Poverty, Homelessness and Migrants in Western Australia

The University of Notre Dame Australia

Poverty, Homelessness and Migrants in Western Australia

A report commissioned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth The Catholic Archdiocese of Perth / The University of Notre Dame Australia

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Poverty, Homelessness and Migrants in Western Australia

Archbishop’s Introduction In 2016 the Archdiocese of Perth launched an ambitious five year plan of renewal (the Archdiocesan Plan 2016-2021) which has as its goal to deepen the commitment of the Catholic community of the archdiocese to become, more and more, a people who are walking together in the footsteps of the Good Shepherd.

Archdiocesan Plan (2016 – 2021) is more than just an aspirational document. It sets out our dreams, those things that will assist us to meet the challenge we face today: to in fact and not just in theory return the Church to Christ and return Christ to the Church. The Plan provides us with a pathway to enable us to walk together as we seek to deliver a Christ-centred, faithful, vibrant, welcoming, inclusive and mission-oriented Church, one which will enrich our own lives and the lives of all whom we encounter and seek to serve.

In the area of Outreach to Those in Need, one of the six priority areas of the Archdiocesan Plan, our aim was to deliver an informed and practical response to people in need, in the context of Catholic Social Teaching and with reference to, and an informed understanding of, the prevailing community, social and economic environments. As a result, we set out to develop a research relationship with the University of Notre Dame Australia to ensure that the delivery of our social outreach services was based on contemporary data and information that identified the trends and needs in our society.

This report is the first of a series of planned, annual research reports that will provide a better understanding of key issues impacting on the delivery of social outreach services in the Australian context in general, and the Perth Metropolitan area in particular. It will guide our present and future decisions regarding the placement of our resources in this area.

It has been pleasing to see the significant progress of one our strategies in the Archdiocesan Plan; to foster greater collaboration between the various social outreach services operating in the Archdiocese. It is fair to say that, beyond structural change, there is now a blossoming ‘culture of collaboration’ between social outreach agencies with some 17 projects underway.

This collaboration between the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth and The University of Notre Dame Australia is one example of that new culture.

Most Rev Timothy Costelloe SDB Catholic Archbishop of Perth

The Catholic Archdiocese of Perth / The University of Notre Dame Australia

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Contents List of Tables

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List of Figures

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Executive Summary

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Poverty

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Homelessness

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Migrants

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Introduction

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Measures and Trends of Poverty

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Poverty Lines

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Poverty Lines as defined by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research 10

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National Minimum Wage comparison to the 50% Poverty Line

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The incidence of award reliance

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National Minimum Wage against Earnings and Poverty Lines

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Comparison of National Median Equivalised Disposable Household Income (NMEDHI) against poverty line, individuals and families

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Dominant and emerging income quartile groups within WA at the 2016 Census

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Economic and Social Trends

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Cost of Living in Perth and Regional WA

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Factors concerning low-income living in Perth and regional WA in recent years

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Food

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Utilities – Power and Gas

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Housing – Rental

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Comparison of ABS data to that from WA Financial Counselling services data

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Employment factors contributing to the cost of living issues within WA

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Implications and recommendations

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Measures and Trends of Homelessness

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The Australian cultural definition of homelessness

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Homelessness in WA

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Crisis Placements

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Major homelessness issues within WA

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Drivers of homelessness vary over the life course

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Homelessness poses significant economic and social costs

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Poverty, Homelessness and Migrants in Western Australia

Prevalent homelessness issues in Western Australia

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Indigenous homelessness and people experiencing homelessness in remote locations.

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Justice system experience – Prison: youth detention

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People sleeping rough

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Priority homelessness groups within Western Australia

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People experiencing domestic and family violence

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People living with mental health issues

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People presenting with drug and alcohol use

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Young people presenting alone – aged 15-24

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Emerging groups to monitor among the homeless in Western Australia

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Veterans

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Older people

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People with a disability

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Culturally and linguistically diverse populations, refugees or newly arrived migrants

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Children under 12

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People who struggle to access services for the homeless

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Duration of time spent homeless

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Implications and recommendations

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Measures and Trends of Migrants

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Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Western Australia (WA) 2016 Census

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Australian Migration 2016-2017

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Issues and Trends for Humanitarian Programs

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Australian Government Department of Home Affairs Data on the Humanitarian Program

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2016- 2017 Offshore Humanitarian Program Outcomes

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Women at Risk

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Implications and Recommendations

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Conclusion

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References

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Appendices

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Appendix 1: West Australian Average Weekly Pre-Tax Earnings @ May 2018

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Appendix 2: Count of people experiencing homelessness in WA by category (2011-2016)

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Appendix 3: Humanitarian Program grants by category 2011-12 to 2015-16

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List of Tables Table 1: Poverty Lines based on the 2016 ABS Census Median Weekly Equivalised Disposable Household Income of $853 pw – 50th quintile.

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Table 14: Rate of Homeless Persons per 10,000 of the Population by State and Territory, 2001-2016 49

Table 2: Comparison of the National Minimum Wage against Poverty Line 12

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Table 3: National Minimum Wage against Ordinary Fulltime (FT) Pre-Tax Weekly Earnings for Men and Women in Western Australia, 2001-2018 13 Table 4: Comparison of Poverty Lines with the weekly equivalent income of adults who receive maximum Centrelink welfare payments and have no other income, @ March Quarter 2018 16 Table 5: Median Equivalised Disposable Income, Centrelink Payments and Poverty Lines for Workers and Families (January 2001-January 2017)

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Table 6: Australian Average Weekly Earnings (May 2018)

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Table 15: Rate per 10,000 of the population of the homeless in WA and Australia (2016)

Table 16: Changes in Reported Homeless (All Homeless Persons) in local government areas of Perth 2011-2016.

58 Table 17: Homeless Client Rate per 10,000 by priority group in Western Australia.

62 Table 18: Respondents reporting that they had been in prison or youth detention at some point in their lives 64 Table 19: Proportion of Registry Week respondents reporting experience of risky behaviour 65 Table 20: Registry Weeks selected indicators of problematic drug and alcohol use

Table 7: Median personal weekly income trends by location for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons aged 15 years and over, 2006-2016(a) 26 Table 8: Census Counts(a) by Indigenous Status – Perth Indigenous Region, 2011-2016 28

2016 Census data homeless youth data indicated that:

Table 21: Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Western Australia – ABS Census

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Table 22: Cultural Diversity in Western Australia by Top 10 Ancestries 83 Table 23: Top Religious Affiliations in Western Australia

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Table 9: Weekly Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverage Expenditure by Gross Household Income Quintiles

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Table 10: Rental Affordability Snapshot for Greater Perth and Metropolitan Areas

Table 24: Western Australian Immigrants, Highlighting Humanitarian Migrants including Refugees and Asylum Seekers, 2016 84

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Table 11: Proportion of Expenditure – Household Expenditure Survey (HES) 2015/16

Table 25: 2016-2017 offshore visa grants by top ten countries of birth 88

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Table 12: Percentage of Expenditure – Financial Counselling Data

Table 26: National Migration Summary, State and Territory, 2016-17

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Table 27: Humanitarian Programs visa grants, 2000-01 to 2016-17

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Table 28: Number of visas granted to Vulnerable Women and Children, by age group and year of grant, 2012-13 to 2016-17

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Table 13: Comparison of states and territories for median rents (apartments v houses) and price per room for Australia and WA, July 2018 47

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Poverty, Homelessness and Migrants in Western Australia

List of Figures Figure 1. National minimum wage (NMW) disposable income with family benefits (Family Tax Credits A and B plus supplements, rental assistance and Medicare exemption) in contrast to the poverty line for a couple and two children. 13

Figure 17. WA Female Underemployment vs Unemployment

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Figure 18. WA full-time employment.

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Figure 19. WA part-time employment.

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Figure 2. National Minimum Wage against Ordinary Fulltime (FT) Pre-Tax Weekly Earnings for Men and Women in Western Australia, 2001-2018.

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Figure 20. Median Perth rents of all house sizes in the Perth metropolitan area in relation to the National Median Equivalised Disposable Income, gross national weekly minimum wage and maximum Centrelink payments for single persons (2005-2017).

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Figure 3. Poverty lines for single workers and families January 2001-January 2017 with trend lines

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Figure 4. Poverty lines for couple and two children workers and families January 2001-January 2017 with trend lines 19 Figure 5. Poverty lines for sole parent and two children workers and families January 2001-January 2017 with trend lines 20 Figure 6. Proportion of households in equivalised household income quartiles, 2016 21 Figure 7. Part-time employment share for Australia (seasonally adjusted). Series break in 1984 due to change in Labour Force Survey.

Post 1984 series excludes agriculture, forestry and fishing, and public administration and safety. Source: ABS; RBA 23 Figure 8. Unemployment rates in Western Australia (1978-2018). Source: ABS 24 Figure 9. West Australian average weekly pre-tax earnings (2012-2018) for adult fulltime workers.

25 Figure 10. Direct debit cancellations with Australian energy retailers.

32 Figure 11. Average annual costs of electricity (20142018) 33 Figure 12. Proportion of low income households reporting use of cost cutting measures 33 Figure 13. WA gap in expenditure shares, households with financial stress measures, relative to average WA household, 2003-2015 34 Figure 14. Western Australian average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE), WA state minimum wage and Newstart allowance, 2005-2016.

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Figure 21. Mean weekly costs for renters in Western Australia, 1994-95 to 2015-16.

49 Figure 22. Rate per 10,000 of the population of the homeless in WA and Australia 2016.

51 Figure 23. Count of people experiencing homelessness in WA by category (2011–2016). Source: ABS 2016 (Census of Population and Housing: Estimating homelessness, 2016) 52 Figure 24. Proportions of all homeless persons in Australia 2001-2016

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Figure 25. Proportions of all homeless persons in Western Australia (2001-2016)

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Figure 26. Number of persons in improvised dwellings, tents or sleeping out in the Perth Metropolitan areas.

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Figure 27. Number of all homeless persons in the Perth metropolitan areas.

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Figure 28. Numbers of persons living in ‘severely’ crowded dwellings of the Perth metropolitan areas. 56 Figure 29. Number of persons staying temporarily with other households in the Perth metropolitan areas.

57 Figure 30. Determinants of homelessness throughout the lifespan.

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Figure 31. Key statistics on domestic and family violence

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Figure 32. Health and wellbeing impacts on Indigenous Australians

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Figure 33. Length of time of most recent period of homelessness by age

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Figure 34. Humanitarian net overseas migration (NOM) permanent visa arrivals in contrast to total NOM arrivals, Western Australia 2005-2017 87

Figure 15. WA Underemployment vs Unemployment (Seasonally adjusted) 40

Figure 35. Humanitarian Program grants by category 2011-12 to 2016.

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Figure 16. WA Male Underemployment vs Unemployment

Figure 36. Number of visas granted to Vulnerable Women and Children, by year of grant, 1989-90 to 2016-2017 93

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Executive Summary Poverty This report outlines how poverty has increased incrementally over the last decade in Australia broadly, and Western Australia specifically. Even when utilising conservative measurements of poverty, there are a number of important cohorts in society who are living around or below the poverty line.

Increasing levels of poverty are reflected in the data around employment and household incomes. Average weekly earnings in Australia have increased slightly above the consumer price index between 2017 and 2018; with the inclusion of part time and casual work, the figure is 0.4% above the inflation rate. The rate of part time employment has increased over the last decade, especially in those sectors which are lower paying. There has also been a long term decline in fulltime jobs, particularly in industries such as manufacturing and manual work. There has been a steady increase in unemployment for both men and women in Western Australia since 2012. Many Western Australian workers remain vulnerable to rises in the cost of living.

Women continue to earn significantly less than men, and there has no meaningful change to the gap in recent years. Those households where women are the primary income earners, including single mothers, are more likely to live close to or below the poverty line.

There is also a large gap in average weekly earnings between Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians. While there are variances according to location, the further Indigenous Australians are from metropolitan areas, the more likely they are to be living below the poverty line. This manifests itself in a range of outcomes such as poorer health, shorter life expectancy, psychological distress, lower education completions and employment rates, as well as higher suicide and incarceration rates, and victim rates for crime. Culturally appropriate services need to be delivered to this cohort.

Workers who are earning the national minimum wage after tax are only living above the 50% poverty line when this is calculated for single persons. When the 50% poverty line is calculated for couples and households with children, the minimum wage falls below; this is exacerbated for each additional child within a household. Larger families with a single income earner on the minimum wage are particularly likely to experience financial stress.

As of 2018, more than 3 million Australians live below the poverty line, 53% of whom are dependent on government social security payments as their main source of income.

The most common occupations to live at or just above the minimum wage were labourers, community and personal service workers, sales workers and technicians.

Approximately half of workers paid below or at the minimum wage have dependent children.

Aside from pensioners, most Centrelink recipients live below the poverty line. A two parenttwo child family receives $100 per week less than the poverty line, a figure which amounts to over $5000 per year. There is significant evidence that more Centrelink recipients are living in poverty and are unable to manage the cost of living.

Higher costs of living in Western Australia have resulted in households spending a higher percentage of their overall expenditure on housing and utility costs. While rental and mortgage costs have remained static, this has been offset by significant rises in utility costs, such as electricity and gas. Over the last decade, underemployment in particular,

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has increased in Western Australia. Food insecurity is still an issue amongst Australians living on low incomes, as are cost-cutting measures such as switching off heating and cooling devices. Financial counselling services data indicates that financial stress in households is increasing not declining.

Despite the stagnation of both house and rental prices, the number of Western Australians on the public housing waiting list continues to grow, as does the number requiring rent assistance. Low income households continue to have limited options available when looking for rental accommodation. Older Australians are an emerging group with difficulty in obtaining suitable housing.

Homelessness Despite a number of government initiatives at Commonwealth and State level, homelessness remains a difficult issue to solve in Western Australia. Overall rates of homelessness in Western Australia have been decreasing to 2016, despite an increase in the national trend. However, some areas in metropolitan Perth have experienced an increase.

While housing costs in the state remain low in comparison with many other capital cities in the country, there has been a rise in price per room in 2018.

The highest number of homeless Western Australians are those who are sleeping in “severely� crowded dwellings. WA is above the national rate in persons staying temporarily with other households, and persons living in improvised dwellings, including sleeping out.

Homelessness numbers have increased substantively in Perth's South-East Metropolitan Area for all homeless persons and particularly for people in severely crowded dwellings. The Armadale, Serpentine-Jarrahdale, Kalamunda and Canning areas have had increases in all homeless persons from 2011 to 2016.

While overall numbers for all homeless persons in Perth’s South-East Metropolitan area are higher than other areas, there have also been steady increases in the North, East and Central Metropolitan areas. The Central Metropolitan area has the highest number of persons in improvised dwellings, tents or sleeping out.

Experiences and occurrences of homelessness are complex and multifaceted through a range of social determinants of wellbeing. In Western Australia, the following groups are affected substantially: Indigenous Australians, people experiencing domestic and family violence, individuals living with mental health issues, young people presenting alone (aged 15 to 24) and people with drug and alcohol use. Understanding the various interconnections between the social and economic determinants of homelessness is important in ensuring effective service delivery.

There is also a higher prevalence of homelessness for people within remote communities, individuals leaving the justice and prison system, and those sleeping rough in Western Australia than in other states. A higher proportion of homeless persons in Western Australia reported that they had been previously incarcerated in comparison with other respondents across Australia and figures were highest for rough sleeping. Homeless persons in Western Australia also reported more at-risk behaviour than Australia generally, with the highest proportion of victims of assault.

Older persons 65 years of age may also be vulnerable to longer durations of homelessness. Older women may be particularly vulnerable.

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Preventative and early intervention homelessness programs for children and young teenagers are important in reducing risk factors and breaking the developmental cycle of homelessness.

Migrants Western Australia is gradually becoming more culturally and linguistically diverse. For the first time in the state, there are now more overseas-born people who are from non-English speaking countries than there are overseas-born from English speaking countries. Asianborn immigrants have increased with India (65% increase between 2011 and 2016) replacing South Africa in third place, and the Philippines (79% increase between 2011 and 2016) replacing Scotland in fifth place in the list of countries of origin.

This change was reflected somewhat in the languages spoken at home, as Mandarin replaced Italian as the most common language other than English, Vietnamese replaced Cantonese as the third most common language and Tagalog (Philippines) replaced Arabic as the fifth most common language.

While Christianity is still the most common religion, the proportion of Western Australians who identify as Christians decreased by 8% between 2011 and 2016. Over the same period, there was a 7.5% increase in people with no religion, along with small increases in Islam and Hinduism.

Humanitarian visa migrants are more likely to be in higher need of economic assistance than the other visa categories. Recent data shows that most humanitarian migrants to Western Australia were in the lowest of quintiles for the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage and Disadvantage (Population) than migrants from other visa categories. Many humanitarian migrants with permanent visas were also younger relative to migrants on skilled and family visas.

Humanitarian visa grants have fluctuated due to shifts in government policy. The decision to accept more places for Iranian and Syrian applicants in 2015 saw an increase in granted visas. Visas granted for vulnerable women and children decreased from 2012-2013 to 2014-2015, possibly due to government policies on immigration, but increased from 2015 to 2017.

Mental health is a significant issue facing refugees due to the complex experiences of trauma combined with economic and social stressors. Younger persons are particularly vulnerable to mental health issues.

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Introduction This project has been undertaken as a collaboration between the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth and The University of Notre Dame Australia. In contributing to the social good within our local community, the project serves to fulfil the mission of both organisations.

The report serves to provide a better understanding of several key issues which underpin the Catholic Church’s social agenda in the Australian context in general, and the Perth Metropolitan area in particular.

The report has three broad phases. Phase 1 examines the issue of poverty in our local community. It does so by looking at issues of income, as well as increased costs of living.

There is a focus on unemployment and underemployment, and these are considered alongside trend data for the national minimum wage and maximum Centrelink payments.

The report unpacks this data in the context of singles and families, with a recognition that the costs of living vary significantly accordingly to additional factors such as raising children and carer responsibilities. Issues of poverty which women face, especially when they are sole income earners in a household, form an important consideration. As part of this research, national and international measures of poverty have been analysed, in order to understand how appropriate these are at understanding issues of financial stress.

Phase 2 involves a closer examination of the issue of homelessness. The report details current measures of homelessness in WA and nationally, according to standard definitions.

Importantly, key drivers and determinants for homelessness are considered, including rental prices, the availability of public housing, domestic and family violence, the prevalence of mental health issues, issues facing youth, and drug and alcohol use. The report considers the impact of homelessness on indigenous populations, as well as the prison justice experience, particularly with respect to youth detention. The research also analyses the broader social and economic impact costs of homelessness with the community.

Phase 3 looks at migrants in Western Australia, including factors such as cultural and linguistic diversity, and religious affiliation. The report focuses specifically on Australia’s humanitarian intake, including their age range, the types of visas they receive, and their country of birth. Trend line data from 2000-2001 onwards is examined in order to understand how our humanitarian intake has varied since that time, especially in key categories. Of significant note is the number of women and children at risk who have been allocated positions in the program, especially since 2014-2015.

The three areas of poverty, homelessness and migration (especially humanitarian) were chosen on account of their importance to the provision of Catholic Social Services in Western Australia. It is anticipated that the data provided in this report will lead to better coordination and planning of these services in the future. The Church’s resources should always target those in most need, and the report serves to identify areas of need, key factors which underpin issues, and problems which complicate the provision of services. As a further outcome, the publication of this information can alert other service providers and decision-makers, so that public policy and funding responses are made on an informed basis.

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Measures and Trends of Poverty To provide a snapshot of poverty, we have focused on a statistical overview of economic measures. This section focuses on current income indicators and trends for individuals, couples and families in Australia and Western Australia as key indicators of poverty. The standard measure of poverty is the proportion of people earning less than half their country’s median income. 1 As per the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), people are classified as poor when their equivalised household disposable income is less than half of the median prevailing in each country. The use of a relative income threshold means that richer countries have higher poverty thresholds than poor countries. Poverty is considered in terms of poverty rate and poverty gap. The poverty rate is a headcount of how many people fall below the poverty line, a measure of low income associated with the potential unaffordability of living costs. The poverty gap measures the extent to which the income of the poor falls below the poverty line.1

Poverty Lines The main way of measuring poverty is to set a poverty line and then determine how many people fall below this line. Poverty lines can be set as either absolute or relative. Absolute poverty is where income is insufficient to pay for basic goods and services whereas relative poverty is where income is low relative to others. 2 Australia does not have an official poverty line, either absolute or relative. However, poverty is defined generally in relative terms. 3 Within Australia, three different poverty lines are used. These measures also consider people's housing costs. One poverty line used by the OECD and in this study, refers to half of the middle income for all households, that is, 50% of median equivalised household disposable income. The second poverty line often used is that of 60% of median equivalised household disposable income (used primarily within the UK, Ireland and some of Europe), and the third one is the Henderson Poverty Line. This was established in 1973 and has been updated and published quarterly ever since, by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research. 4 Table 1 provides a snapshot comparison of 2016 measures of poverty lines.

Poverty Lines as defined by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research provide quarterly updates on the Australian Disposable Household Income and Poverty Lines based on the Henderson Poverty Inquiry calculation. This form of poverty line originated from an absolute poverty line which was calculated in Australia for the Henderson poverty inquiry in 1973. 5 At that time, it was at $62.70 a week, which was the disposable income required to support the basic needs of a family of two adults and two dependent children at the time. This poverty line has been updated quarterly by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic

"Society at a Glance 2009 - O.E.C.D. Social Indicators," Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), http://www.oecd.org/els/social/indicators/SAG. 2 Australian Bureau of Statistics. “Australian Social Trends, 1998 (Income Distribution: Poverty: different assumptions, different profiles)” (1998). http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/05ee07542e51ef50ca2570 ec00199244!OpenDocument 3 Australian Bureau of Statistics. “Australian Social Trends, 1998 (Income Distribution: Poverty: different assumptions, different profiles)” (1998). http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/05ee07542e51ef50ca2570 ec00199244!OpenDocument 4 "Society at a Glance 2009 - O.E.C.D. Social Indicators"; Joanna Mack, "Income Threshold Approach," http://www.poverty.ac.uk/definitions-poverty/income-threshold-approach; "Poverty Lines: Australia-MarchQuarter-2018," (Melbourne: Melbourne Institute - Applied Economc & Social Research).

5 Commonwealth of Australia. Commission of Inquiry into Poverty (1972-1975) 1

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and Social Research according to increases in average incomes. As Table 1 shows, the HDL poverty line is similar to, although shows some slight variation from, the ABS statistics for 2016.

The most recent release of data for Australia is to the March quarter 2018. This data is based on seasonally adjusted household disposable income per head per week (net / after tax) for the March quarter of 2018 at $830.11. 6 Inclusive of housing costs, the HDL poverty line is at: • $974.14 net per week for a family comprising two adults, one of whom is working, and two dependent children; and • $518.63 net per week for a single person.

Table 1: Poverty Lines based on the 2016 ABS Census Median Weekly Equivalised Disposable Household Income of $853 pw – 50th quintile.

Income Unit

50% Poverty Line

60% Poverty Line

@2016 ABS MEDHI

@2016 ABS MEDHI

HDL Poverty Line @2016 ABS MEDHI

Couple Couple plus 1 Couple plus 2 Couple plus 3 Couple plus 4 Single person Single parent plus Single parent plus Single parent plus Single parent plus

1 2 3 4

639.75 767.70 895.65 1023.60 1151.55 426.50 554.45 682.40 810.35 938.30

766.95 920.34 1073.73 1227.12 1380.51 511.30 664.69 818.08 971.47 1124.86

693.78 833.96 974.14 1114.32 1254.50 518.63 665.82 805.90 946.08 1086.26

Note: Whilst the mean equivalised disposable household income in Australia in 2015–16 was $1,009 per week, the median was lower at $853 per week. This is due to the larger proportion of households with middle or low income and the small proportion of very high-income households. 7 HDL is the Henderson Poverty Line.

"Poverty Lines: Australia-March-Quarter-2018."

"Poverty Lines: Australia-March-Quarter-2018."; "Household Income and Wealth, Australia, 2015-16. Cat. 6523.0."

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National Minimum Wage comparison to the 50 % Poverty Line As at June 2018, the Australian Fair Work Ombudsman set the national minimum wage at $18.93 per hour or $719.20 per 38-hour week (before tax) - $624.20 Net after tax.

