Mental health and experiences of homelessness

For many people with a mental illness, achieving and maintaining a stable home can prove difficult [1]. Mental health issues combined with homelessness can have a large impact on individuals, families and communities, and can influence a person’s health, economic security, level of social support and level of access to, and use of, health services. The 2014 General Social Survey (GSS) provided the opportunity to examine the relationship between mental health and homelessness.

This publication examines data on people aged 15 years and over who reported having had an experience of homelessness in their lifetime, by whether or not they reported having a mental health condition. As the GSS only surveyed people currently living in private dwellings, data relates to people’s past experiences of homelessness only and does not include information on people who are currently homeless. For example it does not include: people currently living in shelters; people sleeping rough; people 'couch surfing' (staying temporarily with other households); people staying in boarding houses; nor does it specifically ask about the experience of living in severely crowded dwellings.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines a person as having experienced homelessness when they do not have suitable accommodation alternatives and if their current living arrangement:

• Is in a dwelling that is inadequate; or
• Has no tenure, or their initial tenure is short and not extendable; or
• Does not allow them to have control of, and access to, space for social relations.[1]
   

In 2014, 2.5 million Australians (13%) aged 15 years and over reported experiencing homelessness at some point in their lives, with more than half of these people (1.4 million) having had an episode of homelessness in the last 10 years.[2] Overall, males and females were just as likely to have experienced homelessness in their lifetime (14% and 13% respectively).

More information on experiences of homelessness is available in General Social Survey: Summary Results, Australia (cat. no. 4159.0).

The GSS collected information about long-term health conditions, including mental health conditions, for the first time in 2014. People aged 15 years and over were asked if they had ever been told by a doctor or nurse that they had a mental health condition that had lasted or was expected to last 6 months or more. In 2014, 3.4 million people (18%) reported having a mental health condition, including depression or feeling depressed, behavioural or emotional disorders, dependence on drugs or alcohol, feeling anxious or nervous, or problems learning or understanding things.

People who reported having a mental health condition were more than twice as likely to have experienced homelessness in their lifetime, compared with people who did not (25% compared with 10%). People who reported a mental health condition were also more than twice as likely to have experienced homelessness in the last 10 years compared with people who did not (15% compared with 6.1%).

The following flow-chart outlines the percentage of the population that reported having experienced homelessness by whether they reported having a mental health condition.
 

1. Has ever been told by a doctor or nurse that they have a mental health condition that has lasted or is expected to last 6 months or more.
    

In 2014, one in three people (34%) aged 25-34 years who reported having a mental health condition had experienced homelessness in their lifetime, compared with one in eight people (13%) of the same age who did not have a mental health condition. Similarly, people aged 35-44 years and 45-54 years who reported having a mental health condition had relatively high rates of experiencing homelessness (32% and 31% respectively).

Of people living in most disadvantaged areas of Australia, one in three people (34%) with a reported mental health condition had experienced homelessness in their lifetime, compared with one in six people (15%) without a mental health condition. This pattern was consistent irrespective of level of disadvantage; of people living in the least disadvantaged areas, one in five people (20%) with a reported mental health condition had experienced homelessness compared with one in twelve people (7.9%) without a mental health condition.

In 2014, 43% of people aged 15-64 years with a reported mental health condition were not in the labour force (that is, without a job and not actively looking for work), compared with 29% of people without a mental health condition.

Of people who had a reported mental health condition, almost one-third (32%) who were not in the labour force had experienced homelessness in their lifetime, compared with one-quarter of people (26%) who were in the labour force.

This release previously used catalogue number 4329.0.00.005.