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Numbers of homeless people in NSW

On Census night 2001, there were an estimated 26 676 homeless people in NSW. This equates to 42.2 homeless people per 10 000 in the NSW population.² NSW has the highest number of homeless people, but one of the lowest rates of homelessness in the nine States and Territories in Australia.³

Table 3.1: Number of persons in different sectors of the homeless population, Australia and NSW, Census night 2001

	Australia		NSW
	N	%	N	%
Boarding houses	22 877	23	7815	29
SAAP accommodation	14 251	14	3918	15
Friends/relatives	48 614	49	12 123	45
Improvised dwellings, sleepers out	14 158	14	2 820	11
TOTAL	99 900	100	26 676	100

Source: Chamberlain & MacKenzie, Counting the Homeless 2001: NSW, Table 1, p. 6.

As indicated in Table 3.1, on Census night 2001, more than 12 100 people in NSW were living temporarily with friends or relatives.⁴ This represents about 45% of the homeless population. On the same night, over 7800 people were living in boarding houses in NSW, while approximately half this number (3918) were staying in SAAP accommodation.⁵ More than 2800 people (11% of the homeless on Census night) were living in ‘improvised dwellings’, including parks, cars, trains and derelict buildings.

As a ‘snapshot’ of the situation on Census night, these data do not convey the high levels of mobility that are typical of the homeless population.⁶ For instance, a woman who was counted as staying in SAAP accommodation on Census night may have been staying with friends prior to staying at a SAAP service, and then slept rough for the rest of the week.

Marginal residents of caravan parks

In addition to the nearly 26 700 people counted by the ABS as homeless, Chamberlain and Mackenzie have identified a further 6881 people as ‘marginal residents of caravan parks’. ‘Marginal residents of caravan parks’ are households who live permanently in residential parks, where no member of the household is in full-time employment and their accommodation is rented.⁷ When marginal residents of caravan parks are included in the figures, the total number of homeless people in NSW on Census night 2001 rises to 33 557 (see Table 3.2).

Table 3.2: Homeless people in different sectors of the NSW population, including marginal residents of caravan parks, 2001

	NSW
	%	N
ABS-defined ‘homeless’ in NSW (see Table 3.1)	79.5	26 676
Marginal residents of caravan parks	20.5	6881
TOTAL	100	33 557

Source: Chamberlain & Mackenzie, Counting the Homeless 2001, Table 10, p. 11, Table 6.3, p. 45.

As discussed in Chapter 1, marginal residents of caravan parks together with boarding house residents make up the tertiary homeless population. Chamberlain and Mackenzie found that while 77% of boarding house residents live in the Greater Sydney area, 78% of ‘marginal residents’ of caravan parks reside in regional centres and country towns outside of Sydney.⁸ On the basis of these figures, they made a key observation that caravan parks are used as alternatives to boarding houses outside the capital cities. They also observed that in areas where no SAAP services are available, welfare agencies may send clients to caravan parks for accommodation. Finally, it should be noted that marginal residents of caravan parks only made up about 15% of all people staying in caravan parks on Census night 2001.⁹

Clients of SAAP services in NSW

There are currently 397 SAAP services in NSW, 177 (45%) of which target youth and 89 (22%) that target women escaping domestic violence. One hundred and sixty-six SAAP agencies (42%) are located in Sydney.¹⁰

In 2002–03, NSW SAAP services provided 47 900 ‘support periods’ to

25 450 different clients.¹¹ In addition, 12 400 support periods were provided to 9900 children under the age of 18 who accompanied their parents.¹² Support may include accommodation, referrals, meals, counselling, washing facilities and/or other services.¹³

While the number of SAAP support periods provided in NSW has steadily declined since 1996–97, the number of SAAP clients has remained relatively stable.¹⁴ It is estimated that there were 10 750 requests for support that could not be met in the 2002–03 year.¹⁵