Casual employees covered by the national minimum wage also get at least a 25% casual loading. 8 Table 2 shows that while the net national minimum wage is $198 higher than the 50% poverty line for single persons (2016 census), the net minimum wage is $271 lower than the poverty line statistic for families who have two children. Low-income single-earner families with children are therefore substantially below the poverty line for a couple with two children.

Table 2: Comparison of the National Minimum Wage against Poverty Line Income Unit

Median Household Income

50% Poverty Line

853.00 853.00 853.00 853.00 853.00 853.00 853.00 853.00 853.00 853.00

639.75 767.70 895.65 1023.60 1151.55 426.50 554.45 682.40 810.35 938.30

@2016 ABS MEDHI

@ June 2018

@2018 ABS MEDHI

Couple Couple plus 1 Couple plus 2 Couple plus 3 Couple plus 4 Single person Single parent plus Single parent plus Single parent plus Single parent plus

1 2 3 4

Net National Minimum Wage = $624.20 Net

624.50

624.20

Note: The NMW noted above is as per single working adult individual, whereas the poverty lines are as per the family scenario, the Median Household Income is per Australian Household.

ACOSS noted in their 2018 submission to the Fair Work Ombudsman that the NMW has only increased in real terms by an average of 0.3% per annum over the last decade as wages determined in the market have risen more strongly. As a result, the NMW has fallen when compared with the median fulltime wage (from 57.5% in 2005 to 53.8% in 2017, the latest date when figures were comparable), leaving minimum wage-earners and their families at risk of falling behind community living standards. 9 For example, Figure 1 shows that couples with two children households have consistently been below the poverty line since 2004 when they have a disposable income based on the NMW with Family Tax Credits A and B plus supplements, rental assistance and Medicare exemptions. There is now a substantive gap that has been consistent between the poverty line and the NMW with those family benefits for couples with two children.

8 9

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"Minimum Wages Fair Work Ombudsman.," ed. Fair Work Ombudsman (Canberra2018).

"Acoss-Minimum-Wage-Submission-2018," (NSW: Australian Council of Social Service, 2018).

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1200

1000

$ per week

800

600

400

200

0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 NMW & Family Benefits

Poverty Line Couple and 2 children

Figure 1. National minimum wage (NMW) disposable income with family benefits (Family Tax Credits A and B plus supplements, rental assistance and Medicare exemption) in contrast to the poverty line for a couple and two children.9 10 Minimum wage levels affect poverty and inequality in at least three ways: • through their direct impact on the disposable incomes of low paid workers and their families; • through their indirect impact on the adequacy of social security payments; • through their impact on employment. 9 Minimum wage rates, along with the tax-transfer system, have a direct impact on poverty.

The ACOSS/UNSW report, ‘Poverty in Australia 2016’ found that, based on the OECDpreferred measure of poverty (50% of median income), there were 3 million people living below the poverty line in 2013-14, of whom 32% came from households where wages were the main source of income. 11 By the time ACOSS released their most recent report in late 2018 these figures had increased to 3.05 million people living below the poverty line based on the 2015-2016 figures of whom 38% relied on wages as their main income at this time.

ACOSS noted that 53% of people below the poverty line were dependent on government social security payments as their main source of income. 12

"Working Australia, 2017: Wages, Families and Poverty."; "Household Income and Wealth, Australia, 201516. Cat. 6523.0."; "Poverty Lines: Australia- Quarterly Reports 2001-2018."

11 P. Saunders, B. Bradbury, and M. Wong, "A.C.O.S.S./U.N.S.W. Poverty in Australia 2016," (Sydney, NSW: Australian Council of Social Service: (ACOSS), 2016).

12 P. Davidson et al., "A.C.O.S.S./U.N.S.W. Poverty and Inequality Partnership Report No. 2," (Sydney: ACOSS, 2018).

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The incidence of award reliance In their submission to the Fair Work Ombudsman concerning the 2018 National Minimum Wage setting, ACOSS estimated that the proportion of employees whose wages were directly determined by awards was 25% in 2016. Previous research commissioned by Fair Work Australia profiled employees earning between 100% and 120% of the NMW, finding that: • 51% of low paid employees (those earning below, at, or just above minimum wage) were women, compared with 47% of the total workforce; • 58% of low paid workers were partnered, and approximately half of these had dependent children; • 5% of those paid below or at the minimum wage were sole parents with dependent children; • 14% of those paid below or at the minimum wage worked part-time (less than 30 hours a week); • 11% of those paid below, at or just above minimum wage worked in the health care and social assistance industries; • The industries which had most employees earning below, at, or just above the minimum wage were accommodation and food services; health care and social assistance; and retail trades.

Occupations with the most employees earning below, at, or just above the minimum wage were labourers, community and personal service workers, sales workers, and technicians and trade workers. 13 National Minimum Wage against Earnings and Poverty Lines Table 3 and Figure 2 compare the gross weekly national minimum wage against data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for full time pre-tax weekly earnings of adult male and female West Australians. These numbers indicate a long-term widening gender disparity (since 2001) with an increasing fulltime earning gap between men and women. They also show an increasing disparity between the gross weekly national minimum wage and the weekly earnings for West Australians.

The widening gap between the gross weekly national minimum wage and the weekly earnings of Western Australians is indicative of an increasing economic disparity between the average wage earner and workers who are struggling to meet living costs on the minimum wage.

Lucy; Peter Nicholson and Troy Wheatley Nelms, "Employees Earning Below the Federal Minimum Wage: Review of Data, Characteristics and Potential Explanatory Factors.," (Minimum Wages and Research Branch, Fair Work Australia.2011).

13

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Table 3: National Minimum Wage against Ordinary Fulltime (FT) Pre-Tax Weekly Earnings for Men and Women in Western Australia, 2001-2018 Year

Gross Weekly NMW

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

413.4 431.4 448.4 467.4 484.4 511.86 522.12 543.78 543.78 569.9 589.3 606.4 622.2 640.9 656.9 672.7 694.9 719.2

Men FT Earnings (WA) 877.00 906.40 957.00 996.60 1077.50 1143.20 1214.90 1321.30 1405.40 1478.40 1642.60 1743.70 1790.30 1786.90 1855.00 1848.10 1858.50 1886.70

Women FT Earnings (WA) 703.90 728.90 747.30 778.80 816.90 857.80 906.50 970.70 1057.00 1126.10 1182.00 1245.00 1321.40 1339.80 1375.90 1397.50 1433.30 1464.30

Source: ABS 14 15

2000 1800 1600 $ per week

1400

Gross Weekly NMW

1200 1000

WA Males' Total Earnings

800 600

WA Females' Total Earnings

400 200 0

Figure 2. National Minimum Wage against Ordinary Fulltime (FT) Pre-Tax Weekly Earnings for Men and Women in Western Australia, 2001-2018. 14 15

Australian Bureau of Statistics, “Average Weekly Earnings, Australia, Nov 2011” http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6302.0Nov%202011?OpenDocument 15 Australian Bureau of Statistics, “Average Weekly Earnings, Australia, May 2018”, http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6302.0May%202018?OpenDocument 14

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The current economic status of Centrelink recipients is also concerning. When total income from Centrelink welfare payments for the March Quarter of 2018 are compared with poverty lines, most married couples and single persons payments are below the 50% and HDL poverty lines (see Table 4).

Table 4: Comparison of Poverty Lines with the weekly equivalent income of adults who receive maximum Centrelink welfare payments and have no other income, @ March Quarter 2018 Weekly

Basic Payment of Person 1 g

Married couple Allowee a Pensioner b Couple with 1 child c 2 children 3 children 4 children

Basic Payment of Person 2 (Partner) g

Family Tax Benefit Part A

Family Tax Benefit Part B

Rent Assistance

Total Centrelink Income h

HDL Poverty Line @2018

Melb Inst i

50% Poverty Line @2016 ABS MEDHI

251.70

251.70

0.00

342.05 251.70

342.05 251.70

0.00 93.17

251.70 251.70 251.70

251.70 251.70 251.70

0.00

639.75

63.50

566.90

693.7

0.00 26.24

63.50 79.17

747.60 701.98

595.69 833.96

639.75 767.70

186.34 279.51 400.68

26.24 50.12 50.12

79.17 89.39 89.39

795.15 922.42 1043.59

974.14 1114.32 1254.50

895.65 1023.60 1151.55 426.50

Single adult Allowee

277.30

-

0.00

0.00

67.40

344.70

518.63

Pensioner e Single with 1 child f 2 children 3 children 4 children

453.80 382.30

-

0.00 93.17

0.00 55.30

67.40 79.17

521.20 609.94

420.54 567.63

426.50 554.45

382.30 382.30 382.30

-

186.34 279.51 400.68

55.30 79.17 79.17

79.17 89.39 89.39

703.11 830.37 951.54

707.81 847.99 988.17

682.40 810.35 938.30

d

Source: Information booklets on benefits and allowances are published quarterly by Centrelink. 16 Notes: Per capita household disposable income = $830.11 per week

Almost every category (excluding pensioners) is below the poverty line. Whilst pensioners are important, it is important to note how far below the poverty line some people in our community are living. Even using the most modest poverty line figure cited, a two-parent family with two children receives $100 per week below the minimum funds they are

16

a A married couple without children receiving allowances is assumed to be receiving Newstart Allowance. b A married couple without children receiving Pensions is assumed to be receiving the Age Pension or Disability Support Pension. c A married couple with children receiving Allowances is assumed to be receiving Newstart Allowance or Parenting Payment Partnered. d A single person receiving an Allowance is assumed to be receiving Newstart Allowance. e A single person receiving a Pension is assumed to be receiving the Age Pension or the Disability Support Pension. f A sole parent is assumed to be receiving Parenting Payment Single. g All basic payments for Pensioners include the maximum applicable Pension Supplement. h Total income is the sum of allowances, pensions and benefits for persons who have no other income. Income figures do not include Clean Energy Advance payments.

To be comparable with the poverty lines, total income reported should be net of personal income tax. However, allowing for offsets/rebates, no income tax would be payable for welfare recipients who received no other income.

Hence, direct comparisons of total income with the poverty lines are valid. i HDL Poverty lines for single persons and married couples with up to four children are shown here, inclusive of housing costs. m Poverty Lines based on 50% of ABS Census 2016 Median Equivalised Disposable Household Income 50th quintile of $853. For recipients of allowances, the income unit head is assumed to be in the workforce, since recipients of the most common allowance, Newstart Allowance, are usually required to search for employment to be eligible for payment. For pensioners and sole parent families, costs are based on poverty lines for income units where the head is not in the workforce.

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supposed to live on. This is not an insignificant amount of money; they are over $5000 below the poverty line over the course of one year. The other group is the single person on Centrelink benefits, who is $82 per week short of the minimum funds he needs, and more than $4000 short over the course of one year.

Comparison of National Median Equivalised Disposable Household Income (NMEDHI) against poverty line, individuals and families It also important to note the ABS has reported a higher NMEDHI than the data we have obtained (see Table 5 for details). Since 2005-06, ABS NMEDHI figures are: 17 • 2005-06: $729 • 2013-14: $870 • 2015-16: $853 The data in Table 5, below, and in Figures 3, 4 and 5 show the poverty lines for single workers (Figure 3), couples with two children (Figure 4) and sole parents with two children (Figure 5) compared to the NMEDHI. It includes the relevant maximum Centrelink payment that each scenario would have received, as an indication of how the Centrelink payments related to the poverty lines at that time.

Table 5: Median Equivalised Disposable Income, Centrelink Payments and Poverty Lines for Workers and Families (January 2001-January 2017) 18 Median Equivalised Disposable Household Income (NMEDHI)

50% Poverty Line Single

50% Poverty Line Couple and 2 children

206.80 227.10 218.29 250.05 217.74 233.45 249.99 239.70 272.10 245.70 284.21 251.85 310.21 262.05 343.71 267.60 358.14 289.85 357.13 283.90

434.28 504.32 458.41 504.32 457.25 518.77 524.98 533.22 571.41 566.12 596.84 586.45 651.44 601.66 721.79 616.70 752.09 643.11 749.97 657.42

@2016 ABS MEDHI

50% Poverty Line Sole parent and 2 children

@ACCER 2017

January 2001 Centrelink $ January 2002 Centrelink $ January 2003 Centrelink $ January 2004 Centrelink $ January 2005 Centrelink $ January 2006 Centrelink $ January 2007 Centrelink $ January 2008 Centrelink $ January 2009 Centrelink $ January 2010 Centrelink $

413.59 436.58 435.48 499.98 544.20 568.43 620.43 687.42 716.28 714.27

330.88 400.21 349.26 417.49 348.39 433.31 399.98 451.48 435.36 465.73 454.74 480.84 496.34 472.85 549.94 519.73 573.02 541.94 571.41 566.40

"Household Income and Wealth, Australia, 2015-16. Cat. 6523.0."

"Working Australia, 2017: Wages, Families and Poverty."; "Household Income and Wealth, Australia, 2015-16.

Cat. 6523.0."; "Poverty Lines: Australia- Quarterly Reports 2001-2018."

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January 2011 Centrelink $ January 2012 Centrelink $ January 2013 Centrelink $ January 2014 Centrelink $ January 2015 Centrelink $ January 2016 Centrelink $ January 2017 Centrelink $

756.09 790.16 809.30 844.00 860.02 862.94 875.57

378.04 292.05 395.08 303.10 404.65 306.80 422.00 312.50 430.01 321.60 431.47 330.80 437.78 334.05

793.89 675.25 829.67 697.72 849.76 710.47 886.20 722.84 903.02 743.47 906.08 766.70 919.35 776.06

604.86 581.40 632.13 604.25 647.44 622.77 675.20 645.84 688.01 664.23 690.03 682.33 700.45 693.54

For single Australians at the poverty line, there is an increasing gap between their income and the median disposable household income. Trend lines, as shown in Figure 3, demonstrate this gap widening to a substantive rift between single Australian income and the NMEDHI. What is most concerning, is the considerable gap that is widening between Centrelink payments for single Australians where payments have increasingly shifted below the 50% poverty line for single workers. As Figure 3 demonstrates, the income gap between the median household income and Centrelink payments for single Australians in 2017 is almost triple the gap that existed 2001. This highlights the impact that freezing Centrelink payments has had on sending single Australians into poverty.

1000 900 800

Median Equivalised Disposable Household Income (NMEDHI) Poverty Line: Minimum Income for Healthy Living Singles (50% of their NMEDHI)

$ per week

700 600 500 400 300

Maximum Centrelink Payment for Single Persons

200 100 0

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Year (each January)

Figure 3. Poverty lines for single workers and families January 2001-January 2017 with trend lines 19

"Working Australia, 2017: Wages, Families and Poverty."; "Household Income and Wealth, Australia, 201516. Cat. 6523.0."; "Poverty Lines: Australia- Quarterly Reports 2001-2018."

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While there is less income disparity between NMEDHI and Centrelink income for couples with two children, the gap is widening but at a slower rate than for single Australians (see Figure 4). Couples with two children were better off in 2001-2003. However, this trend has reversed since 2004.

1200

1000

$ per week

800

600

400

200

0 20012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017 Year (each January) Poverty Line: Min. Healthy Living Income: Couple & 2 Children (50% of their NMEDHI) Maximum Centrelink Payment - Couple & 2 Children

Figure 4. Poverty lines for couple and two children workers and families January 2001- January 2017 with trend lines 20 For Australian sole parents who have two children, there has been an increasing disparity between the national median equivalised disposable income and the poverty lines for both worker and Centrelink families (see Figure 5). Trend lines show that from 2001 to 2017, the gap is widening much faster than workers for sole parents who have two children and are reliant on Centrelink payments for their income.

"Working Australia, 2017: Wages, Families and Poverty."; "Household Income and Wealth, Australia, 201516. Cat. 6523.0."; "Poverty Lines: Australia- Quarterly Reports 2001-2018."

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800 700

$ per week

600 500 400 300 200 100 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Year (each January) Poverty Line: Min. Income for Healthy Living: Sole Parent & 2 Children (50% of their NMEDHI) Maximum Centrelink Payment - Sole Parent & 2 Children

Figure 5. Poverty lines for sole parent and two children workers and families January 2001-January 2017 with trend lines 21 The above three figures show concerning trends of individuals and families who rely on benefits from Centrelink. On average, there is a widening gap between our measured poverty line and the maximum Centrelink payments since 2001, particularly for single persons and couples with two children. While there is a less of a gap between the poverty line and the maximum Centrelink payment for sole parents with two children, trend lines also show a slightly increasing gap if data is projected beyond 2017.

Dominant and emerging income quartile groups within WA at the 2016 Census Equivalised income quartiles allow us to compare relative income-earning capabilities across time. Because the data is equivalised, households of different size and composition are placed on an equal footing.

Analysis of the distribution of households by income quartile in Western Australia compared to Australia shows that while there was a greater proportion of households in the highest equivalised income quartile, there was a lesser proportion in all of the lower equivalised income quartiles (see Figure 6).

The most significant change in Western Australia between 2011 and 2016 was in the highest quartile which showed an increase of 248,073 households – as shown in Figure 6 below. Longer-term data comparing 2006 to 2016 show an increase in the gap between the high earners and the less paid where fewer proportions of West Australians were in the

"Working Australia, 2017: Wages, Families and Poverty."; "Household Income and Wealth, Australia, 201516. Cat. 6523.0."; "Poverty Lines: Australia- Quarterly Reports 2001-2018."

21

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lower to medium income quartiles than they were in 2006. However, since this data is limited by the census dates, it may not give an accurate picture of trends and variations across years.

Figure 6. Proportion of households in equivalised household income quartiles, 2016 22

"Census of Population and Housing: Estimating Homelessness, Cat. 2049.," ed. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (Canberra2016).

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Economic and Social Trends Average weekly earnings show over the last year have increased with the inflation rate but only marginally, which may provide some indication of tenuous growth for incomes lower than the average earnings. The Australian Bureau of Statistics' Average Weekly Earnings survey is designed to measure the level of average earnings in Australia at a point in time.

Table 6 shows 2018 earnings.

Over the last year, average earning increases were slightly above the consumer price inflation rates of an average 2% between 2017 and 2018. 23 According to the latest report in the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Full-Time Adult Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings increased by 2.6% to $1,586.20 ($1,200.20 net after tax) (see Table 6) between May 2017 and 2018. However, the “all employees” Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings increased by only 0.4% above the inflation rate, a 2.4% increase to $1,206.90 ($952.90 net after tax) between May 2017 and May 2018. Movements in average weekly earnings can be affected by changes in both the level of earnings per employee and in the composition of the labour force. Factors that can contribute to compositional change include variations in the proportion of full-time, part-time, casual and junior employees; variations in the occupational distribution within and across industries; and variations in the distribution of employment between industries. 24 While the rate of casual employment has been relatively steady over the past 20 years, the rate of part-time employment has increased over the last decade, especially for sectors that are lower paying than others. 25 As Figure 7 shows, there has been a continually increasing trend in part-time work since the 1960s. There has also been a secular decline in traditional fulltime jobs within industries such as manufacturing and manual work. 26 There has also been a steady increase in unemployment for both men and women in Western Australia since 2011 (see Figure 8).

These labour force factors associated within income may indicate more vulnerability to the affordability of living costs.

“Measures of Consumer Price Inflation”, Reserve Bank of Australia, https://www.rba.gov.au/inflation/measures-cpi.html 24 "Average Weekly Earnings, Australia. Cat.6302. August 2018 Release," ed. Australian Bureau Of Statistics (Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018).

25 Natasha Cassidy and Stephanie Parsons, “ The Rising Share of Part-time Employment”, Bulletin (September, 2017), https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2017/sep/3.html 26 Alexandra Heath, “The Changing Nature of the Australian Workforce”, (21 September, 2016). Address to CEDA – Future Skills: The Education and Training Pipeline, Brisbane.

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Table 6: Australian Average Weekly Earnings (May 2018) Measure Full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings All employees’ average weekly total earnings

Gross $

Net-After Tax $

1 586.20

1200.20

1 206.90

952.90

Note: “All employees’” are those working less than full time hours as per their relevant industrial award, or in the absence of such – generally less than 35 hours per week. 27

Figure 7. Part-time employment share for Australia (seasonally adjusted). Series break in 1984 due to change in Labour Force Survey. Post 1984 series excludes agriculture, forestry and fishing, and public administration and safety. Source: ABS; RBA 25

27

"Average Weekly Earnings, Australia. Cat.6302. August 2018 Release."

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14.0 12.0 10.0

%

8.0 Males

6.0

Females 4.0

0.0

Feb-1978 Jan-1980 Dec-1981 Nov-1983 Oct-1985 Sep-1987 Aug-1989 Jul-1991 Jun-1993 May-1995 Apr-1997 Mar-1999 Feb-2001 Jan-2003 Dec-2004 Nov-2006 Oct-2008 Sep-2010 Aug-2012 Jul-2014 Jun-2016

2.0

Figure 8. Unemployment rates in Western Australia (1978-2018). Source: ABS 28 The trends from Figure 8 show that since 2012, there has not been much variation in unemployment between men and women in Western Australia. However, unemployment was higher for women shortly following the global financial crisis in 2008. 2018 figures show little difference in unemployment rates between men and women; men only have a slightly higher unemployment rate of 6.1 than women, at 5.8%.

However, women are more likely to be impacted by an increase in unemployment due to lower average weekly incomes. In examining earnings by gender in Western Australia, there are some concerning trends for women. As Figure 9 reveals, although the data shows a similar increase in the average weekly pre-tax earnings from 2012 to 2018, there is a marked difference between the earnings of men and women. For Australian women in May 2018, the average weekly pre-tax earnings was $464.30 lower at $1464.30. For Australian men, their average weekly earnings were higher at $1886.70. This gender disparity of earning power has remained relatively consistent from 2012 to 2018 with no improvement for women. Factoring in net after-tax-earnings, Australian women were $269.40 less well off (at $1121.30/week) in contrast to their male counterparts ($1390.70/week) in 2018. The combined 2018 net after tax earnings for all Australians was closer to men’s after-tax earnings at $1303.20 per week. Details on specific numbers can be found in Appendix 1.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. “Labour Force, Australia, Feb 2018 (Labour force status by Sex, Western Australia - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original). http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6202.0Feb%202018?OpenDocument

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2000

Males 1800

Persons

$ per week

1600

Females

1400

Poverty Line: Minimum Income for Healthy Living (50% of equivalised household income WA)

1200

1000

May-18

Feb-18

Nov-17

Aug-17

May-17

Feb-17

Nov-16

Aug-16

Feb-16

May-16

Nov-15

Aug-15

May-15

Feb-15

Nov-14

Aug-14

May-14

Feb-14

Nov-13

Aug-13

May-13

Feb-13

Nov-12

Aug-12

May-12

800

Year (each January)

Figure 9. West Australian average weekly pre-tax earnings (2012-2018) for adult fulltime workers. 29 These figures demonstrate that households whose primary income earners are women, including single mothers, are either more likely to be closer to the poverty line or live below the poverty line and therefore experience financial stress. This then flows on to an increased need for many government and non-government support services.

As women are more likely to be take up caregiving responsibilities, this can result in poorer health and lower workforce participation, lower earning capacity is a stressor that can further impact on women’s health and wellbeing. 30 This impact is likely to be felt amongst others in the family unit, including children. 31 Indigenous Australians are also more disadvantaged on average with personal weekly income than non-Indigenous Australians. When weekly earnings for Indigenous Australians are compared with the Australian average weekly earnings in Table 7, there is a striking contrast. Australian Bureau of Statistics data from the National Median Equivalised Disposable Household Income was used to estimate the poverty line, and this was contrasted with the median personal weekly income for Indigenous Australians (shown in Table 7). While the weekly income for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons has been increasing gradually, there is a substantive gap between weekly earnings for the Australian average (approximately $1500-$1700) and Indigenous Australians (approximately $200-$500, depending on the location). Table 7 reveals this contrast where the further Indigenous Australians live away from metropolitan areas, the more likely they are living below the poverty line. There is also a significant difference in income level for "Average Weekly Earnings, Australia. Cat.6302. August 2018 Release."

Christina Lee & Helen Gramotnev, “Transitions into and out of caregiving: Health and social characteristics of mid-age Australian women”, Psychology and Health 22, no. 2 (2007), 193-209.

31 Jeanne Brooks-Gunn & Greg J. Duncan, “The effects of poverty on children”, The Future of Children 7, no. 2 (1997), 55-71.

