect certain groups in the homeless sector in a number of forms: the aborigines and Torres.
The paper has been able to look into the varied causes of homelessness in Australia, more precisely due to poverty and social exclusion. The two have been widely due to lack of income while social exclusion has been more so due to racism, wealth and housing discrimination among others. Though the government has put in place a number of steps to stop this, more needs to be done.
In order to manage the aspect of social inequality, it would be beneficial for the Australian government to put in places working policies and legislations that would guide against any form of social exclusion. The forms of exclusion can be noted through the trend of the exclusion which can be used to know which groups are at a higher threat. Such policies could be extended to the poor sections of the community that live below the poverty line. The government could provide them with employment opportunities while at the same time offering them incentives to create employment for themselves as well as for others.
Wulff, M and Reynolds, M (2010) Housing, inequality and the role of population mobility, AHURI Final Report No.158. Melbourne: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, pg 8.
Chamberlain, C., and Mackenzie, D., (2006).Australian Census Analytic Program Counting the Homeless Australia. Australian Bureau of Statistics Catalogue No. 2050.0, pg 22.
Duffield, B. (2001). The educational rights of homeless children: Policies and
practices. Educational studies, 32(3) 324-338.
Freeman, L. (2002). America’s affordable housing crisis: A contract
unfulfilled. American Journal of Public Health, 92(5), 709-713.
Homelessness Task Force (2008) The Road Home : A National Approach to Reducing Homelessness (Canberra : Commonwealth of Australia Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs).
Miletic, D., (2012). Grim view on housing costs. Acquired from: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/grim-view-on-housing-costs-20121204- 2atcu.html
Stephens, M. and Fitzpatrick, S. (2007) Welfare Regimes, Housing Systems, and Homelessness : How Are They Linked ? European Journal of Homelessness 1, pp.201–12.
