Homelessness affects everybody: One of our generous donors reminded us that it is not only people who struggle with sleeping rough through the winter... it's their best friend too! Homemade doggy coats to keep our four legged friends warm on those extra cold nights. The BHSC Assessment and Referral Team know too well the challenges of finding emergency housing for someone who presents with a K9 companion.

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Use of homelessness services has increased

In 2009–10, 219,900 people (or 1 in every 100 Australians) used government-funded specialist homelessness services. Of these, 135,700 (62%) were clients and 84,100 (38%) were children accompanying clients.

In 2009–10, young people (particularly young women), children, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were significant users of specialist homelessness services:

1 in every 65 young Australians aged 15–19 years (23,200) and 1 in every 51 young women aged 15–19 years (14,300) became a client
1 in every 60 Australian children aged 0–17 years (84,100) and 1 in 38 young children aged 0–4 years (37,100) accompanied a client
18% of clients and 26% of children accompanying clients identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, far higher than the proportion of the general Australian population (2% and 5% respectively).