29 30

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who live in inner regional areas, which border the metropolitan areas, than for Indigenous Australians who live in major cities.

Table 7: Median personal weekly income trends by location for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons aged 15 years and over, 2006-2016(a) 32 33 Census 2006

2011

Census median indexed to 2016 annual CPI inflation(b) 2006 2011 2016

2016 Dollars ($)

Major Cities Inner Regional Outer Regional Remote Very Remote Australia(c) Poverty Line – All Australians (d)

354 298 292 246 215 278 284

430 375 366 339 272 362 378

513 453 441 388 286 441 431

450 378 371 312 273 353 360

472 412 402 372 299 398 415

513 453 441 388 286 441 431

Note: (a) Usual residence Census counts. Excludes overseas visitors. (b) Census median personal weekly income indexed to annual 2016 Consumer Price Index except for the Poverty Line numbers. (c) Includes migratory-offshore-shipping and no usual address. (d) The poverty line is 50% of the National Median Equivalised Disposable Household Income for all Australians.

The figures in Table 7 are indicators of disadvantage and the implications of lower incomes for Indigenous Australians need to be contextualised in relation to a complex range of social determinants of wellbeing. These determinants include resistance and adaption to colonisation, including the negative consequences of the forcible removal of children and displacement of families, producing the Stolen Generations. 34 Determinants also include a history of oppressive legislation that eroded the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the harmful effects of racism that manifest as a consequence of these practices in contemporary Australian society.34 These historical and contemporary social determinants have contributed to the disadvantage and impoverishment of Indigenous Australians.34 Major outcomes of disadvantage include poorer health, shorter life expectancy, psychological distress at 2.5 times the rate higher than other people, lower year 12 completions, lower employments rates (20% lower than others), suicide rates twice that of other people, higher rates of family violence, incarceration rates 14 times higher than other Australians and more than double the victimisation rate for crime.34 Health and social research has found strong correlations between economic status, education and

Australian Bureau of Statistics. “Census of Population and Housing: Understanding the Increase in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Counts, 2011-2016 (Impact of Intercensal Change on Selected Characteristics; Median personal weekly income by Remoteness, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons aged 15 years and over, 2006-2016). (2018). http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/2077.02016?OpenDocument 33 "Working Australia, 2017: Wages, Families and Poverty," ed. Brian Lawrence (Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations, 2017); "Household Income and Wealth, Australia, 2015-16. Cat. 6523.0," ed. Australian Bureau Of Statistics (Canberra2016); "Poverty Lines: Australia- Quarterly Reports 2001-2018," (Melbourne: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic & Social Research, 2001-2018).

34 Pat Dudgeon, Michael Wright, Yin Paradies, Darren Garvey & Iain Walker, “Aboriginal Social, Cultural and Historical Contexts”. In Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice, edited by Pat Dudgeon, Helen Milroy and Roz Walker (2014), 3-24, Barton, ACT: Commonwealth of Australia.

32

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health. 35 36 37 38 Therefore, as median weekly income is close to the poverty line for Indigenous Australians, this is an indication of need for the appropriate delivery of social services. Culturally appropriate delivery needs to minimise the causal determinants of economic and social disadvantage as well as facilitating protective factors of Indigenous Australians, which include social cohesion, kinship, connection to land, culture, spirituality and ancestry as well as self-determination, community governance and cultural continuity. 39 Table 8 shows proportions of the Indigenous Australian population residing within Perth suburbs. Trends from 2011 to 2016 show that some of the outer suburbs of Perth such as Kwinana, Armadale, Gosnells, Swan and Mundaring show areas where the proportion of residing Indigenous Australians are at least twice as greater than the 1.6% average for Perth. 40 41 This may give some indication as to further inquiry on where social service delivery could be targeted for Indigenous Australians on low incomes. However, it is important not to assume, generalise or stereotype that certain areas of Perth are at economic and social disadvantage for all Indigenous Australian individuals and families just because of a higher Indigenous population. A range of indicators/determinants need to be taken into account.

35 Rebecca Fanany & David Fanany. Health as a social experience. (2012). Melbourne, VIC: Palgrave Macmillan.

36 M.G. Marmot, George Davey Smith, Stephen Stansfeld, Chandra Patel, Fiona North, Jenny Head, Ian White, Eric Brunner & Amanda Feeney, “Health Inequalities among British Civil Servants: The Whitehall II Study”, The Lancet 337, no. 8754 (1991), 1387-1393.

37 M.G. Marmot, M. J. Shipley & Geoffrey Rose, “Inequalities in Death – Specific Explanations of a General Pattern?” The Lancet 323, no 8384 (1984), 1003-1006.

38 Michael G. Marmot. Fair Society, Healthy Lives: The Marmot Review. (London, England: University College London, 2010). http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmotreview/fair-society-healthy-lives-full-report-pdf.pdf 39 Stephen R. Zubrick, Carrington CJ Shepherd, Pat Dudgeon, Graham Gee, Yin Paradies, Clair Scrine and Roz Walker, “Social Determinants of Social and Emotional Wellbeing” in In Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice, edited by Pat Dudgeon, Helen Milroy and Roz Walker (2014), 93-109, Barton, ACT: Commonwealth of Australia.

40 "2075.0 - Census of Population and Housing - Counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2016", last updated August 31, 2017, http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.Nsf/39433889d406eeb9ca2570610019e9a5/8696cd2c77635eafca25 7a230015f26b!OpenDocument 41 "2075.0 - Census of Population and Housing - Counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2011", last updated June 21, 2012, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/lookup/2075.0main+features32011

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Table 8: Census Counts(a) by Indigenous Status – Perth Indigenous Region, 2011-20164041 Indigenous area Indigenous location

2011 Number

Perth Armadale Armadale – Central Armadale – Surrounds Kelmscott Seville Grove Westfield Bassendean Bayswater Bayswater – North Bayswater – South Belmont Belmont – North Cloverdale Kewdale Rivervale Canning Canning – Central Canning - North-East Canning Vale – East Cockburn Cock burn – Central Cock burn – Coast Cock burn – East Coolbellup Hamilton Hill Fremantle Gosnells Beck enham Canning Vale (West) - Southern River Gosnells Huntingdale Kenwick Langford Maddington - Martin - Orange Grove Thornlie Joondalup Joondalup – North Joondalup – South Kalamunda Forrestfield High Wycombe Kalamunda – Surrounds Kwinana Kwinana – Central Kwinana – Surrounds Melville Melville – North Melville – South Mundaring - Swan View Darlington - Mundaring – Chidlow Swan View Perth Perth – Central

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1,740 653 358 250 289 190 387 825 369 455 1,051 371 295 114 267 888 283 567 37 1,598 357 233 512 200 294 469 2,611 148 383 680 200 198 156 385 460 877 286 590 909 337 290 279 1,143 699 448 570 215 358 1,088 753 335 578 247

2016 Number

%

2.8 5.1 1.4 2.5 3.1 4.2 2.7 1.4 1.2 1.5 3.0 2.8 4.1 1.8 3.2 1.0 0.6 1.8 0.4 1.8 1.6 1.3 1.5 4.1 2.9 1.4 2.4 2.2 1.4 3.5 2.3 3.6 2.8 3.3 2.0 0.6 0.5 0.6 1.7 2.9 2.5 0.9 3.9 3.8 4.1 0.6 0.4 0.8 2.8 2.5 4.2 0.5 0.6

2,029 672 495 291 386 187 383 842 390 449 997 356 248 125 266 889 323 509 64 1,596 381 239 605 155 226 486 2,753 188 455 744 196 191 137 410 435 1,001 373 630 1,034 355 327 359 1,406 730 679 699 314 379 1,369 1,015 351 814 369

31

%

2.5 5.0 1.2 2.8 3.8 4.2 2.5 1.3 1.2 1.4 2.5 2.5 3.1 1.8 2.6 1.0 0.7 1.5 0.6 1.5 1.5 1.1 1.5 2.9 2.0 1.3 2.3 2.5 1.4 3.7 2.3 3.4 2.4 3.0 1.9 0.6 0.7 0.6 1.8 2.8 2.7 1.1 3.6 3.9 3.3 0.7 0.6 0.8 3.4 3.1 4.4 0.6 0.7

Perth – West Rockingham Rock ingham - Central Coast Rock ingham – North Rock ingham - South-West Serpentine – Jarrahdale South Perth - Victoria Park South Perth Victoria Park Stirling Stirling – Coast Stirling – East Stirling - Inner North Stirling - Inner South Swan Ballajura – Malaga Beechboro Bellevue – Koongamia Bullsbrook – Gidgegannup Ellenbrook Guildford - Hazelmere – Woodbridge Midland – Viveash Midvale - Middle Swan Stratton - Jane Brook Wanneroo - North-East Yanchep - Two Rocks Total (Perth)

330 1,731 1,011 361 356 253 944 442 502 2,397

0.4 1.7 2.2 1.4 1.1 1.4 1.3 1.1 1.5 1.2

546 599 440 813 3,152 354 819 105 372 555 135 116 406 282 1,350 963 25,534

0.8 1.2 2.8 1.1 3.0 1.7 3.8 5.9 2.2 2.5 2.0 2.8 7.2 4.2 1.4 1.7

444 2,552 1,352 434 759 544 1,054 522 531 2,295 539 632 369 749 3,662 337 694 101 790 709 133 193 410 279 1,484 1,220

0.5 2.1 3.0 1.7 1.4 2.0 1.4 1.3 1.5 1.0 0.7 1.2 2.1 0.9 2.8 1.7 3.2 5.5 2.2 2.6 1.8 3.9 6.8 4.1 1.3 1.6

1.6

29,118

1.6

(a) Usual Residence, excludes overseas visitors. Highlighted cells in red indicate higher proportions of Indigenous Australians in specific suburbs (two times higher than the overall representation in Perth, which is 1.6%). Source: ABS 40 41

Cost of Living in Perth and Regional WA The West Australian Council of Social Service (WACOSS) reported in their Dec 2017 report 42 that, in general, research had found that people across the state were spending less to cope with the reduction in income from the days of the WA decade-long mining boom. Those in financial hardship are continually finding a higher proportion of their expenditure is subsumed by housing and utility costs. Wages have barely increased in Western Australia where Wage Price Index growth has tended towards the lowest in the nation in recent times. Unemployment and underemployment remain high. For those who are unable to find work, there has not been a significant increase to the Newstart Allowance in over 20 years. Its value has eroded in real terms, falling behind the cost of living within our society to the point where it is inadequate to provide a basic standard of living. 43 Now in post-boom Western Australia, the situation is somewhat different to that of 10 years ago. WACOSS document that housing costs have in fact declined, which has made rental housing generally more affordable, and this is the most notable decline amongst the expenses incurred in everyday living. However, this is contradicted by significant job losses in WA. While there has been an improvement in the unemployment rate, it has not been driven by large increases in people securing full-time work.44 Precarious, intermittent work has almost become the new norm in WA, with even previously secure sectors like the public service facing widespread redundancies and minimal wage growth. 44

"W.A.C.O.S.S. Cost of Living Report. 2017," (Perth, WA: Western Australian Council of Social Service, 2018).

43 "W.A.C.O.S.S. Cost of Living Report. 2017."

44 "W.A.C.O.S.S. Cost of Living Report. 2017."

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Families and household scenarios who are able to find both housing and, where relevant, secure employment, appear to be doing reasonably well. However, WACOSS document that those relying entirely on government income support while renting are either just breaking even or falling short of meeting their basic living costs. 45 Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre’s (BCEC) analysis of the Census Household Expenditure Survey (HES) for 2015-16 shows that spending on housing and food as a share of total household expenditure has been rising consistently since the previous HES survey in 2009-10. This is particularly the case for single parent families on middle incomes, and for couples with children over the full income range.

For those households classified as being in financial hardship, on average, nearly 70% of their spending is devoted to the basic necessities of life – housing, fuel and power, and food. This figure has risen by approximately 17% between the 2009-10 report and the 2015-16 HES reports. In fact, BCEC analysis of spending patterns shows that low-income households and those in financial stress are cutting back significantly on health spending, transport and recreational activities in order to keep afloat, spending less in these areas than they have in the past, and much less than the average household. 46

Factors concerning low-income living in Perth and regional WA in recent years Food The Foodbank Welfare Agency Survey reconnoitres the charities and community groups that provide front-line food relief, their food provision activities and the beneficiaries of their services. The most recent survey captured responses from 1,123 agencies between December 2016 and July 2017. The results were published in the 2017 Foodbank Hunger Report 47, which found that 3.6 million Australians experienced food insecurity at least once in the preceding 12 months. Of those people, three in five had experienced food insecurity at least once a month. In Western Australia, there had been an 11% increase in the proportion of people seeking food relief since 2016, with 479,000 meals provided each month.47 Cost of living pressures play a significant role in food insecurity. Foodbank noted that although their associated agencies provide food assistance to a diverse range of groups, including those struggling with unemployment, homelessness and substance abuse, the most common group they assist are individuals and families living on a low income (81%), noting that almost half (48%) of food insecure Australians are employed in some way, whether it be full-time, part-time, or casually.47

Their report found 41% of people who experienced food insecurity had not paid bills in order to buy food. 56% said they had been unable to buy food due to an unexpected

"W.A.C.O.S.S. Cost of Living Report. 2017."

K Leong Duncan A, R Ong, S Salazar, and C Twomey "The Price Is Right? An Examination of the Cost of Living in Western Australia," in Focus on Western Australia Report Series, No 10. (Perth, WA.: Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, 2017).

47 "Foodbank Hunger Report 2017," https://www.foodbank.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/FoodbankHunger-Report-2017.pdf.

45 46

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expense or large bill and 38% were unable due to having to pay rent or make a mortgage repayment. 35% said they were unable to buy food because it was too expensive. 48 Recent research on the prevalence of food insecurity amongst regional and remote Western Australian children found that 20.1% of those children were food insecure. More than one in five were concerned that food would run out before their family could afford to buy more. Godrich et al. (2017) noted that children in families that received government financial assistance saw a higher prevalence of food insecurity. 49 According to the 2015/16 Household Expenditure Survey 50 data, households in the lowest income quintile are spending an average of $114.15 each week on food and non-alcoholic beverages, which equates to 23.8% of their income (see Table 9). In contrast, those in the third and fourth quintile are spending less than 15% of their income, while the highest quintile less than 10%.

Table 9: Weekly Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverage Expenditure by Gross Household Income Quintiles

Food expenditure ($/week) % of median gross income

Lowest

Gross Household Income Quintile Second Third Fourth Highest

114.15

164.05

227.42

289.38

391.24

All households 236.97

23.8

17.3

14.1

11.7

9.5

14.7

Source: ABS 6530

It is clear in these reports 51 that people without the income to meet all of their expenses, are being forced to go without meals at various times. Clearly, all facets of these people’s lives are affected by going without food, many of which can have a profound impact on their wellbeing, including their physical and mental health, social interactions, their ability to function and, in the case of children, their growth and development. 52 53 54 It goes without saying that this will ultimately cost both the State and Federal governments more in long term costs associated with these negative impacts.

48

"Foodbank Hunger Report 2017".

49Stephanie

Godrich et al., "Prevalence and Socio-Demographic Predictors of Food Insecurity among Regional and Remote Western Australian Children," Australian & New Zealand Journal of Public Health 41, no. 6 (2017). " Household Expenditure Survey, Australia: Summary of Results, 2015-16, Cat. No. 6530," ed. Australian Bureau of Statistics (Canberra2017); "W.A.C.O.S.S. Cost of Living Report. 2017."

51 Godrich et al., "Prevalence and Socio-Demographic Predictors of Food Insecurity among Regional and Remote Western Australian Children."; "Foodbank Hunger Report 2017"; "W.A.C.O.S.S. Cost of Living Report.

2017."

52 J. Brozek, “Effects of malnutrition on personality: A review”, Nutrition, 6 (2009), 389-395.

53 J. Paget Sanfield, “Some aspects of the long-term effects of malnutrition on behaviour of children in the Third World”, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 52 (1993), 201-210.

54 S. P. Walker, S. M. Chang, C. A. Powell, E. Simonoff & S. M. Grantham-McGregor, “Early childhood stunting is associated with poor psychological functioning in late adolescence and effects are reduced by psychosocial stimulation”, Nutrition, 137 (2007), 2464-2467.

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Utilities – Power and Gas For those low-income households who are struggling, a utility bill can result in families having to make a choice between paying their rent and buying food, or keeping the lights on, the fridge running and being able to heat or cool their home. Subsequently, low-income earners may be forced to forsake services, such as water, gas or electricity, which are essential to maintaining a reasonable standard of living in order to feed themselves or to keep a roof over their head.

WACOSS document that 2015-16 saw a significant increase in electricity and gas customers seeking assistance from their energy supplier, and a rise in direct debit terminations due to default. In electricity, 11% of residential customers were granted more time to pay a bill (payment extension), up from 8.7% in 2014-15, with the proportion of residential electricity customers on instalment plans reaching a six-year peak in 2015-16 at 4.7% or nearly one in five. 55 Energy retailers are required to keep records of the number of direct debit plans they have terminated as a result of default (i.e., non-payment in two or more successive payment periods). The below results in Figure 10 show that the last financial year saw a considerable increase in the number of direct debit cancellations due to non-payment.

Figure 10. Direct debit cancellations with Australian energy retailers.

Source: Economic Regulation Authority (2017) Snapshot of the small use energy mark et in WA

56

It was reported in November 2018 that whilst household Synergy accounts had increased by almost 20% since July 2017, the number of overdue household accounts that had been forgiven had risen to 30,355 compared to 16,540 for the previous year (2015-2016). At the same time the value of these unpaid written off household accounts had risen from $8.1M two years previously to $17.5M in the twelve months to 30th June 2018. 57 The pressure on living costs from energy prices are also not expected to decrease. As Figure 11 reveals, forecasts show continued steep rises in electricity prices over the next "W.A.C.O.S.S. Cost of Living Report. 2017."

"2016 Annual Performance Report – Energy Retailers," (Economic Regulation Authority, 2017).

57 Daniel Mercer, "Synergy Writes Off $17.M. In Bills," The West Australian, 22nd Nov 2018.

55 56

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year. 58 This pressure may lead to further cost cutting members by consumers of utility companies (see Figure 12).

Figure 11. Average annual costs of electricity (2014-2018) 59

Figure 12. Proportion of low income households reporting use of cost cutting measures59 The above graph in Figure 12 shows the various methods used by households to reduce their power bills as reported in the 2016 BCEC Energy Poverty survey.59 The same report also reported on the Hardship Utility Grant Scheme (HUGS), which provides financial assistance to those in financial hardship in order to pay their utility bills. An average of 109 people a day applied for HUGS over the last financial year, with approximately 27,000 Synergy customers making applications to HUGS in 2016/17.

" Energy Poverty in Western Australia: A Comparative Analysis of Drivers and Effects.," in BCEC Research Report No. 2/16. (Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, 2016).

59 " Energy Poverty in Western Australia: A Comparative Analysis of Drivers and Effects.."

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Figure 13 highlights how those in financial stress are increasingly spending more on housing and utilities than the average Western Australian household. Spending more on these essential services forces them to cut their spending in more discretionary areas.

Figure 13. WA gap in expenditure shares, households with financial stress measures, relative to average WA household, 2003-2015 Source: Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre | Authors' estimates based on ABS Household Expenditure survey, 2003-04, 2009-10 and 2015-16. 60

The authors of the WACOSS and Bankwest reports suggest that there is no doubt that people on the lowest incomes simply do not have enough money (see Figure 14). The buying power of those on Newstart Allowance or the minimum wage remains low. The State Minimum Wage is just over 40% of the average weekly earnings in WA, while Newstart is just 15.6%. 61

Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre. Beyond our Means? Household Savings and Debt in Australia (Focus on the States Report Series No.2). Bentley, WA: Curtin University of Technology, 2015. https://bcec.edu.au/assets/Beyond-our-Means-Household-Savings-and-Debt-in-Australia.pdf 61 Duncan A, "The Price Is Right? An Examination of the Cost of Living in Western Australia."

60

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Figure 14. Western Australian average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE), WA state minimum wage and Newstart allowance, 2005-2016.

Source: WACOSS Cost of Living Report 62

Housing – Rental WACOSS documented that it is estimated that there are around 59,000 Western Australians unable to afford market housing and a further 73,000 requiring rent assistance to alleviate a position of rental stress. 63 As of the end of 2016/17, there were 16,516 households on the public housing waitlist, with 1,590 on the priority waitlist. 64 On average, applicants waited 139 weeks to be housed (or around 2.7 years).

It is important to remember that most reporting of rental housing availability is of new or current properties at that particular time, in general they don’t consider those tenants whom are negotiating new leases on a current property. In this case many lower income earners are not in a position to negotiate a rent reduction, due to either a lack of experience and confidence or as a result of their precarious financial situation. WACOSS document that often tenants report being fearful of indicating to their landlord they may have trouble paying the rent in the future as they might be perceived as a ‘risky’ tenant.

Anglicare produce an Anglicare Rental Affordability Snapshot. This report takes a ‘snapshot’ on a given day of the rental market and examines whether the properties being advertised are both affordable for a range of different low-income types and whether those properties are appropriate for the composition of their household.

The 2017 WA Rental Affordability Snapshot shows that the more reliant a household is on income support payments from the federal government, the fewer options are available in searching for rental accommodation. The snapshot found that a couple with two children in

W.A.C.O.S.S. Cost of Living Report. 2017," (Perth, WA: Western Australian Council of Social Service, 2018).

63 S Rowley, C Leishman, E Baker, R Bentley, and L Lester (2017) ‘Modelling housing need in Australia to 2025’ Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, AHURI Final Report 287 64 "Housing Authority (2017) Annual Report 2016-17, P 53 ".

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the Perth metropolitan area, where both parents were receiving the minimum wage and Family Tax Benefit Part A, were able to find 5,817 affordable and appropriate rental properties, which accounted to 46.8% of those being advertised. 65 That number of affordable and appropriate properties reduces dramatically by 3,535 properties as soon as only one of the parents has access to the minimum wage, down to only 18% of properties advertised.

Single persons, reliant on income support, fare worse in accessing rentals. For a single parent of two children on the minimum wage and receiving Family Tax Benefit Part A and B, their options are even fewer, with only 764 properties affordable and appropriate or only 6.1% of those advertised. A single person on the minimum wage would only be able to find just 1% of rental properties advertised that were affordable and appropriate, which included boarding houses or renting a room in a share house. A single person on Newstart is even worse off, being unable to find any properties at all that are appropriate or affordable. 66 Table 10: Rental Affordability Snapshot for Greater Perth and Metropolitan Areas 67 Household Type Couple, two children (one aged less than 5, one aged less than 10) Couple, two children (one aged less than 5, one aged less than 10) Couple, two children (one aged less than 5, one aged less than 10)

Number Affordable & Appropriate

Percentage Affordable & Appropriate

5817

46.8

2244

18.0

Newstart Allowance (both adults)

55

0.4

Minimum Wage + FTB A&B

764

6.1

11

0.1

124

1.0

0

0

Payment Type

Minimum Wage + FTB A (both adults) Minimum Wage + Parenting payment (partnered) + FTB A & B

Single, two children (one aged less than 5, one aged less than 10) Single, two children (one aged less than

Parenting Single

Payment

5, one aged less than 10) Single

Minimum Wage

Single

Newstart Allowance

"Rental Affordability Snapshot 2018: Anglicare W.A.," ed. Anglicare W.A. "Rental Affordability Snapshot 2018: Anglicare W.A.."

67 "Rental Affordability Snapshot 2018: Anglicare W.A.."

65 66

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Single in share house Couple, no children Single Total No of Properties

Youth Allowance

0

0

Age Pension

257

2.1

Age Pension

83

0.7

12,437

Source: Anglicare (2017) WA Rental Affordability Snapshot

The above table highlights how singles and those relying on income support have little or no options available to them when looking to rent accommodation. For a single on the age pension, who WACOSS documents are significantly more likely to be women, they find themselves able to find 67% fewer properties than would a couple. 68 While there has been a clear reduction in the median rental price, those on the lowest incomes are still facing very major challenges in the rental market. Consequently, they are either renting places that are inappropriate for their life circumstances, or that consume a significantly higher portion of their income than is in line with agreed community standards.

Given that the population is ageing, the proportion of those of working age compared to those in retirement is declining, and the proportion of our community aged over 85 years is increasing dramatically. The current trends around housing affordability, home ownership on retirement, and the adequacy of superannuation savings, highlight significant risks of an increasing proportion of our community facing poverty in older adulthood.

