Each year more than 160,000 people experiencing or at risk of homelessness seek crisis accommodation from Specialist Homelessness Services SHS. Not all can be accommodated, and many are turned away. For those who do access crisis accommodation, experiences vary significantly.
New research, ‘Crisis accommodation in Australia: now and for the future’, undertaken for AHURI by researchers from Swinburne University, Launch Housing, University of South Australia and Flinders University, explores the different crisis accommodation models operating in Australia to find out what works and what doesn’t.
The research found:
- Many more people need crisis accommodation than can access it.
- SHS are forced to use purchased short-term accommodation, such as boarding houses, motels and caravan parks. This accommodation is often inappropriate and provides inadequate support.
Less than a third of people who stayed in crisis accommodation exited into long term accommodation.