Homeless People in Australia Free-Samples for Students Myassignment

Question: Homelessness is becoming a Significant issue in Major Cities in Australia. What problems can lead to Homelessness and what are some solutions? Answer: Introduction The rate of increase in Homelessness in Australia is alarming. At the moment, there are over 105,000 homeless people in Australia with the number increasing from 17% in 2996 and 49 per 10,0000, (Buhrich, 2010). According to the 2006 census, 43% of homeless people in Australia are children, youth or infants under 25 years. This makes up around 44,000 young people out of 105,000 homeless people in Australia. The country should, however, not be having homelessness as a problem, (Parsell C. J., 2013). Most of these homeless people are found I major cities in Australia: Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. Homeless people in Australia are categorized into six classes: supported accommodation, improvised dwellings, individuals staying with other households, excessively overcrowded dwellings, boarding houses and other temporary lodgings, (Chamberlain, 2014). In Australia, a person is thought to be homeless if they: Lack access to secure, sufficient housing or if the one that they have is likely to damage their well-being. Are in situations which endanger the sufficiency, security or price of their home. Have no freedom of tenure they have no legitimate entitlement to continued residence of their home. Causes Of Homelessness There are various problems that lead to homelessness in Australia. They include: (Neil, 2012) Structural factors: Poverty having a considerable number of people living below the poverty line means that sometimes they may not be able to afford meals, leave alone having a roof on top of their heads. Unavailability of affordable housing extremely high house rents/rates is a disadvantage to the lower class that comprises of a group of people who cannot be able to manage to pay those rates. Unemployment lack of reliable sources of income promotes homelessness since without having a job and earning income, one cannot be able to foot the house rent. Personal experiences: Family and domestic violence being in a family characterized by violence encourage some members to leave the family and go forth to leave in the streets Gambling Gambling, which is addictive, tempts individuals to spend most of their income it rather than do important things with it such as settling bills. Discrimination discouragement of minority groups such as women, the youth and physically challenged instead of uplifting them makes them deteriorate to the extent of not being able to support themselves. Drug and substance abuse just like gambling, individuals would rather buy daily dosage of drugs. These drugs are harmful to the body thus the users might be at the risk of being Poor physical and mental health individuals who are seriously ill and have spent all they have on health might be homeless. Physical and sexual abuse these survivors sometimes go a little bit crazy incase they fail to get help. This makes them go to the streets at times. Family and relationship breakdown children whose parents are having problems and resolve to end it with a divorce might blame them and decide to run away. Solutions Available For the Problems Causing Homelessness To combat this menace, a long-term commitment of both the government and the community is required. Housing assistance There is a need for coming up with programs that will encourage investment in affordable housing. With this, all Australians will feel and have a place to call home. Drug rehabilitation programs Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) should encourage drug addicts to visit them so that they can be helped in any ways possible. Health services and community services Hospitals should always be ready to provide healthcare to everyone A strong economy with job opportunities the performance of the country's economy directly influences those in need. Social Security payments are expected to be done well by the government. The youth should be granted access to training and educations that will make them positively contribute to the economy. One of the solutions that have been established is The Road Home, Federal Government White Paper. Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister, established this project in December 2008. The projects main aim is to reduce the number of homeless people in Australia by half by 2020, (Parsell, 2011). The White Paper also works towards offering accommodation to all rough sleepers. Rough sleepers are people who sleep in the open air like streets or bus shelters, (Cloke, 2009). The project has the following main strategies: Broadening services that strive to end homelessness: Upgrading economic and social contributions Turning off the tap: advance involvement services to avert homelessness Breaking the cycle: making sure that homeless people transition swiftly through the crossroads system into firm housing with the assistance they need such that homelessness does not occur again. In 2008, National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) committed itself to (Milligan, 2010) Help people in the private rental market; taking care of homeless people or those at the risk of being homeless. Developing organized housing related programs to utilize government assets and achieve finer integration between the housing and human services such as health and disability services. Minimizing the percentage rate of homelessness. The National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH) was formed in 2008 to enable funding of homelessness services. Annually, NPAH funding is around $250 million that is aimed at managing around 800 homelessness services throughout Australia, (Ralston, 2012). The State Government of Premier Mike Rann, in South Australia, devoted considerable funding to take care homelessness. The government developed Common Ground Adelaide constructing high standard inner city apartments for rough sleepers. The government of Australia has also come up with a mobile web application is known as AskIzzy to help homeless people locate services, (Lawder, 2013). Conclusion Homelessness is a huge problem in Australia being caused by poverty, unavailability of affordable housing, drug and substance abuse, unemployment, gambling, discrimination of minority groups, family, and domestic violence, poor physical and mental health, physical and mental health problems, family and relationship breakdown. By bringing NGOs, the community, and the government together, homelessness can and is being curbed through the provision of housing assistance, drug rehabilitation programs and the creation of job opportunities. References Buhrich, N. . (2010). Homelessness in Australia. Hospital community psychiatry. Chamberlain, C. . (2014). Homelessness in Australia. Cloke, P. . (2009). Making the homeless count? Enumerating rough sleepers. Policy and Politics, 29 (3), 259-279. Lawder, N. (2013). Homelessness Australia update. Parity, 26 (2), 7. Milligan, V. (2010). The comeback of national housing policy in Australia. European Journal of Housing Policy, 10 (3), 325-344. Neil, C. . (2012). Homelessness in Australia: Causes and consequences (Vol. 1). Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. Parsell, C. (2011). Responding to people sleeping rough. Australian Social Work, 64 (3), 330-335. Ralston, P. (2012). Halving homelessness: Don't stop now. Viewpoint .