Review of 2021 Census Topics

1. Adding a supplementary question to ‘Where does the person usually live’.
o If ‘None’.
o Options for describing why (the main reason) the person had no usual address on Census night such as:
 Travelling
 Working away from home
 Unable to return home due to safety reasons
 Unable to return home due to financial reasons
 Unable to return home due to family breakdown
 Does not want to return home
 Other
o This would separate grey nomads/travellers form homelessness estimates.

2. Better counting estimates of homelessness by clearly identifying long term supported accommodation and removing this from homelessness counts.

The new National Affordable Housing Agreement is overseen by the Treasury Laws Amendment (National Housing and Homelessness Agreement) Bill 2018).

The National Affordable Housing Agreement includes a key national performance indicator to decrease the number of people experiencing homelessness.

The Australian Bureau of Statistic’s Census is the only data collection that consistently collects and report on estimates of homelessness across jurisdictions. In Tasmania, there is no other data collection of estimates of homelessness statewide.

This homelessness data collected in the Census is extremely valuable in the Tasmanian context to provide information on demand for services and unmet need. This informs program and policy directions.

Homelessness data is required for the whole Tasmanian population to determine estimates of homelessness statewide.

Regional breakdown is required to determine unmet need, and inform programs and services for regional areas. This has included LGA and SA2 level for Tasmania and would be useful to continue.

The ABS uses six homeless operational groups to present the estimates of homelessness. Estimates are also presented for three other areas of ‘other marginal housing’. It is supported that this is continued.

The characteristics of the homeless population, such as sex, age, whether of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin, education attendance, core activity need for assistance, country of birth and proficiency in spoken English is also included in the collection and would be useful to continue.

This level of detail provides information that identified level of need and unmet demand for services on a regional basis and also by the characteristics of people. The data can inform program and service design.

Current estimates of homelessness are based on a multi-faceted approach using responses to tenure, dwelling type and usual address questions. Lists of crisis shelters and supported accommodation dwelling addresses are then provided by service providers, along with details of the intended use of the dwellings (such as crisis or transitional accommodation).

The methodology for estimates of homelessness would not commonly be well understood by the household.

The ABS Homelessness Statistics Reference Group submission for the 2016 Census highlighted that ‘no usual address’ may not be an adequate count of homelessness because the definition is the address at which the person has lived intends of live for a total of six months or more. This is reliant on one household member to enter and know this data. This can be an issue for young people who are couch surfing and may not be able to go home, people escaping family violence and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians who may be underrepresented in the homelessness count of ‘persons staying temporarily with other households’.

This submission proposes the addition of a supplementary question:
1. Adding a supplementary question to ‘Where does the person usually live’.
o If ‘None’.
o Options for describing why (the main reason) the person had no usual address on Census night such as:
 Travelling
 Working away from home
 Unable to return home due to safety reasons
 Unable to return home due to financial reasons
 Unable to return home due to family breakdown
 Does not want to return home
 Other
o This would separate grey nomads/travellers form homelessness estimates.
This question would be readily understood by the household that completes the survey if it was supported by clear instructions of what to complete for people in particular living circumstances.

This submission also proposes:
2. Better counting estimates of homelessness by clearly identifying long term supported accommodation and removing this from homelessness counts.
This would not require understanding by the household because it is not included in the Census questions. It is part of the enumeration process that is undertaken in ‘the background’ to determine homelessness estimates.

Currently, the process for determining the number of people who are homeless by ‘living in supported accommodation for the homeless’ involves service providers and Government providing lists of dwellings to the ABS including crisis shelters and supported accommodation dwelling addresses, along with details of the intended use of the dwellings (such as crisis or transitional accommodation). For Tasmania, this approach has become problematic for the estimates of homelessness.

In Tasmania we have changed our policy and program approach for providing supported accommodation facilities for short term or temporary accommodation (often having shared facilities) to providing long term supported accommodation that is intended for independent living. We have also increased the number of supported accommodation dwellings that we have in the state and most of these are now for long term accommodation. This has implications for the estimates of homelessness as previously the residents may have been considered homeless (living in crisis/transitional accommodation) and now they are securely housed (long term accommodation).

The Homelessness Statistical Reference Group have also noted that such housing arrangements are more diverse and flexible than previously defined, and therefore clearer definitions could now be formed.

It is recommended that estimates of homelessness clearly define the counting rules for supported accommodation, and that supported accommodation for long term housing is not included in the estimates of homelessness.

The proposed additional supplementary question is not considered to be intrusive or controversial. The household member responding to the Census should be able to clearly identify if there is a temporary resident living in their household and the reason that the person does not have a usual address.

If this Census is completed by a service provider that manages a dwelling, they should be also be able to identify the reason that a person is living in the dwelling temporarily and has no usual address.

The proposed supplementary question may require further discussions with jurisdictions and the ABS Homelessness Statistics Reference Group to clearly identify the potential responses and instructions for people completing the survey. These should be concise and kept to a minimum.

There is a continuing need to collect accurate data on homelessness and to explore better ways to collect homelessness data into the future.

There is a need for the data to be consistent and comparable.

The suggested additional question would add to the collection of quality and accurate data.

The suggested approach to not including long term supported accommodation in the collection may slightly impact on data and time series, but should not have been included in the data collection and can only add to better data over time.

There are no data collections within Tasmania that provide the level of detail on homelessness estimates on a statewide basis. There are occasional surveys of homelessness but they are not undertaken consistently by collecting the same data and providing a time series.

There are no other national data collections that provide estimates of homelessness.

There is a national (and state) data collection for Specialist Homelessness Services that does provide some information on level of unmet need for services, however the data is only provided for the people who make contact with services, not the whole population.

This submission is provided from a Tasmanian perspective, but is consistent the issues raised by the ABS Homelessness Statistics Reference Group (national).

Thank you for the opportunity to provide a submission.