SOCI101: A Sociological Analysis of Homelessness in Australia

This sociology essay examines the escalating crisis of homelessness in Australia, highlighting the increase in homeless individuals and the lack of effective government strategies. The essay presents statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and insights from Mission Australia, revealing the severity of the issue. It explores various contributing factors, including changes in social security, the unavailability of affordable housing, and overcrowding. The essay also discusses the impact of homelessness on health and the most affected demographics, such as males aged 35-44 and older Australians. It concludes by advocating for government intervention, including policy re-evaluation, increased funding, and collaborations with private construction companies to address the housing crisis and provide sustainable solutions for the homeless population.

Running Head: SOCIOLOGY 0
Homeless Australians

SOCIOLOGY 1
A woman was seating at the side of a street in a tattered clothes with her dog chained to one of
the street pillars with a note written by her side “Help” she wrapped herself with a warm blanket
in order to survive the sudden onset of winters in Australia, her sad expressions claimed that she
is one of the forgotten Australians, who are deprived of a shelter.
The situation which is reflected above is the truth of 116427 people who are homeless and have
no place for taking a permanent shelter, the homelessness issue which has witnessed the rise of
14 percent between 2011 to 2016., there are around 50 Australians homeless for every 10000
Australians. According to the data released by Australian Bureau of statistics, 43500 people
accounts for homeless people who are under 25 (Davey, 2018). James Toomey who is the chief
executive officer of Mission Australia said that such alarming figures of homelessness in
Australia is an international embarrassment which shows the lack of commitment of Australian
Political parties. It was reported that in 2008, the one of the Australian Political Parties had
committed to solve the large-scale problem of homelessness by 2020 through affordable housing,
since then many governments have come up who have forgotten the 2008 strategy completely
thus leading to the continuous rise in homelessness (Ketchell, 2018).
The Centre for Social Impact at the university of western Australia interviewed 8000 homeless
people in Australia which gave the real picture of the live experiences faced by the homeless
people. It was reported that from the people who were interviewed, around half of the homeless
people were rough sleepers, two thirds of them were males and they were in the age group
between 35 and 44 and one of five from them, were indigenous. Those people who were
homeless were reported to suffer from various health related issues such as asthma, liver disease,
tuberculosis and many more other medical problems. The most disadvantaged group in Australia,
experiencing homelessness are males in the age group of 35 to 44. The age-group had to struggle
a lot in finding a right place to take shelter which include sometimes impoverished dwellings,
boarding houses and other temporary lodgings. Another disadvantaged group which is on the rise
are of older homeless Australians. According to a report there are 3.8 million Australian in that
age group who are above 65 and that majority of the older people facing the issue of
homelessness are males and even the percentage of older women has risen by 31 percent
(Homelessness Australia., 2019).

SOCIOLOGY 2
The reason behind staggering figures of homelessness in Australia is the changes in the social
security system which include increased and complex eligibility criteria for availing the housing
facility, unavailability of subsidized housings to low income Australian populations due to which
they have to accommodate themselves in high rental homes leading to rental stress, as according
to ABS Statistics the rental stress of tenants has risen from 35 percent to 44 percent (The
Saturday Paper, 2018). The good criminal justice system has increased the prisoners discharge
rate thus leading to high rate of homelessness. The lack of political commitment is also the
biggest cause of homelessness which include housing system which are deeply under-funded, in
one of the political scenarios in 2014, the Abbott government had cancelled the national Rental
affordability scheme, such acts are genuinely responsible for wide spread housing crises in
Australia. During 2013 Federal election, one of the opposition spokeswoman Marisa Payne said
that the coalition government had indirectly tried, solving the problem of homelessness by
scrapping carbon tax, repaying the labor’s debt and generating one million jobs in coming five
years which would result in increased collective wealth of individuals and charities who would
help solving the homelessness problems of the society. Over-crowding is also the major cause of
homelessness which include young people, students and older -woman as they cannot find
anything to accommodate themselves (Memmott & Chambers, 2010)
The problem of housing is so huge that without the government’s appropriate interventions the
problem cannot be solved. The government should at look re-strategizing older policies
according to the requirements of Australians. They must recognize the homelessness problem as
a social ill and must commit to scrap it completely from the nation. It should set measurable
goals which could be achieved within defined period. Considering it as a social evil, good
amount of funds should be allocated in the budget to solve the problem of housing (Parsell, et al.,
2013). Many private construction companies should shake hands with the government and come
up with innovative plans to solve the housing problems.
Then on a beautiful sunny day, the woman was seen with a beautiful smile coming out from her
one bedroom flat with a dog, the flats which were constructed by government for the homeless.

SOCIOLOGY 3
Bibliography
Davey, M., 2018. Homelessness in Australia up 14% in five years. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/mar/14/homelessness-in-
australia-up-14-in-five-years-abs-says
Homelessness Australia., 2019. Homelessness statistics. [Online]
Available at: https://www.homelessnessaustralia.org.au/about/homelessness-statistics
Ketchell, M., 2018. Homelessness. [Online]
Available at: https://theconversation.com/homelessness-australias-shameful-story-of-policy-
complacency-and-failure-continues-95376
Memmott, P. & Chambers, C., 2010. Indigenous homelessness in Australia: an introduction.
Parity 23, 23(9), p. 8.
Parsell, C., Jones, A. & Head, B., 2013. Policies and programmes to end homelessness in
Australia: Learning from international practice. International Journal of Social Welfare, 22(2),
pp. 186-194.
The Saturday Paper, 2018. The rise of homelessness and hunger. [Online]
Available at: https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2018/04/21/the-rise-
homelessness-and-hunger/15242328006116