Homelessness

Having financial security and access to housing

Metric

Rate of people who are experiencing homelessness

Why this matters

Homelessness occurs when a person does not have secure access to adequate housing. This includes people whose living arrangement:

is in a dwelling that is inadequate
has no tenure, or if their initial tenure is short and not extendable
does not allow them to have control of, and access to space for social relations.

Progress

Data from the 2021 Census shows that more than 122,000 people in Australia experienced homelessness on Census night. The rate of homelessness increased to 48 per 10,000 in 2021, from 45 in 2006.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare publishes data about the characteristics of clients receiving support from specialist homelessness services. In 2022-23, 274,000 people were assisted by specialist homelessness services, or a rate of 105.2 per 10,000 population (a decrease from 116.3 per 10,000 population in 2018-19).

Differences across groups

In 2021:

males were more likely to be experiencing homelessness than females (55 per 10,000 males compared to 42 per 10,000 females)
the rate of homelessness for females had increased between 2006 and 2021 (from 38 per 10,000 females to 42 per 10,000 females)
91 per 10,000 people between 25 and 34 years old were experiencing homelessness
307 per 10,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were experiencing homelessness
1 in 7 people experiencing homelessness were aged under 12 (48 per 10,000 people).

Rate of homeless persons per 10,000 of the population by age (a)
	2006	2011	2016	2021
Under 12 years	50.5	53.6	44.8	47.9
12-18	51.1	54.9	51	53.3
19-24	75.4	83.2	95.3	90.6
25-34	59.2	62.1	71.9	70.4
35-44	44.9	46.5	50.1	49
45-54	38.3	41.5	46	45.2
55-64	31.7	33.9	38.8	36.3
65-74	25.9	25.2	27.2	24.8
75 years and over	15.3	14.5	14.3	12.2

Rate of homeless persons per 10,000 of the population by age (a)

["","2006","2011","2016","2021"]

[["Under 12 years","12-18","19-24","25-34","35-44","45-54","55-64","65-74","75 years and over"],[[50.5],[51.100000000000001],[75.400000000000006],[59.200000000000003],[44.899999999999999],[38.299999999999997],[31.699999999999999],[25.899999999999999],[15.300000000000001]],[[53.600000000000001],[54.899999999999999],[83.200000000000003],[62.100000000000001],[46.5],[41.5],[33.899999999999999],[25.199999999999999],[14.5]],[[44.799999999999997],[51],[95.299999999999997],[71.900000000000006],[50.100000000000001],[46],[38.799999999999997],[27.199999999999999],[14.300000000000001]],[[47.899999999999999],[53.299999999999997],[90.599999999999994],[70.400000000000006],[49],[45.200000000000003],[36.299999999999997],[24.800000000000001],[12.199999999999999]]]

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The 2021 Census was conducted at the height of the COVID pandemic. This may affect the measure of homelessness. States and territories in Australia were under varied COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, and state and territory governments were actively working with homelessness service providers to give temporary accommodation to people sleeping rough to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Data Source

ABS Estimating Homelessness: Census 2021

Disaggregation

Further information about different experiences of homelessness is available at the link below.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Estimating Homelessness: Census 2021

Age
Sex
Indigenous status.