A recent report on Ageing and Homelessness from Mission Australia highlighted the rising number of older Australians at risk of homelessness or seeking support from homeless services. 69 Access to secure and affordable housing and the cost of private rental are critical factors, particularly for single older women, Aboriginal people and those who are escaping family violence.

Comparison of ABS data to that from WA Financial Counselling services data WACOSS and the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre 70 have benchmarked the results from WA Financial Counselling services data against the household expenditure patterns captured by the 2016 ABS Household Expenditure Survey. This is the first time that this type of analysis was undertaken, and the results are quite concerning.

WA Financial Counselling Network provided WACOSS with the data taken from the week of 4th to 10th September 2017, of the 265 households unable to meet their basic weekly living costs and facing mounting personal debt who sought the assistance of a not-for-profit community based financial counselling service. This enabled WACOSS to provide a snapshot of actual struggling household issues within Perth that week.

"Rental Affordability Snapshot 2018: Anglicare W.A.."; "W.A.C.O.S.S. Cost of Living Report. 2017."

"Mission Australia Ageing and Homelessness Report," (Mission Australia, 2017).

70 "W.A.C.O.S.S. Cost of Living Report. 2017."; Duncan A, "The Price Is Right? An Examination of the Cost of Living in Western Australia."

68 69

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Table 11: Proportion of Expenditure – Household Expenditure Survey (HES) 2015/16 71 Percentage of Expenditure Mortgagees Lowest Highest & Renters quintile* quintile

All

Low Rest economic of WA resource

Perth

FS 0

FS 1

FS 4

Housing 26.0

35.9

41.2

33.2

37.3

31.0

39.1

33.0

33.6 39.9

Food 18.0

15.2

17.1

13.1

15.1

15.8

17.3

15.5

17.0 16.3

Transport 10.0

8.9

6.2

10.0

9.1

8.2

7.5

12.1

10.5

9.6

4.0

3.3

5.0

2.2

3.2

3.7

4.3

2.8

3.7

5.8

Recreation 11.0

8.9

6.1

11.3

8.3

10.7

6.1

9.0

7.2

1.9

6.0

4.5

3.4

4.7

4.5

4.5

3.6

4.1

3.8

2.5

Communication 4.0

3.4

4.1

2.7

3.3

3.8

4.0

3.2

3.9

4.4

Education 2.0

2.0

0.6

3.5

2.1

1.5

1.3

2.2

1.8

1.2

2.0

1.4

2.3

2.0

2.1

2.1

2.5

2.5

2.1

Utilities

Health

Clothing and footwear

2.0

Table 12: Percentage of Expenditure – Financial Counselling Data71 Percentage of Expenditure All

Low income

Mortgage only

Perth

Region

Housing

48.5

48.2

50.9

46.3

44.2

55.2

49.3

46.7

Food

18.1

19.3

15.1

20.2

20.5

15

17.4

18.9

Transport

10.3

10.4

11.2

9.8

10.4

9.9

10.5

10.4

Utilities

5.5

6.3

4.5

6.3

6.4

4.3

5

7.1

4.7

4.8

7.6

4.6

5.1

4.1

4.4

4.8

3.6

3.4

6.4

3.4

3.5

3.5

4.2

3.3

Education

2.1

1.4

2

2.3

2

2

3.2

1.5

Recreation

1.6

1.2

2

1.4

1.5

1.5

1.3

2

1

1

0.8

1.1

1.1

0.7

0.6

1.3

Communication Health

Clothing and footwear

Wages- Centrelink only and NSA

Rent only

Note: * Adjusted by excluding the lowest two percentiles. Financial stress marker indicators refer to 0 (none), 1 (one) and 4 (four or more) markers of financial stress. NSA refers to Newstart Allowance.

71

38

"Rental Affordability Snapshot 2018: Anglicare W.A.."

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Housing stands out as the single largest living cost for WA households in the HES data, with rent on average making up around 26 per cent of weekly expenditure for all households in the 2016 Household Expenditure Survey, ahead of food (18%), transport (10%) and recreation (11%).

However, the financial counselling data clearly shows that those who sought assistance for financial hardship have substantially higher housing costs as a proportion of weekly expenditure with, on average, 48.5% of all their spending. This is close to double that of an ‘average’ household in the HES. WACOSS documented that a comparison between those households in financial hardship who have a mortgage and those only paying rent strongly suggests that the size of their mortgage is likely to be the reason the house owner group are in financial trouble, given they are spending well over half (55.2%) of their weekly budget on housing alone (as opposed to 44.2% for those in financial hardship who are renting). For some households this may be an indication that their financial circumstances have changed. For instance, this could be through a loss of employment and a reduction of income may have placed them in circumstances where they are struggling to keep hold of their home and could be forced to sell it if their circumstances do not improve or if interest rates rise. 72 ACOSS noted in their 2018 report that the majority (52%) of people below the poverty line were living in rental housing, while 15% of people in poverty were actual mortgage free home owners. 73 Employment factors contributing to the cost of living issues within WA WACOSS 74 household modelling data demonstrates that while improvements in living standards for those with access to secure employment, many Western Australians are struggling to secure a job, particularly one that provides enough hours of work to deliver sufficient income. The following ABS data in Figures 14-16 demonstrate an increase in the underemployment rates of WA up to 2017 whilst WACOSS were compiling their data. 75

"W.A.C.O.S.S. Cost of Living Report. 2017."; Duncan A, "The Price Is Right? An Examination of the Cost of Living in Western Australia."

73 Davidson et al., "A.C.O.S.S./U.N.S.W. Poverty and Inequality Partnership Report No. 2."

74 "W.A.C.O.S.S. Cost of Living Report. 2017."; Duncan A, "The Price Is Right? An Examination of the Cost of Living in Western Australia."

75 "6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia," ed. Australian Bureau Of Statistics (Canberra2018).

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12 10 8 6 4 2

Aug-2011

Aug-2012

Aug-2013

Aug-2014

Underemployment ratio

Aug-2015

Aug-2016

Aug-2017

Unemployment rate

Source: ABS 6202.0 Table 23

Figure 15. WA Underemployment vs Unemployment (Seasonally adjusted) Underemployment continues to be significantly higher for women, with an August 2017 underemployment ratio of 11.9, while the male ratio was 7.7. The male underemployment rate was down from 8.6 in May 2017, but a third of that decrease can be accounted for in the increase in male unemployment over the same period. The unemployment rate for women is slightly better at 5.7. 76 14

9 8

12

7

10

6 5

8

4

6

3

4

2

2

1

0

0

Underemployment

Underemployment

Unemployment

Figure 16. WA Male Underemployment vs Unemployment

Figure 17. WA Female Underemployment vs Unemployment

Source: ABS 6202.0 Table 23

Source: ABS 6202.0 Table 23

76

40

Unemployment

"6202.0 - Labour Force, Australia."

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The decrease in unemployment, shown in Figure 18, appears to mostly be the result of an increase in the numbers of people now in part-time employment (see Figure 19) with fulltime employment bouncing back from a decrease in 2014 to 2016 but showing signs of decline once again. The number of people in full-time employment remains somewhat lower than in 2012 to 2015.

Figure 18. WA full-time employment.

Figure 19. WA part-time employment.

Source: ABS 6202.0 Table 8

Source: ABS 6202.0 Table 8

As noted in the introduction to this section, while the average dual income family is coping moderately well, the low-income range of the WA population (i.e., low-income earners, part time earners, single parents, and those dependent on Centrelink payments) are still struggling and their position has become more precarious in recent years. This portion of the community is growing. As such, the increasing need for support in future will be compounded even more so by the decreasing percentage of home owners for each age group. Consequently, this will place more people/families in the rental dependent sector, as such dependent on a fluctuating rental market with little or no equity in their possessions to help fund their retirement/aged years.

Policy makers need to think carefully about how best to respond to this growing problem of increasing financial insecurity for vulnerable low-income persons and families. They will need to advocate for policies and programs that ensure equity and inclusion for those who have contributed throughout their lives to our society and economy and have a right to expect a modest but decent living in their later years.

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Implications and recommendations Poverty trends within a national context of increasing part-time work, a decline in fulltime work in manual labour and manufacturing industries, as well as a current increasing trend in unemployment for West Australian men and women, point to vulnerabilities that can have a negative impact on the wellbeing of individuals and families living in and around Perth.

There are a number of substantive economic gaps that need to be addressed. One of these gaps consistently shows that women earn considerably less per week on average than men, making them more susceptible to economic impoverishment. Women who are under economic pressures are more likely to have their wellbeing impacted negatively due to normative caring responsibilities (including children and parents) and are more likely to be in part-time work. This is also likely to impact on children, and particularly for sole mothers, with potentially less resources for education costs, food and clothing as well as secure housing in safe neighbourhoods. We know that poor economic circumstances are connected to lower educational gradients and poorer health and wellbeing. 77 78 79 Further inequities between female and male earners will have negative flow-on effects to children’s physical, social and emotional wellbeing.

The other significant income gap is with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons’ weekly income. In contrast to the average weekly pre-tax earnings for fulltime workers, Indigenous Australians earn significantly less and are more likely to be close to or below the poverty line, particularly if they live further away from the central city in outer suburbs and neighbouring satellite areas or in outer regional and remote areas. This is an area to further explore in relation to social service provision. Indigenous Australians, who have already been facing risk factors to wellbeing such as colonisation, unresolved trauma, grief and loss due to the Stolen Generations, discrimination, racism and social exclusion, 80 face further barriers and higher social inequality with lower incomes.

Two important measures, the National Minimum Wage and Centrelink payments, have demonstrated slow growth in comparison to average Australian wage growth. The wage gap has widened between pre-tax weekly earnings for West Australian men and women.

We know that for a couple with two children on the NMW now falls substantively below the poverty line even with family tax credits A and B as well as rental assistance and Medicare exceptions. This substantive gap has continued to exist since 2008.

There are also financial challenges for singles and sole parents who rely on Centrelink benefits. The maximum Centrelink payments for a single person has continued to fall further below the 50% of NMEDHI poverty line. There is also still a substantive gap continuing between the maximum Centrelink payments for couples with two children and their 50% of NMEDHI poverty line. Sole parents on maximum Centrelink payments are just below the 50% of NMEDHI poverty line for single parents and have been consistently below the line since 2007.

Michael G. Marmot, George Davey Smith, Stephen Stansfeld, Chandra Patel, Fiona North, Jenny Head, Ian White, Eric Brunner & Amanda Feeney, “Health Inequalities among British Civil Servants: The Whitehall II Study”, The Lancet 337, no. 8754 (1991), 1387-1393.

78 Michael G. Marmot, M. J. Shipley & Geoffrey Rose, “Inequalities in Death – Specific Explanations of a General Pattern?” The Lancet 323, no 8384 (1984), 1003-1006.

79 Michael G. Marmot. Fair Society, Healthy Lives: The Marmot Review. (London, England: University College London, 2010). http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmotreview/fair-society-healthy-lives-full-report-pdf.pdf 80 Stephen R. Zubrick, Carrington CJ Shepherd, Pat Dudgeon, Graham Gee, Yin Paradies, Clair Scrine and Roz Walker, “Social Determinants of Social and Emotional Wellbeing” in In Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice, edited by Pat Dudgeon, Helen Milroy and Roz Walker (2014), 93-109, Barton, ACT: Commonwealth of Australia.

77

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An analysis of income quartiles shows a significant gap between the highest and lowest income quartile groups in 2016, demonstrating a substantive gap between the wealthy and the poor. If these trends continue, there will be increasing inequity for the most financially vulnerable groups of the West Australian population, which include women, children and Indigenous Australians on low incomes.

Food insecurity is a substantive issue among low income earners. The most common group Foodbank assists are persons and families on a low income while almost half of food insecure Australians are employed in some form. Godrich et al. (2017) found that one in five children in regional or remote WA were anxious about their family’s food running out before the family could afford to buy more and 14.6% of children were concerned that their family was buying cheap food as sign the family was running out of money. 81 Added to this is a recent increase (11%) in West Australians seeking food relief 82 with the lowest quintile group of gross household income spending nearly 24% of their income on food in contrast to an average of 15% across all quintile income groups.

Any reduction in services which address food insecurity could have impacts on the wellbeing on families including the development of children, as poor psychological functioning due to poor nutrition is one of many effects on children’s development. 83 84 This can impact on a child’s skill development, communication, relationships and social and emotional wellbeing. Walker et al. (2007) found that children with stunted growth due to a lack of nutrition reported higher levels of anxiety and depression, poorer self-esteem, as well as higher levels of hyperactive and oppositional behaviour. 85 Both governmental and non-governmental agencies need to be aware of these possible flow-on effects to the wellbeing of children and families as well as an increased need for service delivery in the prevention and intervention of emotional and behavioural issues through the active promotion and accessibility of affordable healthy food.

Along with the precarious situations that persons with low incomes face with food, there have been signs of struggle to pay for electricity consumption. Along with rises in electricity costs, there were substantive increases in the cancellations of direct debit plans due to non-payment as well as seeking assistance from the electricity retailer. The largest use of cost-cutting measures was not turning on heating or cooling or heating/cooling one room, both of which may impact on health and wellbeing. For instance, it is well known in social and environmental psychological research that aggressive behaviour is linked to an increase in temperature. 86 The foregoing of heating or cooling can impact on emotional and relational wellbeing as well as physical health of persons experiencing existing stressors through lower incomes.

Persons on lower incomes who are financially dependent on government payments are also impacted through the restricted choice to affordable and appropriate rentals. The stress of finding rental accommodation would be substantially higher for single persons and single parents on low incomes than for couples as affordable private rentals are limited for these groups. Rental availability is non-existent for single persons on the Newstart 81Godrich

et al., "Prevalence and Socio-Demographic Predictors of Food Insecurity among Regional and Remote Western Australian Children."

82 "Foodbank Hunger Report 2017".

83 J. Brozek, “Effects of malnutrition on personality: A review”, Nutrition, 6 (2009), 389-395.

84 J. Paget Sanfield, “Some aspects of the long-term effects of malnutrition on behaviour of children in the Third World”, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 52 (1993), 201-210.

85 S. P. Walker, S. M. Chang, C. A. Powell, E. Simonoff & S. M. Grantham-McGregor, “Early childhood stunting is associated with poor psychological functioning in late adolescence and effects are reduced by psychosocial stimulation”, Nutrition, 137 (2007), 2464-2467.

86 Craig A. Anderson, “Temperature and aggression: Ubiquitous effects of heat on occurrence of human violence”, Psychological Bulletin, 106 (1989), 74-96.

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Allowance. Access to secure and affordable housing and the cost of private rental are critical factors, particularly for single older women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and those who are escaping family violence. This is where a further examination of the provision of support services is warranted.

Another indicator and determinant of poverty for the lower income earner is the increasing rate of underemployment in Western Australia. This is substantially higher for women than men and continual upward trend in part-time employment in WA is consistent with the longer national trend in the increase of part-time employment. Overall full-time employment dropped to a low in 2016, peaked, but dropped again 2017. Not being paid adequately for qualifications or experience is also a stressor, particularly when adjusting to a new job that pays less. While the potential psychological impacts are complex, those who attribute their unemployment to internal factors (e.g., personal failure) or when work is seen as inadequate, research suggests that there are likely adverse impacts on psychological wellbeing and health. 87 Strain on relationships, children, as well as changing relationships with extended family and friends, and material hardship are all stressors that can follow from underemployment. 88 Limited financial resources only add to these stressors.

Current issues found are a widening income generation gap for single persons and families on low incomes, a decreasing percentage of home owners for each age group and increasing rental dependency, issues with food security, increased costs for utility payments and an increase in underemployment and part-time work. Those who rely on Centrelink payments have had very little change in their income since 2001. With increasing financial insecurity for many vulnerable low-income persons and families, it is imperative that inclusive, equitable and just policies and programs are delivered for those who are most in need in Western Australia.

Sarah Anderson and Anthony H. Winefield, "The Impact of Underemployment on Psychological Health, Physical Health, and Work Attitudes", in Douglas C. Maynard & Daniel C. Feldman (Eds.) Underemployment: Psychological, Economic, and Social Change (pp. 165-186). New York: Springer (2011).

88 David S. Pedulla & Katherine S. Newman, "The family and community impacts of underemployment", in Douglas C. Maynard & Daniel C. Feldman (Eds.) Underemployment: Psychological, Economic, and Social Change (pp. 233-251). New York: Springer (2011).

87

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Measures and Trends of Homelessness The Australian cultural definition of homelessness Whilst homelessness is a complex issue, its definition is also somewhat multifaceted. In Australia, a ‘cultural’ definition of homelessness has been used widely over a long period (Kaleveld et al., 2018). 89 The cultural definition, as stated by Chamberlain and MacKenzie (1992), defines homelessness as residing in non-shelter, or in an accommodation setting that falls below minimum acceptable community standards for the society in question. In the Australian context the minimum standard would be “…a small rental flat – with a bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom and an element of security of tenure – because that is the minimum that most people achieve in the private rental market”. Chamberlain and MacKenzie (2009) unpacks this definition into three conditions where this occurs: •

Primary homelessness: being without conventional accommodation; living on the streets, sleeping in parks, squatting in derelict buildings, living in improvised dwellings (i.e., sheds, garages or cabins), and using cars for temporary shelter.

•

Secondary homelessness: moving frequently from one form of temporary shelter to another, such as emergency or transitional accommodation or supported accommodation. This also includes people residing temporarily with other households because they have no accommodation of their own, and people staying in boarding houses on a short-term basis (operationally defined as 12 weeks or less).

•

Tertiary homelessness: living in boarding houses on a medium to long-term basis (13 weeks or longer). Residents of private boarding houses are ‘homeless’ because their accommodation does not meet the minimum community standard: they do not have a separate bedroom and living room; they do not have kitchen and bathroom facilities of their own; their accommodation is not self-contained; and they do not have security of tenure provided by a lease (Chamberlain & MacKenzie, 1992).89 90

Within the WA context, homelessness would include those sleeping rough, those in emergency accommodation, those staying temporarily with others without tenure rights (e.g., adolescents who have run away from home and are staying with friends; couch surfing), those in short-term housing arrangements without legal tenancy, and those in accommodation that lacks private facilities (e.g., many boarding houses).

Under the ABS definition, which was revised in 2011, homelessness is a lack of one or more of these elements that represent ‘home’: “A person without suitable accommodation alternatives” is considered homeless if their current living arrangement: • Is in a dwelling that is inadequate; or • Has no tenure, or if their initial tenure is short and not extendable; or • Does not allow them to have control of or access to space for social relations.

• There are some specific exclusions such as prisons, hospitals, student halls and religious orders (ABS, 2012).

The Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS) Collection (SHSC) (managed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)), is the second nation-wide data collection facility about people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness receiving

L. Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.," (Government of Western Australia, Department of Communities., 2018).

90 C. Chamberlain and D MacKenzie, "Counting the Homeless 2006," (Canberra: AIHW, 2009).

89

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support from specialist homelessness services funded by the Australian Government and State and Territory governments.

Under the SHSC, a person is defined as homeless if they are living in either: • Non-conventional accommodation or ‘sleeping rough’; defined as living on the streets, sleeping in parks, squatting, staying in cars or railway carriages, living in improvised dwellings, living in the long grass. This aligns closely with ‘primary homelessness’ in the cultural definition.

•

Short-term or emergency accommodation due to a lack of other options; includes refuges, crisis shelters, couch surfing, living temporarily with friends and relatives, insecure accommodation on a short-term basis, or emergency accommodation arranged by a homelessness agency. 91

The third measure of homelessness is Registry Week, since 2010, many Australian homelessness services, largely operating in the inner-city areas of Australian cities, completed interviews with over 8,000 people sleeping rough or otherwise homeless in concentrated data collection efforts called Registry Weeks (although in recent times services are now conducting interviews on a rolling basis).

Registry Weeks aim to develop a register of those who are homeless in areas in which homelessness services operate. A common interview schedule asks those who are homeless for their name and documents their housing, health and social needs (utilising the Vulnerability Index (VI) instrument, and following that, the VI-SPDAT (Service Prioritisation Decision Assistance Tool)).

Over the seven years that the VI-SPDAT (or variants thereof) has been administered (2010-2017), 8,618 interviews have been conducted with 8,370 people experiencing homelessness across Australian capital cities and regional centres. Of these, 1,638 interviews were with Western Australians. 92 As Table 13 shows, while rent prices for apartments have remained static relative to other states and territories, and while median prices per room remain the lowest, Perth has had one of the highest increases in rental prices per room for 2018. Table 14 also demonstrates that there has been a decline in the reported rates of homelessness for WA.

L. Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.," (Government of Western Australia, Department of Communities., 2018).

92 Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.," 25.

91

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Table 13: Comparison of states and territories for median rents (apartments v houses) and price per room for Australia and WA, July 2018 Houses

% change

Price per room

↓1.8% 0% 0%

$600 $420 $420

0% 0% 0%

$270 $175 $160

↓1.8% ↑0.5% ↓0.6%

$320 $300

0% ↑5.3%

$360 $375

0% ↑1.4%

$123 $133

↑2.5% ↑2.3%

Hobart

$340

↑2.3%

$450

↑4.7%

$158

↑1.2%

Darwin

$380

↑6.3%

$480

↓2%

$156

↓1.8%

Canberra National median

$420

↓5.6%

$500

↓5.7%

$205

↑7.8%

$430

0%

$185

Metro area

Apartments

Sydney Melbourne Brisbane

$540 $410 $400

Perth Adelaide

93

$450

% change

0%

% change

↑0.9%

Source: Rent.com.au (2018)

Previous rental year trends and other economic factors were examined to obtain a fuller understanding of potential social and economic impacts on homelessness. Data was obtained from the ABS to examine trends in the gross weekly national minimum wage in contrast to the national median equivalised disposable income. These figures were then contrasted with rental prices 94 and the maximum Centrelink payment for single persons (see Figure 20).

Figure 20 shows some of the potential economic determinants of homelessness.

Individuals and families surviving off the minimum wage are more likely to fall into poverty and homelessness with further constraints on the ability to have any disposable income.

Further, single person Centrelink benefits are falling further below the gross minimum wage and have been below the affordability of rental properties. This places considerable constraints on where and how, to live in Perth.

Housing costs are also economic determinants of homelessness and are shown in Figure 21. These costs are recurrent outlays by household members (e.g., mortgage repayments (principal and interest), rent, council and water rates) in providing shelter for themselves.

"Rental Affordability Snapshot 2018: Anglicare W.A.."

"R.E.I.W.A., W.A.-Perth Rental Market Information," REIWA, https://reiwa.com.au/the-wa-market/suburbrentals-search/.

93 94

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1000

Median Equivalised Disposable Household Income (NMEDHI)

900 800 700

Gross Weekly National Minimum Wage

600 500

Median Rents (Perth)

400 300

Maximum Centrelink Payment - Single

200 100 0 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Figure 20. Median Perth rents of all house sizes in the Perth metropolitan area 95 in relation to the National Median Equivalised Disposable Income, gross national weekly minimum wage and maximum Centrelink payments for single persons (20052017). 96 There was a rapid increase in private rental housing costs from 2005 in contrast to tenants in state or territory housing authority rentals (see Figure 21). This may mean that lower income individuals and families have fewer choices on where and how to live. Electricity utility costs and public transport costs have also risen in 2018 due to the economic rationalisation of the Western Australian State Government to bring down state deficits and pay off state debt. 97 It remains to be seen to what extent these economic constraints have been placed on associated housing costs and rental affordability for individuals and families who have the lowest of incomes. However, the data in Figure 21 show an upward trend for substantively higher costs for private renters than in the beginning of the 2000s.

Table 14 shows that rates of homelessness in Western Australia have decreased from 2001 to 2016 and, in contrast, to the other states and territories has one of the lowest rates of homelessness. However, when types of homelessness are analysed (see Figure 22 and Table 15), there are some types with higher rates in WA than that Australian average.

"R.E.I.W.A., W.A.-Perth Rental Market Information".

"R.E.I.W.A., W.A.-Perth Rental Market Information".

