Inside grim reality of SA homeless crisis
While large numbers of people continue to be pushed out, or pushed to breaking point, in our tight, unaffordable rental market, there has not been the funding increase needed to support frontline organisations, writes SACOSS CEO Dr Catherine Earl.
Imagine, at the age of 72, losing your uninsured home to floods.
Faced with dwindling life savings, you make the desperate decision to move from New South Wales to Adelaide.
With Adelaide’s extremely tight market, you have little prospect of finding an affordable rental and are unable to secure a rental property. Your health breaks down and you end up in hospital.
Ultimately, thanks to the intervention of a homelessness service provider, you are provided with emergency accommodation. It is far from being a permanent or ideal solution, but it is a step in the right direction.
As we mark National Homelessness Week, stories like that of Robert* told to us by the Adelaide Day Centre for Homeless Persons illustrate the incredibly complex and vital work our homelessness services provide.
Unfortunately, it is an essential service struggling to cope with substantial demand from a base of decreased funding.
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According to recent data, over 18,700 South Australians were receiving support from homelessness services in the 23-24 financial year. More than half (53 per cent) of homeless people were men, but in SA, and across the country, older women have been a growing group falling into homelessness, with an almost 40 per cent rise in the number of homeless older women between 2011 and 2021.
One in four homelessness clients needing accommodation in 2023-24 could not be placed into some form of shelter.
This means there were people – older men and women, young people, women and children escaping family violence – who, despite the best efforts of homelessness services, were still rough-sleeping, couch-surfing, sleeping in a car, or staying in some kind of insecure, short-term or temporary accommodation.
While large numbers of people continue to be pushed out, or pushed to breaking point, in our tight, unaffordable rental market, there has not been the funding increase needed to support frontline organisations.
The response to the global pandemic in 2021-22 showed what could be possible. During this time, funding for homelessness services was increased with governments demonstrating political commitment and willpower across many different policy areas. Since then, funding to homelessness services has actually declined in real terms by around 11 per cent, with SA spending less on homelessness services than the national average. At $4932 per client, our spend is around 10 per cent less than the national average and only just over half (55 per cent) of what is spent in the highest-spending jurisdiction, the ACT.
Local service providers such as the Adelaide Day Centre for Homeless Persons mentioned previously are doing the best they can with what they have.
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Hutt Street Centre told us about the huge pressures they face – a story that can be heard across every homeless service in the state: “Hutt Street has seen record-breaking demand this year, particularly during Adelaide’s freezing winter months. In response to multiple Code Blue declarations, we extended our opening hours — staying open until 4:30pm on Fridays and midday on Saturdays — to offer a safe, warm place for people with nowhere else to go. But even with extra staff and volunteers, need continues to outpace our resources.”
There are successes – Hutt Street spoke about one of their clients who was able to move from rough-sleeping to stable housing: “Once sleeping rough in Adelaide’s south parklands, Phillip* is now living in secure housing and planning for the future. With support from our Case Navigation team, Phillip was able to reconnect with healthcare, build back his confidence, and access long-term housing. His journey is proof that with the right support, recovery from homelessness is possible.”
The SA Government has just appointed an independent reviewer to evaluate and provide recommendations on how to structure models for homelessness services in South Australia. This could be a first step in the development of a much-needed roadmap for homelessness services, but without more resources for those services, it will not make a substantive difference.
Demand will still overwhelm capacity, and our homelessness support system will not meet the needs of all those for who shelter is precarious or non-existent.
We need significant long-term investment in supports for people facing homelessness, but with over 14,000 people on the public housing waiting list, we also need substantial ongoing investment in public and community housing so that there are options available to those for whom private rental is simply not an option.
No one needs reminding that house prices and rent costs are continuing to soar, a huge strain on the incomes and wellbeing of so many in our community who are trying to survive the rental market, or trying to exit into home ownership. For those on the lowest incomes and others most at risk of housing insecurity and crisis, like women fleeing domestic violence, things remain incredibly grim – but with decisive action, meaningful and significant progress can be made.
Dr Catherine Earl is the CEO of the South Australian Council of Social Service
*Pseudonyms have been used
