Review of 2021 Census Topics - Australian Bureau of Statistics

Response 936930621

What is your submission about?

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Council considers that there is;
A need to facilitate a clearer collection of information for a person experiencing homelessness; and
A need to amend the answer options for a person who is renting to clarify landlord information
~~Redacted text~~ Council greatly values the information on tenure and dwelling type provided by the Census. The information informs our land use planning and city design work, and our community and social services.
The last Census indicated homelessness is increasing in ~~Redacted text~~and Council considers that in 2021, the Census could be clearer on the collection of information for persons experiencing homelessness of all types (including housing insecurity). Collecting more information can help us and others understand the nature of homelessness and take steps to address it.
We consider that an additional question asking for the nature of a person’s presence in a household would help provide information on hidden homelessness. But we also consider that it is important to amend the questions on place of usual residence to include a specific option of ‘no current household address’, including this in the current, one year previous and five years previous questions to enable us to know a person’s progression (and the extent of time a person may have been without a household address).
The current question on ownership of dwellings being rented includes an answer option that collates three circumstances ‘housing co-operative; community or church group’. They are all different and with the growth of community housing in some areas, there is a case for community housing provider/agency to be included as a separate option from church groups. It would also be good to clarify that the Government Housing Authority relates to State Housing Departments as distinct from local councils and there should be another option to capture any other arrangements.

Choose your area of interest

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Population

Sex and gender

Households and families

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Income and work

Unpaid work and care

Education and training

Disability and carers

Housing

Location

Transport

Cultural diversity

Religion

Assessment Criteria 1

1. This topic is of current national importance.

Housing insecurity is a rising national interest. We consider that understanding more about this issue is critical for service providers, and organisations who have a role in acting in this space, but also for researchers looking at housing trends of Australians.

Assessment Criteria 2

2. There is a need for data from a Census of the whole population.

Different geographic areas have very different housing/dwelling characteristics, household presence, homelessness and rental arrangements. The Census allows us to capture these differences and to undertake multivariate analysis with measures such as SEIFA.

Assessment Criteria 3

3. The topic can be accurately collected in a form which the household completes themselves.

Council does not anticipate any collection concerns

Assessment Criteria 4

4. The topic would be acceptable to Census respondents.

Council does not anticipate any acceptability concerns

Assessment Criteria 5

5. The topic can be collected efficiently.

Council does not anticipate any concerns

Assessment Criteria 6

6. There is likely to be a continuing need for data on this topic in the following Census.

As noted, housing insecurity is likely to be of interest in future years

Assessment Criteria 7

7. There are no other alternative data sources or solutions that could meet the topic need.

There are no comparable sources of data that could meet our topic needs