97 Jacob Kagi, “WA budget 2018: Households cop big fee hikes to get finances back on track�, ABC News, last revised May 10, 2018, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-10/wa-budget-2018-handed-down/9746000 95 96

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450 400 350 300 State or Territory housing authority

$

250

Private landlord

200 150

Total renters (incl. other landlord type)

100

Total (incl. other tenure type)

2015–16

2013–14

2011–12

2009–10

2007–08

2005–06

2003–04

2002–03

2000–01

1999–00

1997–98

1996–97

1995–96

0

1994–95

50

Year

Figure 21. Mean weekly costs for renters in Western Australia, 1994-95 to 2015-16. 98 Table 14: Rate of Homeless Persons per 10,000 of the Population by State and Territory, 2001-2016 States and territories 2001

2006

2011

2016

New South Wales

36.4

33.9

39.7

50.4

Victoria

38.9

35.3

41.7

41.9

Queensland

54.8

48.3

43.9

46.1

South Australia

39.8

37.0

36.4

37.1

Western Australia

53.6

42.3

41.0

36.4

Tasmania

27.5

24.0

31.0

31.8

Northern Territory

904.4

791.7

723.3

599.4

Australian Capital Territory

30.4

29.3

48.7

40.2

Australia

50.8

45.2

47.6

49.8

99

Australian Bureau of Statistics, “Housing Occupancy and Costs, 2015-16” http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4130.0~201516~Main%20Features~List%20of%20tables~9 99 "Census of Population and Housing: Estimating Homelessness, Cat. 2049.."

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As the ABS Census measures homelessness across six categories—those sleeping rough, those in supported accommodation, those staying with others, in temporary lodgings and those in overcrowded dwellings—some important distinctions are not immediately obvious within the overall count. When the data is broken down, the picture indicates that most of the increase in homelessness between 2011 and 2016 was reflected in persons living in ‘severely’ crowded dwellings.

In order to count those considered to be “homeless” correctly the ABS Census adopts the “Homeless Enumeration Strategy”, this complements the mainstream Census and other special strategies to ensure that everyone is enumerated on Census night. For the 2016 Census, people who were rough sleeping, couch surfing or staying in supported accommodation for the homeless were the focus of the strategy. Leading up to and during the enumeration period, the ABS worked closely with service and accommodation providers. Many people who had, or were currently experiencing homelessness, were recruited to assist with the homeless count.

For rough sleepers, the collectors targeted known hot-spots using a shorter personal form called a ‘Special Short Form’, while the household form was used largely for those in northern Australia. To correctly identify supported accommodation for the homeless, an address list strategy was used. Couch surfers and other people experiencing homelessness who are enumerated on mainstream forms were encouraged to report ‘None’ in the Census question that asks about a person’s usual place of residence. People turned away from supported accommodation with vouchers or brokerage to stay at other temporary lodgings (such as a motel, hotel, or bed and breakfast), were encouraged to report ‘None — Crisis’.

Final estimates of the homeless population are calculated from the Census using a methodology which translates these responses into estimates where people, on balance, were most likely to have been homeless on Census night. For example, usual place of residence, employment status, income and tenure type are considered when calculating the number of homeless persons in ‘improvised dwellings, tents or sleeping out’. The purpose is to exclude remote construction and road workers, grey nomads, other travellers, home-owner builders and hobby farmers. 100 The Census data for WA indicates that the state did not experience this same increase in people living in ‘severely’ crowded dwellings (see Table 15). However, the most acute form of homelessness, ‘sleeping rough’, impacts on the WA context to a greater extent, and increasingly, compared to other states and territories (the 1083 people sleeping rough in WA on Census night represents 13% of all people sleeping rough nationally). This rate has increased between 2 and 3% in the last five years. In 2016, WA had the second highest rate of persons (per 10,000 of the population) living in improvised dwellings, tents or sleeping out, after the NT and this is also higher than the national rate (see Figure 22). 101

100 101

50

"Council to Homeless Persons," https://chp.org.au/homeless-counted-census/.

"Census of Population and Housing: Estimating Homelessness, Cat. 2049.."

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Persons living in ‘severely’ crowded dwellings

21.8

15.6 0.3 0.2

Persons in other temporary lodgings

Persons living in boarding houses

7.5

4

7.6 7.9

Persons staying temporarily with other households

Persons in supported accommodation for the homeless

9.1

4.3

Persons living in improvised dwellings, tents, or sleeping out

3.5 4.4

0 0

5

Australia rate per 10,000 of the population

10

15

20

25

WA rate per 10,000

Figure 22. Rate per 10,000 of the population of the homeless in WA and Australia 2016. 102 103 Table 15: Rate per 10,000 of the population of the homeless in WA and Australia (2016) 104 Types of homelessness

WA rate per 10,000 of the population

Australia rate per 10,000 of the population

Persons living in improvised dwellings, tents, or sleeping out

4.4

3.5

Persons in supported accommodation for the homeless

4.3

9.1

Persons staying temporarily with other households

7.9

7.6

Persons living in boarding houses

4.0

7.5

Persons in other temporary lodgings

0.2

0.3

Persons living in ‘severely’ crowded dwellings

15.6

21.8

Australian Bureau of Statistics. "2049.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Estimating homelessness, 2011 "http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/2049.02011?OpenDocument 103 Australian Bureau of Statistics. "2049.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Estimating homelessness, 2016" http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/2049.0 104 "Census of Population and Housing: Estimating Homelessness, Cat. 2049.."

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Of significance here is that whilst the rate had increased substantially since the 2011 Census, WA had the lowest rate (per 10,000 of the population) of persons in supported accommodation for the homeless, a rate that was significantly lower than the Australia-wide figure. Definitions are explained in detail at the beginning of this section.

Data from the last two Australian Censuses of 2011 and 2016 show mixed trends for people experiencing homelessness in Western Australia (see Figure 23). While some experiences of homeless have decreased somewhat, others have increased. Although homelessness in severely crowded dwellings has declined, it has remained relatively steady at 43% of the total WA homeless population, which has decreased slightly from 9,592 to 9,005. The homeless staying with others temporarily has decreased only slightly from 22 to 23% of the WA homeless population. The proportion of homeless people living in boarding houses and temporary lodgings has decreased somewhat from 15% to 12%.

4500

Number of WA Homeless Persons

4000

4,154 3,871

3500 Sleeping rough

3000

Supported accommodation for the homeless

2500 2000 1500 1000

2,169

1,950

1,413

1,054

931

1042

500

Staying with others temporarily In boarding houses and temporary lodgings* In severely crowded dwellings

0 2011

2016 Year

*Two operational groups have been collapsed into one group.

Figure 23. Count of people experiencing homelessness in WA by category (2011– 2016). Source: ABS 2016 (Census of Population and Housing: Estimating homelessness, 2016) 105 In contrast, there has been a 2% increase in supported accommodation for the homeless (931 persons or 10% in 2011; 1,054 individuals or 12% in 2016) and for the WA homeless who sleep rough, there has been a 3% increase (925 persons or 9% in 2011; 1,083 individuals or 12% in 2016). The increased proportion of rough sleepers in WA is a concern given that homeless people in high-income countries (including Australia) are

"Census of Population and Housing: Estimating Homelessness, Cat. 2049.."; Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

105

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prone to significantly higher rates of disease morbidity, mental health issues and mortality. 106 When homeless persons are compared across a longer period according to the proportion of the types of homelessness, there are some notable trends both in Australia and Western Australia. Nationally, the percentage of homeless persons living in severely crowded dwellings are the highest among the different kinds of homelessness and they are increasing (see Figure 24). However, while rates are similar for homeless persons in severely crowded dwellings in Western Australia, they have flattened out over the last five years (see Figure 25). There are also consistent trends of higher proportions of homeless persons living temporarily in other households in Western Australia in contrast to the national rate.

Percentage of all homeless in Australia

50 45

44

40 35

40 35

35

30 25 20

22 19

20 19 17

21 17 15

18 15

15

14

10

9

8

7

7

0 2001

1

1

1

5 0

2006

2011

2016

Year Persons living in improvised dwellings, tents or sleeping out Persons in supported accommodation for the homeless Persons staying temporarily with other households Persons living in boarding houses Persons in other temporary lodging Persons living in 'severely' crowded dwellings

Figure 24. Proportions of all homeless persons in Australia 2001-2016 107

108 109

106 .Seena

Fazel, John Geddes, and Margot Kushel, "The Health of Homeless People in High-Income Countries: Descriptive Epidemiology, Health Consequences, and Clinical and Policy Recommendations," Lancet 384, no.

9953 (2014).

107 Australian Bureau of Statistics. "2049.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Estimating homelessness, 2016" http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/2049.0 108 Australian Bureau of Statistics. "2049.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Estimating homelessness, 2011 "http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/2049.02011?OpenDocument 109 Australian Bureau of Statistics. "2049.0 Census of Population and Housing: Estimating homelessness, 2006" http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/2049.02006?OpenDocument

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50 45

45 43

40

39 36

35

Percentage

30 25

25

24 22

20

20

15

15

10

11

13 12 10

12 11

5 0

0 2001

1

1

2006

2011

1 2016

Year Persons living in improvised dwellings, tents, or sleeping out Persons in supported accommodation for the homeless Persons staying temporarily with other households Persons living in boarding houses Persons in other temporary lodgings Persons living in 'severely' crowded dwellings

Figure 25. Proportions of all homeless persons in Western Australia (2001-2016)107 108 109

A more detailed examination of homelessness by Perth metropolitan area and the type of homeless paints a different picture to the overall Western Australia statistics and shows some concerning geographical differences and trends. It important to note that in 2011, the ABS renamed the statistical metropolitan regions North and East to North-West and NorthEast, respectively. Although some suburbs were included/excluded from previous North and East metropolitan catchments, most pervious suburbs were included in the newly renamed statistical areas. While the overall number of people experiencing homelessness may have gone down overall for Western Australia, there have been increases in specific metropolitan areas of Perth. For persons who are in improvised dwellings, tents or who are sleeping out, the Central Metropolitan Area of Perth (primarily Perth City as well as including Cottesloe and Claremont) has a substantially higher number than other metropolitan regions (see Figure 26). There was also a sharp increase in these numbers by 91 additional individuals from 2011 to 2016.

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300

250

200 Central Metropolitan East Metropolitan

150

North Metropolitan South West Metropolitan South East Metropolitan

100

50

0 2001

2006

2011

2016

Figure 26. Number of persons in improvised dwellings, tents or sleeping out in the Perth Metropolitan areas.107 108 109 The South-East Metropolitan Area has trended upwards for nearly all types/situations of homeless persons in Perth (see Figures 26-28). For all homeless persons, there has been a continual increase in the South-East Metropolitan Area from 534 to 1446 individuals from 2001 to 2016 (see Figure 27). This was the highest rate of increase in contrast to steady increases in the North and Central and East Metropolitan areas.

1,600 1,400 1,200 Central Metropolitan

1,000

East Metropolitan

800

North Metropolitan South West Metropolitan

600

South East Metropolitan

400 200 0 2001

2006

2011

2016

Figure 27. Number of all homeless persons in the Perth metropolitan areas.107 108 109

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There has also been a sudden spike in persons living in severely crowded dwellings for the South-East Metropolitan Area by 591 individuals between 2011 and 2016 (see Figure 28).

The North and East Metropolitan areas also saw a continual increase over this period. The North Metropolitan area showed a sudden increase between 2006 and 2011.

900 800 700 600 Central Metropolitan 500

East Metropolitan North Metropolitan

400

South West Metropolitan South East Metropolitan

300 200 100 0 2001

2006

2011

2016

Figure 28. Numbers of persons living in ‘severely’ crowded dwellings of the Perth metropolitan areas.107 108 109 As Figure 29 shows, numbers have remained higher in the Southern and North Metropolitan areas for persons staying temporarily with other households, while the East Metropolitan area has witnessed a gradual decline. Except for the East, other areas have remained relatively steady with some fluctuations from 2001 to 2016 (see Figure 29).

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450 400 350 300 Central Metropolitan 250

East Metropolitan North Metropolitan

200

South West Metropolitan South East Metropolitan

150 100 50 0 2001

2006

2011

2016

Figure 29. Number of persons staying temporarily with other households in the Perth metropolitan areas. 110 111 112 With the exception of the number of people staying temporarily in other households, there have been increases in other measures of homelessness across the Perth Metropolitan area. The Central Metropolitan area of Perth has witnessed increases in people sleeping out or living in improvised dwellings or tents and has the highest number in contrast to other regions. Most of the main metropolitan sub-regions of Perth increased the number of all homeless persons as well as the number of individuals living in severely crowded dwellings.

The South-East Metropolitan area has witnessed increases at an alarming rate in all homeless persons and individuals in severely crowded dwellings, eclipsing all other subregions of metropolitan Perth. A closer look at the suburbs shows reported increases for all homeless persons in Armadale (by 34%), Serpentine-Jarrahdale, Kalamunda and Canning since 2011 (see Table 16).

However, there are also other suburban pockets with large increases since 2011. In the East, all homelessness increased in Bayswater-Bassendean by 45% and while it decreased in many parts of the South-West, Kwinana and Cockburn saw increases by 35% and 24%, respectively.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. "2049.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Estimating homelessness, 2016" http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/2049.0 111 Australian Bureau of Statistics. "2049.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Estimating homelessness, 2011 "http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/2049.02011?OpenDocument 112 Australian Bureau of Statistics. "2049.0 Census of Population and Housing: Estimating homelessness, 2006" http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/2049.02006?OpenDocument 110

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Associated with these increases has been a spike in average living costs for West Australian renters in private accommodation since 2008.98 Together with only relatively minimal rises in both the national minimum wage and Centrelink payments in contrast to the average weekly Australian wage, these economic pressure increase the likelihood of the unaffordability of accommodation and subsequent homelessness in Perth.

Table 16: Changes in Reported Homeless (All Homeless Persons) in local government areas of Perth 2011-2016.

Area Perth - Inner Cottesloe - Claremont

2011

2016

Difference

% Change

831

943

112

12

55

60

5

8

769

886

117

13

513

728

215

30

168

308

140

45

60

81

21

26

Swan

286

340

54

16

Perth - North West

876

954

78

8

Joondalup

156

143

-13

-9

Stirling

420

443

23

5

Wanneroo

305

367

62

17

1,270

1,446

176

12

Armadale

150

226

76

34

Belmont - Victoria Park

247

267

20

7

Canning

263

334

71

21

Gosnells

Perth City Perth - North East Bayswater - Bassendean Mundaring

Perth - South East

416

399

-17

-4

Kalamunda

71

91

20

22

Serpentine - Jarrahdale

30

40

10

25

South Perth

96

90

-6

-7

1,024

976

-48

-5

Cockburn

231

304

73

24

Fremantle

378

336

-42

-13

Perth - South West

Kwinana

55

85

30

35

Melville

132

114

-18

-16

222

131

-91

-69

Rockingham Note: Adapted and calculated from ABS

113 114

Australian Bureau of Statistics. "2049.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Estimating homelessness, 2016" http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/2049.0 114 Australian Bureau of Statistics. "2049.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Estimating homelessness, 2011 "http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/2049.02011?OpenDocument 113

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Homelessness in WA Shelter WA is an independent peak body, based in Perth Western Australia, which advocates for social and affordable housing and ending homelessness. They undertake research, engagement, policy development and strong advocacy to drive solutions to build an effective housing system and alleviate housing-related poverty. Shelter WA works in collaboration with its members, the community services sector, government, business, industry and peak bodies as well as research and academic institutions.

There are approximately 193 organisations providing support to the homeless within WA, supporting up to 4000 people at any given time. 115 Crisis Placements Shelter WA documents in their 2018 data that 1144 crisis and transitional placements were made in Perth, of which 503 were crisis places (44%) and 641 crisis and transitional placements were transitional places (56%). Crisis placements consisted of 201 women escaping domestic violence, 93 young people and 209 adults and families. Transitional placements consisted of 183 young people, 61 women escaping domestic violence and 397 adults and families. 116 It is important to note that crisis placements are considered to be emergency/transitional accommodation and may include: hotels, motels and caravan accommodation. 117 Major homelessness issues within WA At a Perth seminar, organised by “ShelterWA” (August 2018), concerning the issue of Homelessness in WA, the key findings from three significant nation-wide measures of homelessness were presented – these being ABS data, SHSC data and Registry Week data. The following demographic groups (and cohorts defined by their main presenting needs) are significantly overrepresented in the WA homeless population, and therefore, it was voiced that these should be targeted for strategies and support to prevent and address risks of homelessness: • Indigenous people; • People experiencing domestic and family violence; • People living with mental health issues; • Young people presenting alone (aged 15 to 24); and • People with drug and alcohol use.116 The following homelessness groups are also more prevalent in WA than other states: • People within remote communities; • People leaving the justice system; • People sleeping rough; and • People who need the relevant support services but do not or cannot access homelessness services for some reason 116 117 118 Drivers of homelessness vary over the life course A 2018 study commissioned by the Department of Communities (Kaleveld et al., 2018) has researched the drivers of homelessness and outlined how these vary at different stages of the lifecycle (see Figure 30). 118 Kaleveld et al. reports that the 2016 Victorian Royal

"Housing Need in W.A .Infographic," ed. Shelter W.A. (Perth2018); "Specialist Homelessness Services 2015–16: Western Australia Fact Sheet," ed. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (Canberra2017).

116 "Shelter W.A.," http://www.shelterwa.org.au/shelter_wa.

117 "Specialist Homelessness Services 2015–16: Western Australia Fact Sheet."

118 Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

115

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Commission into Family Violence has become a source of a significant amount of evidence linking family violence and homelessness within Australia. 119 According to Kaleveld et al. (2018), early onset homelessness is highly correlated with adult homelessness and recurrent experiences of homelessness as well as lengthier cumulative periods of being homeless. Although individual and structural determinants of homelessness can be forced upon anyone at any time, there are specific circumstances that usually induce the onset or re-emergence into homelessness during various life stages (see Figure 30).119 The experience of homelessness as a child can occur when the entire family is homeless due to the social and economic factors that can affect all adults. It can also occur when a child leaves the family home with one parent as a result of domestic violence, or when the child leaves the family home on their own (or is ‘kicked out of home’), such as cases of fleeing family and domestic violence.

Figure 30. Determinants of homelessness throughout the lifespan.

Ref: Kaleveld et al. 2018

Kaleveld et al. (2018) documents in this report that in addition to the scenarios that lead to homelessness in childhood, leaving out of home care or prison or juvenile detention are key Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."; "The Royal Commission into Family Violence: Report and Recommendations," (Melbourne: The Vicctorian Government, 2016).

119

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events precipitating homelessness in adolescence. Homelessness in adolescence is also driven by physical and mental health factors, housing affordability problems and barriers to housing access, and the dissolution of social relationships. The main drivers of adult homelessness are family and domestic violence, leaving prison, low incomes, housing affordability problems and access to housing, physical and mental health problems, and the dissolution of personal relationships. In addition to these factors, homelessness in older age is largely driven by a combination of low income, lack of access to social housing, high rents and an absence of retirement savings and wealth.

Homelessness poses significant economic and social costs The 2018, Department of Communities commissioned report found that the vast majority of people experiencing homelessness in both WA and Australia are dependent on government income support payments; over 80% of WA Specialist Homelessness Services clients reported a government income support payment as their main source of income and 90.8% of WA Registry Week respondents reported receiving regular income primarily from government income support payments. However, only 41% of WA Registry Week respondents reported that their income was enough to cover their expenses and debts.

Inadequate income inhibits one’s ability to address existing legal and health problems.

Without sufficient resources it is incredibly difficult to take the necessary proactive, preventative steps with regard to issues facing those experiencing homelessness, let alone to gain secure employment or filling skill gaps. Thus, it becomes clear that homelessness and its corollary, very low income and wealth, create and compound existing problems including chronic physical and mental health conditions. The natural consequence of this in terms of healthcare utilisation is higher utilisation of emergency healthcare which incurs a much higher unit cost and is much less effective at addressing root causes of ill health. 120 It is documented by Shelter WA that approximately 43% of Graylands Hospital inpatients cannot be discharged as there is no suitable housing/accommodation available. This costs approximately $1550 per person per day. They also predict that $60M could be saved within the health sector by having provided suitable accommodation for those falling within the homelessness sector. 121 These statistics reinforce the link between mental health issues and homelessness, and the need for “joined-up” or “wrap-around” services which meet the broader needs of people in these cohorts.

In addition, lack of stable housing leads to increased interactions with the police and the justice system, either through assaults of those who are homeless on the streets, the issuing of fines linked to the homeless experience and through engagement in petty and nuisance crimes that for some homeless people may constitute ‘survival behaviours’.

Homeless individuals are more likely to be jailed for these crimes than non-homeless individuals and 31% of Australia’s prisoners anticipate that they will be homeless upon exit from prison. Hence, a revolving door between prison and the street emerges. Shelter WA report that $60,400 per person could be saved annually if social housing and support was provided, instead of “housing” within prisons. 122 This data was further substantiated in an AIHW survey based on services provided during 2015 to 2016 which delivered the following statistics to highlight the above sectors.

One in 238 people in Western Australia received homelessness services due to domestic and family violence. This is lower than the national rate (1 in 225). West Australians with a disability accounted for around 1 in 2,174 people who received homelessness assistance.

Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

"Housing Need in W.A .Infographic."

122 Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

120 121

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This is higher than the national rate (1 in 2,439). Around 1 in 513 people in Western Australia who received homelessness assistance had experienced mental health issues.

This was lower than the national rate (1 in 329). 123 With the exception of Indigenous clients, service rates were higher in 2016-17 for all clients. Highest representations were Indigenous clients, clients who were subjected to domestic and family violence and mental health (see Table 17).

Table 17: Homeless Client Rate per 10,000 by priority group in Western Australia.

Priority Group All clients Indigenous Young people presenting alone (15-24) Older people (55 and over) Domestic and family violence Disability Mental health Exiting custodial arrangements Leaving care Children on protection orders Drug/ alcohol use

2015-16 93.4 935.3 10.9

2016-2017 96.2 922.8 11.1

7.0

7.6

42.0

42.5

4.6 19.5 1.4

4.8 21.2 1.5

2.3 2.4

2.3 2.6

10.1

10.9

Source: AIHW Specialist homelessness services 2016-17: Western Australia. 124

Further to this, of the population that experiences homelessness, the data sources indicate the issues shown in Table 18 may be more acute in WA compared to other states and territories.

Prevalent homelessness issues in Western Australia Indigenous homelessness and people experiencing homelessness in remote locations.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders made up 3% of the Australian population in 2016, and yet represented 20% of the national homeless population. It is highly likely that this figure is an underestimate. Within WA, Aboriginal people were overrepresented to an even greater extent of all persons homeless on Census night 2016. A review of the WA 2016 Census research and statistical evidence found whilst they made up only 3.7% of the total population at that time, 29.1% of the homeless population identified as Indigenous. 125

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2017. Specialist homelessness services 2015–16: Western Australia [fact sheet] 124 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2018. Specialist homelessness services 2016–17: Western Australia [Fact sheet].

125 Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

123

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The remote location of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – especially in the WA context – also brings with it vulnerabilities. People living remotely often need to travel to utilise services such as health services, which means further displacement. There is often a lack of specialist homelessness services in remote areas, less workers and substandard housing, which all contribute to severe overcrowding and other forms of homelessness in remote communities.

In WA, there is also a lack of employment opportunities in some remote regions, particularly following the economic downturn with the mining sector. Changes in funding arrangements between Commonwealth and State governments have led to political instability, which has been felt in the remote communities, particularly when it comes to the funding of the supply and or refurbishment of government supplied housing, both within remote/rural areas and that is suitable for the extended family living, so often favoured by Aboriginal families. Aboriginal people who have been forced to leave their country or remote communities, or find their remote community no longer hospitable, are often forced to be fringe dwellers in regional towns and are vulnerable to homelessness. 126 In the Indigenous Australian population generally, there is a higher prevalence across the individual and structural antecedents to homelessness (e.g., higher levels of poverty, health concerns, interactions with the justice system, labour market disadvantage and discrimination and social exclusion). Spinney (2012) reports that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 35 times more likely to experience family violence than nonAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. 127 The tendency for people who are Indigenous to experience the antecedents to homelessness translates to overall significant higher vulnerabilities to homelessness in general, through multiple causes and pathways.

