Causes of Youth Homelessness in Australia

Running head: YOUTH HOMELESSNESS CAUSES IN AUSTRALIA
YOUTH HOMELESSNESS CAUSES IN AUSTRALIA
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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YOUTH HOMELESSNESS CAUSES IN AUSTRALIA
Introduction
Homelessness refers to the condition when a person has “inadequate access to
conventional shelter, particularly at night” (Youthcentral.vic.gov.au, 2019). In Australia, youth
homelessness has been a concern for years now but the government has done little in terms of
addressing the issue.
The essay discusses the two main causes of youth homelessness in Australia, the relation
between the two causes and its contribution to youth homelessness. In doing so, the essay will
make use of ten credible sources from the literature including some statistics on youth
homelessness. The main argument of the essay is that housing crisis and domestic and family
violence are the two key causes of youth homelessness in the country.
Discussion
Homelessness is often confused with living on the streets, which is not correct.
Homelessness also means people living in temporary accommodations such as boarding houses,
with friends, in squats or in emergency accommodations. Across the globe, the issue of youth
homelessness has become a serious concern with the numbers increasing each year. According to
a Reuters report, poverty is one of the leading reasons for youth homelessness around the globe.
The report found that about 40 percent of the young people across the world have reported
poverty to be the main cause of their homelessness (Reuters.com 2019). However, in Australia,
poverty is the last reason for youth homelessness as found in the 2018 survey by Council to
Homeless Persons (CHP) (Chp.org.au 2019). The CHP also found that housing crisis, domestic
and family violence and inappropriate or inadequate dwelling are the top three reasons for youth
homelessness in Australia.

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YOUTH HOMELESSNESS CAUSES IN AUSTRALIA
Housing crisis has been the top cause of homelessness of youth in Australia. The crisis in
Australia, related to housing has been worse over the last few years and one of the chief reasons
has been the lack of adequate investment by the government. The rate of homelessness has
grown by 14 percent since 2011 as found in a survey. The things seem to worsen with no fixed
national plan to combat the issue and lack of affordable housing (Sbs.com.au 2019). Housing
crisis in Australia has risen remarkably due to the rising prices of rent, which the low-income
family could hardly afford. Author Wiesel (2014), in his study on homelessness in Australia
found that mobility is a big concern of housing amongst low-income Australian families. The
author conducted a research on the “housing pathways” sixty low-income Australian households
and found that the four types of mobility of disadvantages. These include “hectic private rental
pathways”, “pathways of homelessness”, and pathways out of homeownership” and repeat
moves in and out of social housing” (Wiesel 2014). Out of these four, pathways of homelessness
and repeat moves in and out of social housing are the most severe. In the period between 2011
and 2012, nearly 230,000 Australians were provided assistance due to homelessness (Wiesel
2014). One of the major causes of homelessness as described by the participants in the study has
been eviction from their private rental houses. They also stated that the major difficulty for them
was to find an alternative rental house after being evicted. Added to that, physical disabilities
further created a barrier in their path of finding a home. The youth has been the worst victim of
this housing crisis leading to homelessness. As the author has found, residential mobility has
caused a reduction in youth education and made it more vulnerable to crime and bullying.
The next biggest cause of youth homelessness is domestic and family violence. Watson
(2016) analyzed the issue of homelessness amongst the young women in Australia and found that
domestic violence and homelessness are interrelated. Homeless women especially the young