Homelessness: Australia’s shameful story of policy complacency and failure continues
15/05/2018
By Hal Pawson and Cameron Parsell
Exactly a decade ago in 2008, the Australian government committed to an ambitious strategy to halve national homelessness by 2020.
Through stepped-up early intervention, better homelessness services and an expanded supply of affordable housing, the problem would be tackled with conviction. Instead, as succeeding governments regrettably abandoned the 2008 strategy, homelessness in Australia has been on the rise.
Last week’s federal budget offered no response to this concern. And the problem is fast getting worse, as highlighted in our new Australian Homelessness Monitor, prepared for independent community organisation Launch Housing.
Emulating a respected UK annual monitoring project, this report is a comprehensive national analysis of the state of homelessness in Australia together with the potential policy, economic and social drivers of the trends across the country.