Many Aboriginal people are apprehensive and reluctant to seek assistance from mainstream agencies, partly because of the discrimination, racism and lack of informed understanding some Indigenous people experience when doing so. The 2016 Royal Commission into Family Violence recorded that one theme that came through strongly in the Commission’s consultations was the importance of involving Aboriginal community controlled organisations and tailoring justice system responses that recognise the history and culture of Aboriginal peoples. Many Aboriginal people want to use Aboriginal service providers, but the full potential of Aboriginal community controlled organisations to prevent and respond to family violence has not been realised. The Commission was also told that there has been insufficient investment in culturally appropriate early intervention initiatives to strengthen families and reduce the number of Aboriginal children who are removed from their families. Significant increased investment in these Aboriginal community-controlled services—in particular, in targeted prevention and early intervention initiatives for Aboriginal communities, as well as culturally sensitive services to respond to Aboriginal families in crisis—is an urgent priority. 128 Indigenous Australians are also overrepresented in the Registry Week data collection.

Within the 2018 State of Homelessness report 129, which analysed the Registry Weeks data collections from 2010 – to 2017, Indigenous people comprised 3.1% of the WA population,

"Homelessness and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.," (Homelessness Australia, 2016).

Angela Spinney, "Home and Safe? Policy and Practice Innovations to Prevent Women and Children Who Have Experienced Domestic and Family Violence from Becoming Homeless. ," in A.H.U.R.I. Final Report no.196, AHURI Final Report (Melbourne, Australia: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute 2012).

128 "The Royal Commission into Family Violence: Report and Recommendations."

129 P. Flatau, Tyson, K., Callis, Z., Seivwright, A., Box, E., Rouhani, L., Lester, N., Firth, D. Ng, S-W., "The State of Homelessness in Australia’s Cities: A Health and Social Cost Too High.," (Perth, Western Australia: Centre for Social Impact, The University of Western Australia, 2018).

126 127

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yet were 31.0% of the Western Australian Registry Week respondents. In Fremantle, 28.6% of respondents identified as Indigenous and 31.2% of respondents in the rest of Perth identified as Indigenous.

Notably, a higher proportion of Indigenous people interviewed reported sleeping rough.129 In WA overall, 68.7% of Indigenous Australians, compared with 56.1% of non-Indigenous Australians reported that they slept rough most of the time. In Fremantle, 64.3% of Indigenous respondents were sleeping rough and in the rest of Perth, 69.0% of Indigenous respondents were sleeping rough.

In WA, 73.8% of Indigenous Registry Week respondents reported that they had been in prison at some point in their lives, compared with 52.4% of non-Indigenous WA respondents. Youth detention rates were also higher amongst Indigenous respondents: 45.8% of Indigenous respondents in WA overall had been in youth detention (versus 30.0% of all WA respondents). Rates of youth detention amongst Indigenous Fremantle respondents were lower (25%), and higher in the rest of Perth (47.3%). 130 Justice system experience – Prison: youth detention Relative to Australian respondents, a greater proportion of Western Australian respondents had experiences of imprisonment in their lifetimes (see Table 18). High rates of lifetime interaction with the justice system were also evident among the 2017 WA Registry Week respondents. In a similar pattern to the Australian figures, rough sleepers in WA were substantially more likely than non-rough sleepers to have been in prison at some point in their lives. A much greater proportion of Western Australian female Registry week respondents than Australian Registry Week respondents reported that they had been in prison – 47.6% of WA female respondents versus 26.7% of female respondents overall.

This highlights how serious the issue of housing post imprisonment is for WA women. 131 Table 18 shows the proportion of respondents reporting that they had been in prison or youth detention at some point in their lives, by rough sleeping status and geographic region.

Table 18: Respondents reporting that they had been in prison or youth detention at some point in their lives Fremantle

Prison Rough sleeping 65.5% Not rough sleeping 64.1%

Youth Detention Rough sleeping 27.6% Not rough sleeping 23.1%

Rest of Perth

WA overall

Australia

63.0% 46.2%

63.2% 47.4%

55.0% 31.8%

29.5% 22.7%

29.4% 22.7%

28.0% 14.9%

Source: Registry Week Data Collections 2010-2017. Note: Excludes missing values.

With regards to Indigenous Registry Week respondents, 73.8% reported that they had been in prison at some point in their lives. Of the non-Indigenous respondents, 52.4% had been in prison. For youth detention the numbers are 45.8% of Indigenous respondents, and 30% of non-Indigenous respondents. Table 19 shows that a higher proportion of Registry Week respondents also experienced behaviours that threatened their health.

130 131

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Flatau, "The State of Homelessness in Australia’s Cities: A Health and Social Cost Too High.."

Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

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The risk factors for interaction with the justice system, both as victim and perpetrator, amongst all respondents, featured prominently in WA and these rates were higher than the rest of Australia (see Table 19). In WA, women were more likely than men to report being a victim of attack since becoming homeless (60.9% of women versus 48.4% of men) and were also more likely to report that they had threatened or tried to harm themselves or someone else in the year prior (52.1% of women versus 42.3% of men). Women in WA were also substantially more likely than men to report that they are forced or coerced to do things that they did not want to do (42.3% of women versus 25.2% of men), but only slightly more likely to report engaging in risky behaviours like exchange sex for money, run drugs, have unprotected sex with strangers or share a needle (32.2% of women versus 30.3% of men). 132 Table 19: Proportion of Registry Week respondents reporting experience of risky behaviour Experiences of Risky Behaviour

WA

Australia

Been a victim of attack since becoming homeless

51.9%

44.0%

Threatened or tried to harm themselves or someone else in the past year

45.1%

35.0%

Have anybody that forces or stands over them to do things that they do not want to do

29.6%

24.4%

Engage in risky behaviour like exchange sex for money, run drugs, have unprotected sex with strangers or share a needle

31.2%

20.4%

Source: Registry Week Data Collections 2010-2017. Note: Excludes missing values.

Young homeless people are much more likely to have contact with the criminal justice system than the general population or other disadvantaged young people, who are long term unemployed but not homeless. 133 Homeless young people are more likely to be involved with the justice system than other young people. Many factors associated with this group and the life experiences of homelessness suggest a higher rate of involvement with police and the criminal justice.

Flatau et al. (2016) provides insights into the interactions with the justice system of young people experiencing homelessness and long-term unemployment. The Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia survey asked questions such as whether a young person has been a ‘victim of assault/robbery which resulted in police contact’ and about ‘being apprehended by the police’. Results indicated that homeless young people are six times more like to be a victim of assault/robbery and many times more likely to be apprehended as an offender by police when compared to the general community. The homeless cohort has a much higher incidence of reporting assault and theft. This is not surprising given the circumstances of the homeless cohort; the fact they are unable to secure their property and do not have safe or secure accommodation. 134 The experience of homelessness, especially chronic homelessness, has particularly acute negative impacts on the health and justice dimensions. In the literature there may be some

Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

P. Flatau, MacKenzie, D., McNelis, S., Steen. A., Thielking. M., "The Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia," (Perth: UWA, 2016); D. MacKenzie, McNelis, S., Flatau, P., Valentine, K and Seivwright, A. , "The Funding and Delivery of Programs to Reduce Homelessness: The Case Study Evidence. A.H.U.R.I. Final Report No. 274.," (Melbourne: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute., 2017).

134 Flatau, "The Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia."

132 133

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debate about the temporal sequence of when and how mental illness, physical illness and interactions with the justice system present – before, or during homelessness. But Johnson et al. (2008) asserts, “…it must not be forgotten that regardless of when problems develop, the consequences are much the same – because getting out becomes difficult and the probability of a long homeless career increases. For young people in particular, this has consequences that continue to shape their biographies well into their adult lives.” The important learning is to develop responses that help people exit from homelessness as early as possible after becoming homeless and, importantly, to prevent people becoming homeless altogether. 135 People sleeping rough Sleeping rough falls under the non-conventional accommodation grouping, whereby it is defined as living on the streets, sleeping in parks, squatting, staying in cars or railway carriages, living in improvised dwellings or living in the long grass. This aligns closely with ‘primary homelessness’ in the cultural definition. As indicated previously the percentage of homeless people sleeping rough in WA has grown substantially, in the 2016 Census it was found that men were the dominant gender in this category of homelessness, outnumbering women by 2 to 1. 136 Within the Registry Week collections, a higher proportion of Indigenous people interviewed reported sleeping rough. In WA overall, 68.7% of Indigenous Australians, compared with 56.1% of non-Indigenous Australians reported that they slept rough most of the time. In Fremantle, 64.3% of Indigenous respondents were sleeping rough and in the rest of Perth, 69.0% of Indigenous respondents were sleeping rough. 137 Registry Week interviews also showed that Veteran homeless were more likely to report sleeping rough. It also highlighted that chronic homelessness (long-term persistent homelessness) is the norm for rough sleepers in WA. Those whom reported sleeping rough reported the longest cumulative time spent homeless with a mean of 5.4 years and median of 3 years, compared with an Australian mean of 6 years and median of 3 years.

Priority homelessness groups within Western Australia People experiencing domestic and family violence Repeatedly, domestic and family violence is reported as being a major contributing factor to homelessness, within all sectors – childhood, youth and adult homelessness. The experience of homelessness as a child can occur when the entire family is homeless due to the social and economic factors that can affect all adults. It can also occur when a child leaves the family home with one parent as a result of domestic violence, or when the child leaves the family home on their own (or is ‘kicked out of home’), such as cases of fleeing family and domestic violence. 138 It needs to be remembered that experiencing homelessness as a child or youth can be a major contributing factor to a person developing a lifecycle of homelessness - when domestic violence and trauma is a major factor within the homelessness sector it becomes a perpetuating aspect to many people’s lives.

G.; Natalier Johnson, K.; Mendes, P.; Liddiard, M.; Thoresen, S.; Hollows, A.; Bailey, N., "Pathways from out-of-Home Care. A.H.U.R.I. Final Report; No. 147," ed. Jim Davison (Melbourne, Australia: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, 2010).

136 "Census of Population and Housing: Estimating Homelessness, Cat. 2049.."

137 Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

138 Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

135

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The evidence-base for this precursor is very strong. Kaleveld et al. (2018) and the AIHW document that the evidence for an association between experiencing violence or abuse and experiencing homelessness – for both adults and children – can be found in nearly every study or statistical measure that captures this indicator (e.g., see Figure 31).

Domestic violence involves physical, sexual violence, psychological abuse and/or economic deprivation that occurs in relationships between adult partners (married or de-facto). When domestic violence occurs, it is most often perpetrated by a man against a woman and it is nearly always women, often accompanied by children, who leave home. 139 The SHSC data revealed that domestic and family violence was higher in WA – 42%, compared with 37% nationally. This was the second to highest reason for homelessness within their 2016-2017 data collection, second only to Indigenous homelessness. 140 Family violence is very clearly a major driver of young people becoming homeless. Domestic and family violence makes women and children vulnerable to homelessness in two major ways: firstly, violence removes the sense of safety and belonging associated with the home; and secondly, leaving a violent situation usually requires leaving the family home. 141

–

Figure 31. Key statistics on domestic and family violence Ref: AIHW FDV Cat.02

In launching the WA statewide “Stop Domestic Violence” campaign (Nov 2018) it was reported that WA had the second highest rate of physical and sexual violence against women, less than 20% of women who experience domestic violence actually report it to the police and almost 22,000 reports of family-related offences were made to the WA Police Force in 2017-18, equating to 58 every day. 142

"Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence in Australia. Cat. No. 02," (Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018); Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

140 "Specialist Homelessness Services 2016–17: Western Australia Fact Sheet," ed. Australian Insititute of Health and Wealth (AHIW, 2018).

141 C. Chamberlain and G. Johnson, "Pathways into Adult Homelessness. ," Journal of Sociology 49, no. 1 (2013).

142 Kate Campbell, "Stop Domestic Violence: High Profile West Australians Speak out for Stop the Violence against Women Campaign," The Sunday TImes, 25th November 2018.

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More than half (56%) of the homeless youth sample surveyed for The Cost of Youth Homelessness Study had left home because of violence between parents or guardians on at least one occasion, and about one in six (15%) had run away from home more than 10 times because of violence. For many, this happened at a very young age (the median age of first-time leaving home was 10 years of age). It is common for young people, who have run away from home, to stay with relatives or friends (32%), but one in five found themselves sleeping rough somewhere. 143 The Intergenerational Homelessness Survey results found a strong association between homelessness and domestic issues experienced in the parental home. Half of all respondents reported that they had run away from home at some point prior to the age of 18 and over half (58.8%) reported police intervention due to inter-parental conflict. Around 20% of respondents reported that police came to their home six or more times because of inter-parental conflict. Childhood exposure to inter-parental conflict can be considered a proximal risk factor for homelessness and a key driver of homelessness among young people. Close to half of all respondents who indicated that they had a father in their life reported that their father had a serious drinking problem. Incarceration rates for Compared with nonfathers were also high. These problems Indigenous Australians, have been repeatedly found to be higher Indigenous 144 The amongst the Indigenous people.

Australians experience: 2018 AIHW report on family violence charted the same prominence of impacts amongst the Indigenous population (see Figure 32). 145 The Cost of Youth Homelessness Survey results also linked violence between parents and homelessness, with over a third (39%) of the homeless youth surveyed reporting that police have come to their home because of violence between parents on one or more occasions (14% indicated that police have come to their house more than 10 times). 146 Attending school has been found to be a positive influence amongst children and the rate of child abuse/neglect youth whom are in danger or on the verge of being homeless, due to domestic violence. Facilities such as counselling Figure 32. Health and wellbeing impacts and a supportive environment has been on Indigenous Australians found to offer the young an avenue for support and in turn possibly lend itself to further support being offered to the family members whom are also at risk of domestic violence.

Flatau, "The Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia."

P. Flatau, Conroy, E., Spooner, C., Edwards, R., Eardley, T. and Forbes, C, "Lifetime and Intergenerational Experiences of Homelessness in Australia. Ahuri Final Report No. 200. ," (Melbourne: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, 2013).

145 "Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence in Australia. Cat. No. 02."

146 Flatau, "The Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia."

143 144

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This was evidenced in the Yarra Ranges Youth Homelessness Prevention Project, it appears young people are responsive to services. For example, while young people are still in school they are less likely to be homeless and especially likely to be rough sleeping (e.g. couch surfing at friends). Whilst attending school allows young people easy access to various services and support networks. It is only after leaving school, that more young people become homeless. Therefore, if we can find ways to ensure continuity of support and service provision as a young person makes transitions, homelessness among young people at these critical times may be reduced. 147 This also offers the opportunity for other members of the family experiencing domestic violence to access support services.

People living with mental health issues The link between mental health problems and homelessness is well established. Fazel et al. (2008) conducted a systemic review of surveys of mental disorders in people who experienced homelessness. The review found that the most common mental disorders were alcohol dependence, which ranged from 8.1% to 58.5% prevalence in studies, and drug dependence, which ranged from 4.5% to 54.2% prevalence in studies. For psychotic illness, the prevalence ranged from 2.8% to 42.3%, with similar findings for major depression. 148 In a later 2014 study, Fazel et al. found that prevalence rates of mental health issues links with poor physical health outcomes as well. They found homeless people to have higher rates of premature mortality than the rest of the population, especially from suicide and unintentional injuries, and an increased prevalence of a range of infectious diseases, mental disorders, and substance misuse. High rates of non-communicable diseases have also been described with evidence of accelerated ageing. 149 O’Donnell et al.’s 2014 report into trauma and homelessness describes how the vast majority of people who experienced homelessness also experienced at least one mental disorder, and the prevalence of mental disorders among adults experiencing homelessness was much higher than in representative community samples. It has also been found that mood disorders, psychotic disorders (i.e., schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) and traumarelated disorders (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD) are over-represented amongst adults experiencing homelessness. O'Donnell et al. found that 73% of men and 81% of women met the criteria for at least one mental disorder in the past year (12-month prevalence) and 40% of men and 50% of women had at least two mental disorders. 150 One study within this report, examined in detail the relationships between a history of homelessness, experiences of trauma, and mental health issues. This study underscored how extreme was trauma exposure amongst people experiencing homelessness, with all participants experiencing at least one traumatic event, and 97% experiencing more than four events. Trauma was also identified as a common precursor to experiencing homelessness, and further, trauma exposure tended to escalate following onset of

M. Thielking, Flatau, P., La Sala, L., and Sutton, D., "Couch Surfing Students: The Yarra Ranges Youth Homelessness Prevention Project," (Swinburne University and the University of Western Australia Centre for Social Impact., 2015).

148 Khosla V Fazel S, Doll H, Geddes J "The Prevalence of Mental Disorders among the Homeless in Western Countries: Systematic Review and Meta-Regression Analysis.," PLoS Med 5, no. 12:e225 (2008).

149 Fazel, Geddes, and Kushel, "The Health of Homeless People in High-Income Countries: Descriptive Epidemiology, Health Consequences, and Clinical and Policy Recommendations."

150 M. O’Donnell, Varker, T., Cash, R., Armstrong, R., Di Censo, L., Zanatta, P., Murnane, A., Brophy, L., and Phelps, A., "The Trauma and Homelessness Initiative. ," (Victoria: Report prepared for: Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health in collaboration with Sacred Heart Mission, Mind Australia, Inner South Community Health and VincentCare, 2014); Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

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homelessness. Research suggests that psychiatric disorders often precede homelessness, but there is also evidence that some people became mentally ill as a result of experiencing long-term homelessness. When PTSD occurred in the context of homelessness it was also associated with high levels of comorbidity with other mental disorders. 151 People presenting with drug and alcohol use The 2018 State of Homelessness report found that the analysis of Registry Week responses indicated that drug and alcohol misuse was significant. 152 A high proportion of Registry Week respondents (65.2%) reported having a drug or alcohol problem, with over a quarter (27.5%) reporting that they had consumed alcohol and/or drugs almost every day in the past month, and even more (33.8%) reporting that they injected drugs or shots in the past six months (see Table 20). Surveyors were asked to report if they observed symptoms or signs of problematic drug or alcohol use of which 26.4% of respondents exhibited signs.

In Australia, it has been widely reported that a high proportion of Indigenous people smoke tobacco, use alcohol to risky levels and use other drugs. 153 This trend is also evident amongst Registry Week respondents with 75.5% of Indigenous people reporting that they had problematic alcohol or drug use compared to 66.7% of non-Indigenous people and 43.9% of people that identified as ‘other’. There were also differences seen between genders with 69.4% of males surveyed reporting an alcohol or drug problem compared to 55% of and 83.3% of people that identified as ‘other’. People sleeping rough also reported higher rates than people not sleeping rough (70.4% vs 56.5%). In comparison to the high rates of reported problematic alcohol and/ or drug use, a low proportion of people reported ever being treated for drug or alcohol problems and subsequently returning to using them (39.7%). 154 This may indicate that a low proportion of people are accessing alcohol and other drug services, which of course could result in the ensuing health and medical complications further complicating the matter.

Table 20. Registry Weeks selected indicators of problematic drug and alcohol use Questions asked by surveyors

Yes %

Have you ever had problematic drug or alcohol use, abused drugs or alcohol, or been told you do?

65.2% Have you ever been treated for drug or alcohol problems and returned to drinking or using drugs?

Have you used injection drugs or shots in the last 6 months?

Have you consumed alcohol and/or drugs almost every day or every day for the past month The surveyor observed signs or symptoms of problematic alcohol or drug abuse Have you blacked out because of your alcohol or drug use in the past month?

39.7% 33.8% 27.5% 26.4% 20.3%

O’Donnell, "The Trauma and Homelessness Initiative. ."

Flatau, "The State of Homelessness in Australia’s Cities: A Health and Social Cost Too High.."

153 "Impact of Alcohol and Illicit Drug Use on the Burden of Disease and Injury in Australia: Australian Burden of Disease Study 2011. . ," Australian Burden of Disease Study series no. 17. Cat. no. BOD 19. (Canberra: AIHW. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018c).

154 Flatau, "The State of Homelessness in Australia’s Cities: A Health and Social Cost Too High.."

151 152

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Have you used non-beverage alcohol such as metho, cough syrup, mouthwash, rubbing alcohol and cooking wine or used inhalants such as paint or petrol in the last 6 months?

7.7%

Source: Registry Week Data Collections 2010-2017 Notes: (1) Estimates based on unique respondents (excluding missing values). (2) Questions were included in the Australia VI - SPDAT, Australia F - SPDAT and Australia VI surveys but not in the Families VI - SPDAT, Individual VI - SPDAT and Youth VI-SPDAT surveys. (3) Questions were included in the Australia F - SPDAT and Australia VI surveys but not in the Australia VI - SPDAT, Families VI - SPDAT, Individual VI - SPDAT and Youth VI-SPDAT surveys. (4) Question was not included in the Australia VI surveys and Youth VI-SPDAT surveys. (5) No questions about drug use were asked in the Youth VI - SPDAT survey.

Whilst for some people homelessness is a result of their drug or alcohol problems, significantly, Johnson et al. (2008) found from their interviews that substance use problems were more commonly a consequence than a cause of homelessness. Substance use locks people into the homeless population and, conversely, people without these problems typically exit earlier. Consequently, this leads to a heavy concentration of people with substance use problems in the long-term population of people who are homeless. 155 For young people, research shows that while many may engage in recreational substance use before they become homeless, it is in the homeless subculture that substance use often turns into substance abuse. 156 Johnson and Chamberlain (2011) found that two-thirds (63%) of the young people who developed mental health issues after becoming homeless also had substance abuse issues. Further, drug use has often been identified as a trigger for mental illness among young people (substance use is often a preferred alternative to anti-psychotic medication). 157 In WA, higher rates of alcohol and other drug use has been reported among Western Australian (72.9%) respondents than Australian wide (65.2%), although both were high.

Alcohol and other drug use are risk factors for Hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS and chronic diseases such as cancer, heart and liver disease. 158 In addition, it can cause complications in the management of diabetes, and onset of mental health conditions, all of which were reported at high rates among respondents. 159 Kaleveld et al. (2018) documented that it is clear that homelessness, mental illness and problematic alcohol and other drug use co-occur at high rates. If health outcomes are going to be improved, strategies to prevent homelessness need to be integrated with mental health and alcohol and other drug recovery programs. 160 Young people presenting alone – aged 15-24 The ABS report that data from the 2016 Census indicated that although youth are overrepresented in the homeless population, homeless estimates for youth are likely to have been underestimated in the Census due to a usual address being reported for some homeless youth. 161

G. Johnson, Gronda, H. and Coutts, S., "On the Outside: Pathways in and out of Homelessness.," (North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing., 2008).

156 G. Johnson, and Chamberlain, C., " Homelessness and Substance Abuse: Which Comes First? ," Australian Social Work 61, no. 4 (2008).

157 G and Chamberlain Johnson, C., " Are the Homeless Mentally Ill? ," Australian Journal of Social Issues 46, no. 1 (2011).

158 "Impact of Alcohol and Illicit Drug Use on the Burden of Disease and Injury in Australia: Australian Burden of Disease Study 2011. . ."

159 "Impact of Alcohol and Illicit Drug Use on the Burden of Disease and Injury in Australia: Australian Burden of Disease Study 2011. . ."

160 Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

161 "Census of Population and Housing: Estimating Homelessness, Cat. 2049.."

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For some youth (sometimes referred to as 12–18 years or 12–24 years) who are homeless and 'couch surfing', a usual residence may still be reported in the Census. Their homelessness is masked because their characteristics look no different to other youth who are not homeless but are simply visiting on Census night. A usual address may be reported for 'couch surfers' either because the young person doesn't want to disclose to the people they are staying with that they are unable to go home, or the person who fills out the Census form on behalf of the young person staying with them assumes that the youth will return to their home. Homeless youth will be underestimated within the group: 'Persons staying temporarily with other households'.

The 2016 Census findings indicated that there were 116,427 people who were counted as homeless within the Census data; of these 26,827 were aged between 12-24, of which 1921 considered WA as their normal state of residence. 162 2016 Census data homeless youth data indicated that:

163

Youth aged 12–18 years were: • Living in “severely' crowded dwellings 61% •

In supported accommodation for the homeless 26%

•

Staying temporarily with other households 7%

Youth aged 19–24 years were: • Living in 'severely' crowded dwellings 59% •

Staying temporarily in other households 12%

•

In supported accommodation for the homeless 18%

Combined youth age groups 12 – 24 years were: • Staying temporarily with other households 10% •

Living in 'severely' crowded dwellings 32%

•

In supported accommodation for the homeless 23%

•

Living in boarding houses 15%

The Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia research study was conducted to try to understand both the experience and impact of homelessness on young people and its personal and societal costs. It was the first national youth homelessness study of its kind in Australia. Close to 400 young Australians were surveyed over three consecutive years. The majority of those surveyed (close to 300) were either homeless or at very high risk of homelessness, in an unstable housing situation and receiving support from homeless services at the time of first interview. 164

"Census of Population and Housing: Estimating Homelessness, Cat. 2049.."

