Low income household
Indicator
Living in a household earning less than $1,000 per week
Policy context
Housing instability and homelessness have both immediate and longer-term effects on children and young people’s health and wellbeing.
Research indicates childhood experiences of homelessness may affect physical health, educational attainment and social functioning.¹ It is also linked to homelessness in adulthood.²
Ensuring children and young people have a stable home by improving housing affordability is critical to reducing rates of deprivation and poverty and therefore improving the long-term outcomes for many children and young people across Australia.³
Homelessness for children and young people occurs through the following pathways:⁴
being part of a homeless family (usually due to poverty or intergenerational homelessness)
leaving the family home with one parent (typically with the mother to escape violence or abuse)
leaving the family home independently (often to escape violence or abuse in the home)
exiting care or the youth justice system.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) manages the Specialist Homelessness Services Collection (SHSC) which collects data about people who are receiving support from specialist homelessness services funded by the Australian Government and State and Territory governments. This collection reports on people who are currently homeless and those at risk of homelessness and receiving homelessness support.⁵
Noble-Carr D 2007, The Experiences and Effects of Family Homelessness for Children: A Literature Review, Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University. Cited in: Commissioner for Children and Young People WA, Indicators of Wellbeing, Material basics [cited 2023 September 18]. Available at: https://www.ccyp.wa.gov.au/our-work/indicators-of-wellbeing/age-group-12-to-17-years/material-basics/
Flatau P et al 2013, Lifetime and intergenerational experiences of homelessness in Australia, AHURI Final Report No 200, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, p. 2-3. Cited in: Commissioner for Children and Young People WA, Indicators of Wellbeing, Material basics [cited 2023 September 18]. Available at: https://www.ccyp.wa.gov.au/our-work/indicators-of-wellbeing/age-group-12-to-17-years/material-basics/
Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) 2018, The Price is Right? An Examination of the Cost of Living in Western Australia, Focus on Western Australia Report Series, No.10, December 2017, BCEC, p. 66. Cited in: Commissioner for Children and Young People WA, Indicators of Wellbeing, Material basics [cited 2023 September 18]. Available at: https://www.ccyp.wa.gov.au/our-work/indicators-of-wellbeing/age-group-12-to-17-years/material-basics/
Kaleveld L et al 2018, Homelessness in Western Australia: A review of the research and statistical evidence, Government of Western Australia, Department of Communities, p. 30. Cited in: Commissioner for Children and Young People WA, Indicators of Wellbeing, Material basics [cited 2023 September 18]. Available at: https://www.ccyp.wa.gov.au/our-work/indicators-of-wellbeing/age-group-12-to-17-years/material-basics/
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), Specialist Homelessness Services Collection (SHSC). Available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/about-our-data/our-data-collections/specialist-homelessness-services-collection
