Extent of SA homelessness crisis laid bare as centre nears breaking point
One of the city’s most prominent homeless shelters fears it may have to turn people away as it releases new figures showing thousands more South Australians relying on its help.
Having never turned a person away in its more than 70-year history, homeless shelter Hutt St Centre fears it will reach capacity within the next three years unless more social housing becomes available for clients. It now sees 826 people a week.
Chief executive Chris Burns released the centre’s annual figures today, saying more people than ever were using the Wellbeing Centre for a hot shower, meal or access to support services in the 2024 to 2025 financial year.
Burns said the number of people accessing the Wellbeing Centre grew from 40,504 people to 42,975 people in the period, while 826 people on average access the Hutt St Centre services each week.
Nearly half of the 1000 new clients who accessed services in the year were experiencing homelessness for the first time, Burns said.
He said the Centre was seeing between 150 to 180 people per day.
“Pre-COVID, to see 100 people here in one day was a bad day. That was very busy. Now, 180 is the new norm,” he said.
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“We’re seeing more people come in who are living on the streets, more people in our parks and more people sheltering behind buildings or under bridges as they seek safety at night.
“They rely on us for support, companionship and safety during the day, but demand is outstripping the available resources.”
He said the demography of clients coming through the Hutt St Centre doors had “definitely changed a lot” since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are seeing younger professionals, professional couples and, sadly, a lot more women and single mothers coming to us,” he said.
“That’s a consequence of the cost-of-living crisis and the housing crisis.
“For us, affordable housing is a middle class issue. Our clients, being supported by Centrelink, won’t be able to afford affordable housing. What we have to do is create more social housing.”
He feared that if the trend continued, Hutt St Centre would have no choice but to turn people away by 2028.
“Our greatest fear is having to turn someone in desperate need away, it goes against our values and ethos,” Burns said.
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Homeless deaths an indictment on support systemsOverdoses and suicide have been found to be the leading causes of death among people who access homeless services, with potentially nine avoidable deaths each day in Australia. Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found between 2012 and 2023, around 43,200 people with a history of homelessness died. The median age was 55 years, far lower than the Australian median life expectancy of 81.1 years for men and 85.1 years for women. In 2022 to 2023, more than half of deaths among people with a history of specialist homelessness support were potentially avoidable, equivalent to more than nine potentially avoidable deaths every day. In the same period, people who received homelessness support in the last year of life accounted for around one in seven accidental poisonings, one in 22 deaths by suicide and one in 25 transport accident deaths. – AAP |
Burns said rising cost-of-living pressures were also impacting the centre, which is funded primarily from donations from supporters and charity partners, and that the provision of more social housing in SA “needed to be a much greater priority” for the state government.
“We exist to advocate for those who do not have a voice,” he said.
“Not only are they often ignored, but their trauma is also compounded because they literally can’t afford the very limited amount of housing available.
“We are struggling to help them find their exit pathway – from the streets to ‘homefulness’ – where they will feel a sense of safety and security, a sense of being embraced by and contributing to a community and a sense of confidence that there is a positive trajectory ahead of them.”
The new comes after peak industry group South Australian Council of Social Services raised fears SA will see more services like the Bedford Group and MS Society struggling to survive with its new report showing state government funding for organisations tackling issues like youth, domestic violence and homelessness is failing to keep pace with ballooning costs.
SA Government funding value had fallen 3.6 per cent over the past four years and South Australia’s indexation funding rate was the second lowest in the country this year, according to the SACOSS Indexation for the SA Not-for-Profit Sector report.
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