"Census of Population and Housing: Estimating Homelessness, Cat. 2049.."

164 Flatau, "The Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia."

162 163

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The key messages from the initial stage of the Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia research project were as follows: •

Over half of young people under the age of 25 receiving support from homeless services slept rough at least once prior to turning 18. The most dominant form of homelessness among young people is couch-surfing.

•

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of the homeless youth who were surveyed had been placed in some form of out-of-home care by the time that they had turned 18.

•

Over a third (39%) of the homeless youth surveyed reported police coming to their home because of violence between parents on one or more occasions, with 14% experiencing police coming to their house more than 10 times.

•

The prevalence of mental health conditions was high among homeless youth, with 53% reporting that they had been diagnosed with at least one mental health condition in their lifetime. Mood disorders and anxiety disorders were the most prevalent disorders among homeless youth.

•

High levels of psychological distress were evident among homeless youth and quality of life outcomes were considerably lower than for the general population.

•

The incidence of reported non-suicidal self-injury and attempted suicide was much higher among homeless youth than young jobseekers and young people generally.

•

One in five homeless young women had attempted suicide in the past six months compared to around one in ten young men.

•

More than 25% of young homeless women engaged in non-suicidal selfinjury behaviours compared with 17% of young men.

•

Just over half (55%) of homeless youth who had attempted suicide in the previous six months had not received any counselling or professional support for this

•

For those who had attempted suicide in the past six months and had received support for this, 59% reported that the counselling or support helped them to either stop having or cope effectively with suicidal thoughts.

•

Fifty-two per cent of homeless youth were unemployed at the time of interview, that is, they were without work yet reported that they were looking for work and available to start work.

•

A lack of permanent accommodation and experiencing poor health or having a disability was identified by the homeless support group as significantly affecting their ability to find work.

Flatau et al. argued that their findings were important for those providing mental health and drug and alcohol support to homeless young people. They documented that special care needs to be taken when working with homeless youth to ensure that their mental health and emotional needs are addressed, and safety plans are in place to reduce risk. In addition to high psychological distress, a third of homeless young people reported having a

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long term physical health condition. So, providing homeless services is not just about providing safe and secure accommodation, although this aspect is vitally important, there is also a significant need for health and mental health service components to service delivery.

The broad range of problems faced by homeless young people requires effective case management and a well-developed integrated response among a range of providers from different service domains. 165 The study also highlights the fact that homeless youth, in many cases have experienced difficult early lives, which have contributed to their future trajectory into homelessness. Outof-home care experienced prior to turning 18 was another indicator correlated with homelessness, with two-thirds homeless young people having been in out-of-home care arrangements. This clearly indicates that the transition from out-of-home care into stable independent accommodation is an area of policy and service delivery requiring significant attention. Further inquiry needs to be focused on what it is about our social and institutional structures, systems and group settings that means that being placed in out-ofhome care will, more often than not, lead to homelessness.

Furthermore, two-fifths of homeless respondents experienced police intervention in the household due to extreme conflict between parents, with more than half of the homeless group reporting that they slept rough before turning 18 years of age. Around one-quarter of those who ran away from home due to violence between parents went to relatives, 32% went to friends while 20% went to the street or park (slept rough). The results begin to shed light on the impact of family violence on children’s outcomes, especially in relation to homelessness. They also highlight the need for strong early intervention programs for families and children and a sustained effort to curtail this insidious social problem.

Flatau et al.’s results also indicated that one of the earliest signs of homelessness may be couch surfing and first wave data from the Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia study revealed that 86% of homeless young people stayed with (non-immediate) family and friends as they had nowhere else to live prior to the age of 18. Sleeping rough was also high in this group. They documented that high quality targeted interventions and support for young people who are couch surfing or running away from immediate family prior to turning 18 should be a government priority and included in the suite of services needed to prevent entry into adult homelessness. 166 Johnson et al. (2010) argue that young people leaving out-of-home care (defined as -foster care, kinship care (where the caregiver is a family member or a person with a pre-existing relationship with the child), or residential care (in a residential building with paid staff), can make both smooth and problematic transitions. In terms of young people on the problematic pathway, they typically have little stability in care and left care at a younger age, often in an abrupt manner with no planning. In the study of young people leaving out of-home care, they found that young people who made a problematic transition typically had not developed trusting and on-going relationships with support workers or foster or biological families. 167 Findings from key studies into early onset and youth homelessness point to the importance of preventative and early intervention homelessness programs for children and young teenagers. There is a need to boost programs directed at children and teenagers in difficult home environments (with parental domestic violence, alcohol and drug use problems) and entering out-of-home care arrangements. For programs that address parental domestic

Flatau, "The Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia."

Flatau, "The Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia."

167 Johnson, "Pathways from out-of-Home Care. A.H.U.R.I. Final Report; No. 147."

165 166

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violence and alcohol and drug use problems in the family home, it is critical that as much focus is placed on children and young teenagers as the adults who are the ‘clients’ in programs.

The factors that are documented consistently in the literature to help young people leaving out-of-home care make a better transition, as identified by Campo and Commerford (2016), include: • Improving quality of care and placement stability; • Improving transition planning; • Leaving care based on developmental readiness, not chronological age; • Flexible post-care options up until 25 years of age (i.e., the ability to return to out-ofhome care if needed); • Emotional support/mentoring; • Therapeutic support; • Housing and employment assistance; and • Better support for young parents. 168 Emerging groups to monitor among the homeless in Western Australia Based on the review of literature, smaller evaluation studies, local research and anecdotal evidence, other groups may be important to track in WA, or to explore further: Veterans A total of 72 individuals in Western Australia in the Registry Week data identified as veterans, five were interviewed in Fremantle and 67 in the rest of Perth. 84.7% of WA homeless veterans were male. A much larger proportion of homeless veterans in WA identified as Indigenous (12.5%) relative to the proportion of Indigenous Australians in the Australian Defence Force (1.4%; Clark, 2015). 169 A larger proportion of veterans versus non-veterans in WA reported that they were sleeping rough at the time of their interviews (69.4% of veterans; 59.5% of non-veterans).

The Registry Week data also revealed that 43% of veterans interviewed reported having suffered a serious brain injury or head trauma in their lifetimes and many reported having a permanent physical injury. Veterans were more likely than others to be in receipt of regular income (more often a pension). However, it should be noted that only 47.7% of WA veteran respondents considered that they were receiving enough income to fulfil their needs.

Veterans were more often alone when interviewed during Registry Week, but more likely to report having a pet, than non-veteran interviewees. They are also less likely to have people that they keep in their life out of convenience or necessity rather than enjoyment of their company, and less likely to have people in their lives that steal from them. 170 Veterans’ homelessness in Australia remains an under-researched area. Veterans’ status is not included in either the Census or Specialist Homelessness Services Collection and so the number of veterans experiencing homelessness or receiving support from a Specialist Homelessness service is not fully known. 171 M. Campo, & Commerford, J. , "Supporting Young People Leaving out-of-Home Care (C.F.C.A. Paper No. 41). ," (Melbourne: Child Family Community Australia information exchange, Australian Institute of Family Studies., 2016).

169 Chris Clark, "Indigenous Service in Australia’s Armed Forces in Peace and War. ," (Canberra, Australian War Memorial.2015); Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

170 Flatau, "The State of Homelessness in Australia’s Cities: A Health and Social Cost Too High.."

171 Flatau, "The State of Homelessness in Australia’s Cities: A Health and Social Cost Too High.."

168

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Older people Kaleveld et al. (2018) found anecdotal evidence that an emerging cohort of people vulnerable to homelessness are older, single women who cannot meet the cost of housing and do not have income streams or wealth as a buffer. Although this group may not have any red flags for homelessness risk (e.g., mental illness, or substance use problems), the service system must find ways to reach and address their vulnerability and respond quickly if they fall into homelessness.

People with a disability There seems to be some disparity in the reporting of frequency for disabled persons who experience homelessness. Whilst most measures indicate there are very few people with a disability experiencing homelessness, other reports indicate the proportion is significant.

However, definitional variations may be a factor. Thus, the data is difficult to analyse fully.

Nevertheless, it was noted that Anglicare’s Rental Snapshot 2018 reported that single disabled people would only be able to afford 1% of available properties. 172 Culturally and linguistically diverse populations, refugees or newly arrived migrants For refugees and newly arrived immigrants, Flatau et al. found that secondary homelessness has only been experienced in the form of living with friends and relatives due to having nowhere else to live. This indicates that when problems with accessing housing arise, the close connection that humanitarian entrants have to friends and family play an important role in helping to avoid more serious or distressing forms of homelessness. However, the prevalence of this form of homelessness is significant with close to one in 10 respondents (9%) either currently experiencing it at the time of the survey or having had experience of it in the previous 12 months. 173 Children under 12 There has long been commentary that there has consistently been a lack of knowledge concerning this cohort. For example, Burdekin, Carter and Dethlefs (1989) note that statistical evidence about young people over the age of 12 seems readily available, but a gap exists in our knowledge of children under 12. 174 This was more recently recorded in 2017 and 2018 research. 175 People who struggle to access services for the homeless Research from Kaleveld et al. indicated that there was increasing evidence which showed that there were people who may be needing services but do not, or cannot, access services for the homeless. This highlights the need for a coherent highly public display of where to find appropriate services. 176 The above listed groups may not be as consistently visible as highly vulnerable populations across all three of the big homelessness measures. However, evidence indicates that these groups should be on the radar at least as populations of potential vulnerability, or most certainly in need of further locally-based research and consultation.

"Rental Affordability Snapshot 2018: Anglicare W.A.."

P. Flatau, Colic-Peisker, V., Bauskis, A., Maginn, P. and Buergelt, P., "Refugees, Housing, and Neighbourhoods in Australia, A.H.U.R.I. Final Report No.224," (Melbourne: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute 2014).

174 B. Burdekin, Carter, J., & Dethlefs, W. , "Our Homeless Children: Report of the National Inquiry into Homeless Children. ," (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1989).

175 Trudi Cooper, "Homelessness in Young People Aged under 16 Years: A Literature Review," (2017).

176 Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

172 173

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The Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS) Collection (SHSC) may provide a limited snapshot of the difficulties met by people who access services for the homeless. The SHSC is managed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)), and is a nation-wide data collection facility about people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness receiving support from specialist homelessness services funded by the Australian Government and State and Territory governments. SHS assists people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, by assessing their needs, providing direct assistance such as emergency accommodation, and referring clients to other services as required.

The Specialist Homelessness Services Collection (SHSC) is conducted by the AIHW to monitor the assistance provided and to contribute to the evidence base that shapes policy and service development. Data are provided to the AIHW by around 1,500 homelessness agencies. The SHSC only includes data on homeless clients or clients at risk of homelessness who presented to services. It therefore does not represent all people who are homeless or who are at risk of homelessness.

SHS published this “Snapshot of WA Homelessness services provided in 2015-2016: • 24,203 clients were assisted, representing 9% of the national Specialist homelessness services (SHS) population (279,196 total clients).

• 40% were homeless on presentation to a SHS agency, lower than the national rate (44%).

• Just under half of clients (47%) received some form of accommodation; half received fewer than 12 nights of accommodation.

• The top 3 reasons for clients seeking assistance were: domestic and family violence (43%, compared with 35% nationally); financial difficulties (36%, compared with 38% nationally); and housing crisis (23%, compared with 43% nationally).

• 66% of clients ended support in private or social housing, more than in 2014–15 (65%).

• An average of 69 requests for assistance went unmet each day.177 These figures provide further indications of the continuing impacts of domestic and family violence on homelessness164, particularly for Western Australia, as well as the pressures faced by social agencies to cater for the needs of homeless persons.

177

"Specialist Homelessness Services 2015–16: Western Australia Fact Sheet."

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Duration of time spent homeless While the Census data, as a point-in-time prevalence measure, does not capture duration of homelessness, the ABS’s General Social Survey which was last conducted in 2014 did ask about people’s experience of homelessness and included a measure of the duration of respondents’ most recent spell of homelessness. One fact that this highlighted was that, most recent spells of homelessness had tended to be shorter for those aged 15-34 than for those in older age groups (see Figure 33). What is concerning is the high proportion of 65+ adults who are homeless for six months of more. It is also worth noting that the highest single response in the survey was in the six months or more category.

15–34 years

35–64 years

65 years or over

Total persons

Figure 33. Length of time of most recent period of homelessness by age 178

178

"Australian Bureau of Statistics- 4159.0.55.002 - General Social Survey," ed. Australian Bureau of Statistics (Canberra2014).

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Implications and recommendations There are complex understandings and experiences of homelessness. These include primary, secondary and tertiary homelessness, on a spectrum from those without conventional accommodation to those living within boarding houses on a medium to longterm basis, or those characterised as lacking one or more elements that represent ‘home’.

Some of the social determinants of homelessness in Western Australia have been identified in this section. Higher utility and other associated costs exist for people living in rentals today than in the 2000s. There are barriers to private rentals for Centrelink recipients, with many such rentals being unaffordable. Various groups are vulnerable.

These include people who experience domestic and family violence, mental illness, and those who are substance users, as well as young people aged 15-24. Social determinants that may contribute to homelessness in Western Australia include the high rate of indigenous incarceration in WA, vast distances between remote communities and regional centres where homelessness services exist, as well as a dearth in specific specialist services for those who are homeless.

Additionally, while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders made up 3% of the Australian population in 2016, they represented 20% of the national homeless population. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 35 times more likely to experience family violence than non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and this increases their likelihood of homelessness. 179 There are also emerging groups that need monitoring. These groups include veterans, older persons, people with a disability, persons from culturally and linguistically diverse population, refugees or newly arrived migrants, and children under 12. However, it is not just the younger population that is vulnerable. Older persons 65 years and over are now more likely to be homeless for six months or more.

Despite ABS data showing that number of overall homeless has declined since 2001 from 54 per 10,000 population to 36.4 per 10,000 in 2016, and despite WA having one of the lowest rates of homeless according to ABS figures, there are concerning trends that have been revealed when homeless rates are analysed through types and areas of homeless in Perth. There are some types with higher rates in WA than that Australian average. For example, in 2016, there were higher proportions of persons living in improvised dwellings and higher numbers of persons staying temporarily in other households than for the Australian population. Contrary to data on the decline of homelessness in WA, a more detailed look at parts of the Perth metropolitan area has found increases according to various types of homelessness. This includes an increase in sleeping out, tents or makeshift accommodation for homeless persons in central Perth, as well as an overall increase in all homelessness in various outer suburbs of Perth.

As increasing evidence demonstrates that homeless people in need of services do not, or cannot, access these services, providing accessible, clear, coherent and public displays of where to find appropriate services is important. Early intervention and prevention are also important for young people who are at risk of developing a pattern of homelessness.

Developing further resources and responses that help young people exit from homelessness as early as possible will be beneficial.

179

"Homelessness and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.."

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Research points to the importance of preventative and early intervention homelessness programs for children and young teenagers. 180 There is a need to increase programs directed at children and teenagers in challenging home environments (i.e., parental and domestic violence and substance use problems) and those entering out-of-home care arrangements. For programs that address parental domestic violence and substance use problems in the family home, it is important that as much focus as possible is placed on the wellbeing of children and young teenagers.

The substantive reporting of homeless women who disclosed they were from prison also highlights how serious housing post-imprisonment is for WA women. This highlights the importance of also targeting services for homeless women when they are discharged.

180

80

Chris Chamberlain and Guy Johnson. "Pathways into Adult Homelessness." Journal of Sociology 49, no. 1 (2013): 60-77.

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Measures and Trends of Migrants Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Western Australia (WA) 2016 Census According to the 2016 ABS Census, 2,474,410 people lived in Western Australia (WA), a 10.5 per cent increase in the population since 2011. This increase is higher than the national average growth of 8.8 per cent. Since 2011, there has been a 16.5 per cent increase in the number of people in WA born overseas and their share in the total population increased from 30.7 per cent to 32.2 per cent.

Tables 21 and 22 provide an overview of recent shifts in the cultural and linguistic diversity of Western Australia. The top 10 birthplaces were England, New Zealand, India, South Africa, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, Scotland, Italy and Ireland. For the first time, the number of people overseas-born from non-main English speaking countries (NMESC) was larger (410,383) than those from main English speaking countries (MESC) (387,331).

While England and New Zealand remain the top two birthplaces for the overseas-born, there were some increases in the proportion of residents who come from Asian birthplaces.

For instance: • India replaced South Africa in third place; • the Philippines replaced Scotland in fifth place, with Scotland no longer in the top 10; and • China replaced Italy in seventh place.182 Of these trends towards Asian birthplaces between 2011 and 2016, there were some high growth rates. The population of the Philippines-born experienced the highest growth (78.9 per cent), followed by India (65.1 per cent) and China (62.2 per cent), while the number of people born in Scotland declined by 4.1 per cent. The number and proportion of people with one or both parents born overseas also increased from 1,159,523 (51.7 per cent of the population) to 1,330,357 (53.8 per cent).

While top 10 ancestries were largely unchanged between 2011 and 2016 (including English, Australian, Irish, Scottish, Italian, Chinese, German, Dutch and Indian), within this ranking there were also increases in residents who have Asian ancestries. Chinese and Indian ancestry increased at the same rate for Irish by 0.8% of the WA population. Further, Filipino replaced New Zealander in 2016, occupying tenth position (see Table 23).

There has also been an increase in the number and proportion of people speaking a language other than English (LOTE) at home from 325,054 (14.5 per cent) in 2011 to 437,869 (17.7 per cent) in 2016. In relation to the languages spoken: • • • •

Mandarin replaced Italian as the most common LOTE spoken at home; Vietnamese replaced Cantonese as the third most common language; Tagalog replaced Arabic as the fifth most common language; and Punjabi and Hindi featured in the top 10, replacing German and Spanish.

The majority of LOTE speakers (86 per cent) were proficient in English while 14 per cent had low proficiency or did not speak English at all, the same proportions as in 2011.182

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Table 21: Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Western Australia – ABS Census182 Indicator Total WA Population Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia born Overseas born MES countries NMES countries Top 10 birthplaces

Top 10 languages spoken at home

Parents born overseas Both parents born overseas Father only born overseas Mother only born overseas Both parents born in Australia

181

82

2016 181

2011

2,474,410

2,239,170

75,997

% of WA population 3.1%

69,664

% of WA population 3.1%

1,492,842

60.3%

1,407,807

62.9%

797,714 387,331 410,383

32.2 15.6% 16.6%

684,510 364,785 319,725

30.6% 16.3% 14.3%

England

194,164

7.8%

England

191,933

8.6%

New Zealand

79,222

2.4%

New Zealand

70,737

3.2%

India

49,384

2.0%

South Africa

35,326

1.6%

South Africa

41,008

1.7%

India

29,915

1.3%

Philippines

30,835

1.2%

Scotland

27,186

1.2%

Malaysia China Scotland Italy Ireland 2016

29,124 27,077 29,059 19,204 18,034

Malaysia Italy Philippines China Ireland 2011

24,970 19,477 17,234 16,690 14,293

1,001,150

1.2% 1.1% 1.1% 0.8% 0.7% % of WA population 1,861,036 75.2% 47,846 1.9% 29,397 1.2% 20,242 0.8% 19,340 0.8% 15,265 0.6% 14,207 0.6% 14,129 0.6% 12,228 0.5% 10,938 0.4% % of WA population 40.5%

184,890

English Mandarin Italian Vietnamese Cantonese Tagalog Afrikaans Arabic Punjabi Indonesian 2016

English Italian Mandarin Cantonese Vietnamese Arabic Afrikaans Indonesian German Tagalog 2011

1.1% 0.9% 0.8% 0.7% 0.6% % of WA population 1,775,951 79.3% 31,449 1.4% 28,033 1.3% 18,005 0.8% 16,522 0.7% 11,958 0.5% 10,928 0.5% 9,085 0.4% 8,716 0.4% 8,288 0.4 % of WA population

854,107

38.1%

7.5%

175,317

7.8%

144,217

5.8%

130,099

5.8%

947,977

38.3%

903,105

40.3%

Data was compiled and computed from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Table Builder program.

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Table 22: Cultural Diversity in Western Australia by Top 10 Ancestries182 2016 English Australian Irish Scottish Italian Chinese German Indian Dutch Filipino

931,147 760,035 224,372 214,153 122,944 103,683 73,062 68,799 47,039 35,454

% of WA population 37.6% 30.7% 9.1% 8.7% 5.0% 4.2% 3.0% 2.8% 1.9% 1.4%

2011 English Australian Irish Scottish Italian Chinese German Dutch Indian New Zealander

848,230 724,360 187,038 186,475 111,894 75,935 63,020 45,317 40,305 27,619

% of WA population 38.8% 32.0% 8.3% 8.3% 5.0% 3.4% 2.8% 2.0% 1.8% 1.2%

While Christianity was the most reported religious affiliation among Western Australians, the number of Western Australians identifying with Christianity (49.8 per cent) decreased by 8.2 per cent since the 2011 Census (58 per cent) (see Table 23). While the ranking for other religions remained unchanged, the numbers and proportions increased except for Judaism which experienced a decline. There was a significant increase in the number and proportion of those who identified with no religion or secular beliefs. 182 Table 23: Top Religious Affiliations in Western Australia182 Religious Affiliation Top Religions

2016 Christianity

1,231,605

% of WA population 49.8%

2011 Christianity

1,300,375

% of WA population 58%

No Religion

814,145

33.0%

No religion

571,949

25.5%

Buddhism

52,833

2.1%

Buddhism

47,395

2.1%

Islam

50,650

2.0%

Islam

39,118

1.8%

Hinduism

38,741

1.6%

Hinduism

21,025

0.9%

Judaism

5,425

0.2%

Judaism

5,853

0.3%

Recent data (2016) on Western Australian immigrants shows that most humanitarian migrants to Australia with permanent visas were between childhood and young to mid adulthood (see Table 24). Many humanitarian migrants with permanent visas were younger relative to migrants on skilled and family visas. The also had more scores for their population in lowest of quintiles for the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage and Disadvantage (Population) than migrants from other visa categories. This means that humanitarian visa migrants are more likely to be in higher need of economic assistance than the other visa categories.

"Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Western Australia (W.A.) 2016 Census Text.," ed. WA Office of Multicultural Interests (2017).

