Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The contribution I am making tonight has been written by Angela McInnes, who is a second-year social work student from the University of Newcastle on placement in my office.

The number of homeless people in New South Wales at the time of the 2001 census was estimated to be 26,678. Twenty-nine per cent were in boarding houses, 45 per cent were staying with friends and relatives, 11 per cent were sleeping rough and 15 per cent were staying in supported accommodation. In the Hunter in 2001 there were 1,998 homeless people; that is 35 in every 10,000 people. Accurate figures as to the magnitude of the problem are difficult to arrive at, as much of the research undertaken is aimed at the literally homeless, rather than the marginally or precariously homeless and the people living in unstable accommodation. This makes the composition of the homeless population much broader and the numbers of homeless people much higher than reported.

On average, one million Australian households currently pay more than 30 per cent of their household income to meet housing costs. Forty-four per cent of low-income households, after meeting their housing needs, have insufficient income to meet the basic standard of living. Households that pay high proportions of their income on housing are said to be in housing crisis or at risk of homelessness. In the Hunter region alone, there is a 30 per cent shortage of available housing, and these figures do not take into account people staying with friends and relatives. The situation is worsening, and that is why the Rudd government today put in place its changes to the First Home Owner Grant, there having been a 20 per cent drop in first home buyers recently.

In the Shortland electorate there is a high proportion of aged people and people living in pockets of lower socioeconomic areas who experience significant housing stress. These issues are no longer impacting just on the lower socioeconomic groups but also on the average household. More and more individuals are experiencing housing stress and are at risk.

A major problem in community mental health is the growing number of younger individuals at high risk of developing schizophrenia and of abusing alcohol and drugs. It is vital for service providers to engage with homeless people in order to help them find appropriate housing. In order to be effective, they need to sustain working relationships over a long period of time. The focus then for helping the homeless, especially the young homeless, is to develop methods that are successful in engaging and re-engaging them. One program, which is internet based, that has been extremely successful for people suffering from depression is MoodGYM, which can be found at moodgym.anu.edu.au.

I do not have the time to complete the words that have been written for me, but I would like to thank Angela very much for the contribution that she has made. It shows that she will be a very fine social worker.