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Table 24: Western Australian Immigrants, Highlighting Humanitarian Migrants including Refugees and Asylum Seekers, 2016 Selected characteristics by visa stream, permanent migrants Applicant status Primary applicant Secondary applicants (family members) Location Onshore Offshore Sex Male Female Age (years) 0–14 15–19 20–24 25–29 30–34 35–39 40–44 45–49 50–54 55–59 60–64 65 and over Registered marital status Married Separated Divorced

84

Skill

Family

Humanitarian

Other permanent

Total

90,948

63,588

8,454

81

163,070

130,002

12,585

13,060

113

155,766

82,468

22,779

3,816

25

109,093

17,693

171

209,741

138,484

53,399

116,542

26,831

11,834

93

155,310

104,406

49,347

9,674

93

163,527

35,229

5,811

2,958

5

43,999

18,326

3,374

2,395

23

24,113

13,651

4,027

2,721

22

20,420

17,783

9,781

2,668

16

30,248

30,051

13,394

2,678

-

46,124

29,755

11,481

2,128

6

43,367

26,554

8,260

1,830

16

36,657

23,556

5,302

1,401

39

30,288

15,545

3,449

1,038

45

20,075

6,575

2,516

706

14

9,807

2,427

2,122

428

3

4,980

1,507

6,669

567

11

8,746

117,095

47,423

8,812

97

173,422

3,136

2,530

932

6

6,606

5,448

4,494

646

18

10,599

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Widowed Never married Not applicable (a) Family household composition One family household One family household: Couple family with no children One family household: Couple family with children One family household: One parent family One family household: Other family Total Multi-family household Two or more family household: Couple family with no children Two or more family household: Couple family with children Two or more family household: One parent family Two or more family household: Other family Total Not applicable (b) Housing suitability Two or more extra bedrooms needed One extra bedrooms needed No bedrooms needed or spare

767

2,253

629

-

3,648

59,279

13,665

7,532

69

80,554

35,229

5,811

2,958

5

43,999

31,264

19,204

1,059

50

51,576

145,250

38,084

11,142

95

194,570

9,909

4,899

3,336

21

18,168

1,884

407

412

-

2,698

188,312

62,591

15,951

160

267,008

1,953

2,435

315

-

4,706

5,598

2,289

1,052

-

8,933

684

496

622

-

1,801

33

33

13

-

86

8,268

5,257

2,000

-

15,524

24,369

8,331

3,566

27

36,300

2,691

1,353

2,788

-

6,825

9,784

3,704

3,983

-

17,479

41,378

13,768

6,413

17

61,580

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One-bedroom spare Two or more bedrooms spare Unable to determine Not stated Not applicable (c) Year of arrival Prior to 2007 (d) 2007 - 2011 2012 - 9th August 2016 Other (e) Index of Relative SocioEconomic Advantage and Disadvantage (Population) No SEIFA Score Quintile 1 (most disadvantaged) Quintile 2 Quintile 3 Quintile 4 Quintile 5 (most advantaged) Region of West Australia Major Urban Other Urban Bounded Locality Rural Balance Migratory Offshore Shipping No Usual Address Total

78,744

24,977

4,240

77

108,041

72,214

27,666

1,938

79

101,892

7,576

1,718

895

9

10,198

2,038

1,134

883

-

4,048

6,525

1,853

389

-

8,765

67,541

25,394

9,133

172

102,234

94,959

26,697

7,260

16

128,938

48,242

20,811

3,654

-

72,704

10,208

3,271

1,475

3

14,956

1,726

386

82

-

2,204

15,279

10,380

7,630

19

33,303

35,361

15,729

6,289

21

57,402

48,256

17,801

4,131

53

70,238

67,119

18,708

2,556

62

88,445

53,217

13,176

810

34

67,240

196,730

66,503

20,700

162

284,101

17,476

6,778

656

20

24,937

1,640

788

13

-

2,447

4,926

2,033

132

13

7,102

34

8

-

-

41

138

71

8

-

214

220,948

76,174

21,512

189

318,835

Note: Cells in this table have been randomly adjusted to avoid the release of confidential data. Discrepancies may occur betw een sums of the component items and totals. The statistics presented in this table are from the 2016 Australian Census and Migrants Integrated Dataset (ACMID). They may differ from statistics on migrants from the 2016 Census dataset or from the Australian Government Settlement data. (a) Includes persons aged under 15 years. (b) Includes persons living in non-private dw ellings, and persons in dw ellings located in migratory, offshore and shipping SA1s. (c) Includes persons in visitor only households, other non-classificatory households, unoccupied private dw ellings, non-private dw ellings and migratory, offshore and shipping SA1s. (d) Includes persons w hose Settlement Data date of arrival is 1st January 2000 or later, but w ho reported a Census year of arrival in Australia prior to 2000. (e) Includes persons w ho did not state their country of birth, persons born in Australia (including Other Territories), and persons w ho did not state their year of arrival in Australia.

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90,000

10000

80,000

9000 8000

70,000

7000

Total NOM Arrivals

60,000

6000

50,000 40,000

47,580 5000

44,160

4000

30,000

3000

20,000 10,000

2000

1560

Humanitarian NOM Permanent Visa Arrivals

When contrasted with total net overseas migration arrivals (including permanent and temporary visas), humanitarian NOM permanent visa arrivals are significantly small (see Figure 34). 183 Statistics show a trending overall decline in humanitarian permanent visa arrivals, particularly from 2009 to 2017. This is contrasted with a fluctuation and a recent decline in total NOM arrivals. However, figures in total NOM arrivals are still higher today than they were in 2005.

1000 610 0

0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total NOM Arrivals

Humanitarian NOM Permanent Visa Arrivals

Figure 34. Humanitarian net overseas migration (NOM) permanent visa arrivals in contrast to total NOM arrivals, Western Australia 2005-2017 Source: ABS 184

The overall number of program places has fluctuated, according to specific policy decisions made by government. The jump in places is directly attributable to the decision in 2015 to accept additional applicants from Syria and Iraq (see Table 25).

The decrease in places assigned to onshore applicants is related to changes in government policy in 2013 and 2014 in relation to asylum seekers arriving by boat.

183 184

ABS "Migration, Australia, 2016-17. Cat. 3412.0," Australian Bureau of Statistics ABS "Migration, Australia, 2016-17. Cat. 3412.0," Australian Bureau of Statistics

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Table 25: 2016-2017 offshore visa grants by top ten countries of birth Country of Applicant

Number of Grants

%

Iraq

7,478

36.9

Syria

6,261

30.9

Afghanistan

1,958

9.7

Myanmar

1,747

8.6

Bhutan

555

2.7

Democratic Republic of the Congo Eritrea

336

1.7

323

1.6

Ethiopia

323

1.6

South Sudan

316

1.6

Somalia

162

0.8

Other

798

3.9

Total

20,257

100

185

Australian Migration 2016-2017 A summary of migration in Australia as at July 2018 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that in 2016-17, 377,000 people moved interstate, 276,000 moved overseas, and 539,000 people arrived as migrants. In factoring in departures, in net terms overseas migration was 262,000, which is below the record high of 300,000 recorded in 2008-09. Table 26 shows an increase in net overseas migration for WA, which is 5% of the total Australian net overseas migration. However, there was a negative net interstate migration. The overall net migration has remained relatively stable with a small decrease for WA. Table 26: National Migration Summary, State and Territory, 2016-17 186 State or Territory NSW Vic. Qld. SA WA Tas. NT ACT Australia a

Net Interstate Migration (NIM)

Net migration

104 478 90 009 35 199 11 668 13 384 2 029 1 748 3 964 262 489

-15 161 18 193 17 795 -6 778 -13 934 1 522 -2 867 1 230 N/A

89 317 108 202 52 994 4 890 -550 3 551 -1 119 5 194 262 489

Includes other territories

185 186

88

a

Net Overseas Migration (NOM)

" Humanitarian Program Outcomes 2016-17 ", ed. Department of Home Affairs (2018).

"Migration, Australia, 2016-17. Cat. 3412.0," Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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Issues and Trends for Humanitarian Programs Of the 539,000 people who migrated to Australia in 2016-17, 315,000 arrived on a temporary visa, including just over 150,000 international students, just over 50,000 working holiday makers, and 32,000 workers on temporary skill visas. There were 106,000 migrants that arrived on permanent visas including 45,800 on skill visas, 29,800 on family visas and 23,900 on humanitarian visas. 187 Table 27 and Figure 35 show that while other humanitarian visa grants have increased since 2013-14, there has been a decrease in the onshore processing of humanitarian visa grants. In contrast, refugee visas have increased consistently while there has been a dramatic decrease in onshore visa grants since 2012-2013.

Table 27: Humanitarian Programs visa grants, 2000-01 to 2016-17 188 Year 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

Refugee

Special Humanitarian Program

Special Assistance Category

Onshore

Total

3,997 4,105 3,996 3,851 5,289 5,699 5,924 5,951 6,446 5,988 5,998 6,004 12,012 6,501 6,002 8,284 9,653

3,116 4,197 7,212 8,912 6,684 6,739 5,157 4,721 4,471 3,234 2,973 714 503 4,515 5,007 7,268 10,604

879 40 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

5,741 3,974 911 784 952 1,247 1,707 1,932 2,495 4,535 4,828 7,041 7,504 2,752 2,747 2,003 1,711

13,733 12,316 12,119 13,547 12,925 13,685 12,788 12,604 13,412 13,757 13,799 13,759 20,019 13,768 13,756 17,555 21,968

Source: Department of Home Affairs Notes: Data prior to 2001–02 is based on published historical information. Data from 2001–02 to 2010–11 was extracted from departmental systems at 30 June 2011 and therefore, may differ from statistics previously published in annual reports or elsewhere. The 2015–16 and 2016–17 statistics include visas granted towards the annual offshore resettlement component of the Humanitarian Program, and the additional 12,000 places for people displaced by conflict in Syria and Iraq.

187 188

"Migration, Australia, 2016-17. Cat. 3412.0".

"Migration, Australia, 2016-17. Cat. 3412.0," Australian Bureau of Statistics

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25,000 Total, 21,968

Number of People

20,000

15,000 Special Humanitarian Program, 10604

10,000

Refugee, 9,653

5,000 Onshore, 1,711 0 2011–12

2012–13

2013–14

2014–15

2015–16

2017-18

Year

Figure 35. Humanitarian Program grants by category 2011-12 to 2016. 189 Australian Government Department of Home Affairs Data on the Humanitarian Program The size and composition of Australia's resettlement program is influenced by a number of factors. These include: • UNHCR assessments of the resettlement needs of refugees overseas • the views of individuals and organisations in Australia conveyed during community consultations with the Minister • Australia's capacity to assist.

The Australian Government’s Humanitarian Program has two important functions: • the onshore protection/asylum component fulfils Australia's international obligations by offering protection to people already in Australia who are found to be refugees according to the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees; and • the offshore resettlement component expresses Australia's commitment to refugee protection by going beyond these obligations and offering resettlement to people overseas for whom this is the most appropriate option.

"Fact Sheet - Australia's Refugee and Humanitarian Program 2015-2016," Australian Government, https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about/corporate/information/fact-sheets/60refugee.

189

90

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The offshore resettlement component comprises two categories of permanent visas.

These are: • Refugee-for people who are subject to persecution in their home country, who are typically outside their home country, and are in need of resettlement. The majority of applicants who are considered under this category are identified and referred by UNHCR to Australia for resettlement. The Refugee category includes the Refugee, Incountry Special Humanitarian, Emergency Rescue and Woman at Risk visa subclasses.

• Special Humanitarian Program (SHP)-for people outside their home country who are subject to substantial discrimination amounting to gross violation of human rights in their home country, and immediate family of persons who have been granted protection in Australia. Applications for entry under the SHP must be supported by a proposer who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, or an organisation that is based in Australia. 190 2016- 2017 Offshore Humanitarian Program Outcomes 191 In 2016-17, Australia's annual Humanitarian Program was set at 13,750 places, with a minimum of 11,000 places allocated to the offshore component of the program.191 In addition to the delivery of the 2016-17 annual program, the Department delivered the remaining visas announced as part of the commitment made by the Government to provide an additional 12,000 places in response to the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, with a particular focus on persecuted minorities, women, children and families with the least prospect of safe return.

91,177 persons lodged an application for an offshore humanitarian visa in 2016–17. This was an increase of 17.4 per cent from 2015–16.191 This increase was due primarily to the availability of the additional 12,000 places for Syrians and Iraqis.

Around 75 per cent of all applications lodged in 2016–17 were from persons born in the Middle East; 15.7 per cent from Africa; and 8.8 per cent from Asia.191 Around 59 per cent of all persons who lodged applications in 2016–17 were under 30 years of age.191 The gender balance has remained relatively unchanged over the past five program years with approximately 48.6 per cent of applicants in 2016–17 being female.

The Humanitarian Program was fully delivered in 2016–17, with 21,968 visas granted, comprising: • 20,257 offshore humanitarian visas (12,049 towards the annual program, and 8208 towards the additional 12,000 places for Syrians and Iraqis).

• 1711 Permanent Protection visas191 Of the 20,257 visas granted offshore, 47.7 per cent were granted under the Refugee category and 52.3 per cent were granted under the Special Humanitarian Program (SHP).191 This represented the largest offshore program in over 30 years.

In 2016–17, 69 per cent of all offshore visas were granted to persons born in the Middle East, 22.1 per cent to persons born in Asia and 8.8 per cent to persons born in Africa.191

"Fact Sheet - Australia's Refugee and Humanitarian Program," https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about/corporate/information/fact-sheets/60refugee.

191 "Australia's Offshore Humanitarian Program 2016-17.," ed. Department of Home Affairs (2018).

190

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The main groups resettled were: • Syrians located in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Turkey; • Iraqi predominantly located in Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria; • Refugees from Myanmar located in camps along the Thai–Myanmar border, Malaysia and India; • Afghans located in Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia; • Bhutanese from Nepal; and • Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopian refugees located in a range of countries in Africa.191 In 2016–17, the target of 1200 places for Vulnerable Women and Children was exceeded, with 1607 visas granted.

Women at Risk The Woman at Risk visa category (subclass 204) is for female applicants and their dependents who are subject to persecution or are otherwise of concern to UNHCR, are living outside their home country without the protection of a male relative and are in danger of victimisation, harassment or serious abuse because of their gender. Over 16,800 Woman at Risk visas have been granted since the establishment of the visa in 1989.

The Woman at Risk visa subclass was established in recognition of the priority given by UNHCR to the protection of refugee women in particularly vulnerable situations. Its introduction was intended to provide a pathway for the resettlement of vulnerable women refugees and their dependents living without the effective protection of male relatives.

Woman at Risk visa applicants may be unmarried, divorced or widowed and have no male relative who can provide effective protection, or separated from their partners or male relatives due to conflict or other circumstances.

Table 28 and Figure 35 show the number of visas granted to vulnerable women and children. Most visas have been consistently granted to children, adolescents and young adults. Visa grants declined to 2014-15, possibly due to conservative policies on migration during the Abbott-led Coalition Government, and since 2014-15, visa grants have increased. Figure 36 shows that there has been a marked increase of visas granted to vulnerable woman and children since 2014-15.

Up until 2012–13, 12 per cent of refugee places were allocated to Woman at Risk applicants. In 2013–14 and 2014–15, a commitment was made to grant at least 1000 Woman at Risk visas under the offshore program. In 2015–16, 1200 refugee places were allocated to Woman at Risk applicants. In 2016–17 the proportion of the program for people facing particular vulnerabilities was expanded to include vulnerable women and children from persecuted minority groups such as the Yazidis, who are living in their home country and otherwise may not be eligible under the subclass 204 criteria, in recognition of the vulnerabilities they faced 192

192

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"Australia's Offshore Humanitarian Program 2016-17.," 27.

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Table 28: Number of visas granted to Vulnerable Women and Children, by age group and year of grant, 2012-13 to 2016-17 193 Age group

Program year of grant 2012–13

2013–14

2014–15 Number

2015–16

2016–17

0–17 years

798

541

520

578

788

18–29 years 30–49 years

364 366

209 205

202 209

289 250

257 330

50–69 years 70+ years

103 27

71 17

49 13

124 36

108 24

1,658

1,043

993

1,277

1,607

45.3%

49.0%

Total 0–17 years

48.1%

51.9%

Per cent 52.4%

18–29 years 30–49 years

22.0% 22.1%

20.0% 19.7%

20.3% 21.0%

22.6% 19.6%

22.2% 20.5%

50–69 years 70+ years

6.2% 1.6%

6.8% 1.6%

4.9% 1.3%

9.7% 2.8%

6.7% 1.5%

Total

100%

100%

100%

100%

100%

Notes: 1.

Data was extracted from departmental systems on 03 July 2017.

2.

The 2015–16 statistics in this table includes visas granted towards the annual offshore resettlement component of the Humanitarian Program, and the additional 12,000 places for people displaced by conflict in Syria and Iraq.

Figure 36. Number of visas granted to Vulnerable Women and Children, by year of grant, 1989-90 to 2016-2017 194

193 194

"Australia's Offshore Humanitarian Program 2016-17.," 28.

"Australia's Offshore Humanitarian Program 2016-17.," 27.

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Implications Implicationsand andRecommendations Recommendations Between 2016, there hashas been an increase in Western Australian residents who werewho Between2011 2011and and 2016, there been an increase in Western Australian residents born in Asian countries and have Asian ancestry.

Mandarin has also replaced Italian as the most were born in Asian countries and have Asian ancestry. Mandarin has also replaced Italian common language other than English.

At the same time, numbers have grown slightly for Hinduist as the most common language other than English. At the same time, numbers have grown and Buddhist affiliations. additional cultural diversity means that, in addition to meeting slightly for Hinduist andThis Buddhist affiliations.

This additional cultural diversity meansthe that, needs of thetodiversities Indigenous the provision of socialAustralians, services in addition meeting of the needs ofand the European diversitiesAustralians, of Indigenous and European needs to be in tune with the diverseneeds cultural ethnic styles of communication values the provision of social services to and be in tuneneeds, with the diverse cultural and and ethnic of a small but growing Asian population of Western Australia.

This means meeting a diverse array needs, styles of communication and values of a small but growing Asian population of of culture-dependent health and wellbeing issues as well as encouraging development in policy Western Australia. This means meeting a diverse array of culture-dependent health and 195 while recognising theand linkages between health and serviceissues deliveryasinwell cultural competenciesdevelopment wellbeing as encouraging in policy service delivery in 195 wellbeing outcomes may be the result of cultural differences between and religious needs.

Poor while recognising the linkages between health and religious cultural competencies professionals clients, outcomes especially inmay circumstances where these differences arebetween not consciously needs. Poorand wellbeing be the result of cultural differences 196 197 known or addressed.

An increasingly diverse overseas migrant population also professionals and clients, especially in circumstances where these differencesmeans are not developing non-Western understandings the social, physical emotional wellbeing of 196 197 An ofincreasingly diverseand overseas migrant consciouslymore known or addressed. migrants andalso re-assessing the efficacymore of traditional approaches to policy generation and service population means developing non-Western understandings of the social, delivery.

physical and emotional wellbeing of migrants and re-assessing the efficacy of traditional approaches to policy generation and service delivery.

Along with this increased diversity of the Western Australian migrant population are concerning trends with humanitarian and refugee visas. Many entrants on permanent humanitarian visas Along with this increased diversity of the Western Australian migrant population are are younger relative to migrants on other visas. They are also more likely to be in higher need concerning trends with humanitarian and refugee visas. Many entrants on permanent of economic assistance. The number of visas for vulnerable women and children have been humanitarian visas are younger relative to migrants on other visas. They are also more increasing as well, the bulk of which is in a relatively young cohort from childhood to youth to midlikely to be in higher need of economic assistance. The number of visas for vulnerable adulthood. Mental health is the largest issue facing refugees.198 Young persons and young women women and children have been increasing as well, the bulk of which is in a relatively young are particularly vulnerable to mental health issues.199 The experience of trauma and a fear of cohort from childhood to youth to mid-adulthood. Mental health is the largest issue facing further repatriation or prevention of family members migrating to Australia might mean that persons 198 Young persons andtoyoung womenhelp. are198 particularly vulnerable to mental health refugees. on humanitarian visas are hesitant seek needed A lack of financial independence 199 The migrants, experience of trauma a fear of further repatriation or prevention issues. to other relative being relativelyand young, reliving trauma, family commitments and of family members migrating to Australia might mean that persons on humanitarian visas are caregiving are stressors that can198 have a profound impact on the social and emotional wellbeing A lack of financial independence relative to other hesitant to seek needed help. of persons on humanitarian visas. A diversity of strategies is needed to address these various migrants, being relatively reliving trauma, family commitments caregiving are social determinants includingyoung, language difficulties, an under-trained workforceand in refugee services, stressors that can have a profound impact on the social and emotional wellbeing of persons 200 financial barriers and cultural differences.

on humanitarian visas. A diversity of strategies is needed to address these various social determinants including language difficulties,visas an under-trained workforce in refugeechanges With the wellbeing of persons on humanitarian in mind there have been substantive 200 services, financialofbarriers and cultural differences. facing the funding service delivery.

The Refugee Council of Australia reported that 7500 people

seeking asylum within Australia faced the threat of sudden poverty when, in June 2018, the federal With the wellbeing persons onStatus humanitarian visas in mind thereprogram have been substantive government reduced of funding to the Resolution Support Services (for income 201 changes facing the funding of service delivery.

The Refugee Council of Australia support, torture trauma counselling and case management).

According to the Council,reported those that 7500 people seeking asylum within Australia faced the threatSuch of sudden poverty when, people whose payments were cut had four weeks to find employment. decisions can have an in June impact 2018, the federal government funding to the Status Resolution Support adverse on the mental wellbeing ofreduced individuals who have been granted humanitarian visas Services program incometosupport, torture trauma counselling and case and may already be (for vulnerable mental health issues.

This is an area where service delivery may 201 management). need more attention.According to the Council, those people whose payments were cut had

J. R. Betancourt, A. R. Green, J. E. Carrillo & O. Analh-Firempong, “Defining cultural competence: A practical framework for addressing racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care”, Public Health Reports, 118 (2003), 293-302.

196 D. R. Williams & T. D. Rucker, “Understanding and addressing racial disparities in health care,” Health Care Financing Review, 21 (2000), 75-90.

197 B. D. Smedley, A. Y. Stith and A. R. Nelson (Eds.), Unequal treatment: Confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Washington, DC: National Academies Press (2002).

198 Sally Murray & Sue Skull, “Immigrant and refugee health”, Environmental Health, 2 (2002), 47-52 199 Mission Australia, Youth mental health report: Youth survey 2012-16.(2016) https://blackdoginstitute.org.au/docs/default-source/research/evidence-and-policy-section/2017-youth-mentalhealth-report_mission-australia-and-black-dog-institute.pdf?sfvrsn=6 200 Sally Murray & Sue Skull, “Hurdles to health: Immigrant and refugee health care in Australia”, Australian Health Review, 29 (2005), 25-29.

201 Refugee Council of Australia Annual Report 2017-18. https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/wpcontent/uploads/2018/11/RCOA-Annual-Report-2018-WEB.pdf 195

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Conclusion This report has served to provide a better understanding of poverty, homelessness and migrants within the Perth community.

In understanding contextual issues impacting on poverty, the report identifies an increasing trend in unemployment for Western Australian men and women. Likewise, underemployment remains a significant problem in the community, especially amongst women. Two key measures, the National Minimum Wage and maximum Centrelink payments, have not kept pace with average wage growth. This has led to significant social and economic inequality within the broader community.

In particular, the report identifies specific areas which policy makers and service providers need to take account of. The first of these is the gap in income between men and women, which leads to significantly greater financial stress amongst women, especially where they are the primary income-earners in a household. This issue is especially problematic, given the caring responsibilities they continue to take on, despite participating more regularly in paid employment than was previously the case. The wellbeing of women has a disproportionate impact on the relationships within the family unit, including children.

Likewise, the status of indigenous people continues to be impacted by lower average incomes, which acts as a barrier to achieving social inclusion.

The impacts of poverty are broad and far-reaching. The most immediate outcome of primary concern is food insecurity, with the data indicating that a substantive number of persons seeking emergency food assistance are employed in some form. In particular, the number of people reporting that their food had ran out before they could afford to buy more is alarming. This in turn impacts on the wellbeing of families, including poor nutrition and poor psychological functioning. Another significant outcome which is linked to poverty is an inability to pay for heating and cooling in the home, which in turn can contribute to health stresses. Poverty also impacts on the ability to select appropriate housing choices; this problem is especially significant amongst a number of cohorts, including those on Centrelink payments, single older women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and those escaping domestic violence.

The lack of housing options for a number of cohorts also featured prominently when examining the issue of homelessness. Homeslessness is a complex issue, with different public policy responses required, according to the different experiences which are reported.

The needs of those who have no conventional accommodation at all, differ from those without secure, long term options which they can call “home�. The report has identified a range of factors which lead to homelessness, including unaffordable costs of living, such as utilities and rental prices. Many private rental options in particular are unaffordable for low income earners. A range of groups are over-represented amongst the homeless, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, victims of domestic and family violence, those experiencing mental illness, those who have recently been incarcerated, and substance users. Older single women are also more vulnerable to homelessness due to lower income streams than men. It is also important that emerging levels of homelessness amongst other groups in our community, including veterans, people with a disability, persons from culturally and linguistically diverse populations, and refugees or newly arrived migrants are monitored. Both older (over 65) and younger (under 12) people in society are also vulnerable groups in our community when assessing homelessness.

The report identifies significant gaps in specialist service provision which exist for these cohorts; this is problematic given that early intervention and prevention is critical in preventing people from developing patterns of homelessness. There is also a clear link between the provision of services which are directed at children and teenagers in difficult The Catholic Archdiocese of Perth / The University of Notre Dame Australia

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environments, and those who enter out-of-home care arrangements. One clear gap in service provision in Western Australia is support for women who are leaving incarceration.

The report outlines a range of important indicators in migrant populations. The most significant trend in migrant populations has been the gradual increase in migrants to Western Australia from Asian countries, leading to Mandarin replacing Italian as the second most common language behind English. An increase in overall cultural diversity highlights the need for more services which cater for different needs, especially culturally-dependent health and religious services. There is also a need for better cultural competencies for those involved in service design and delivery. Some services may be well-intentioned but unable to deliver optimum outcomes due to cultural differences between professionals and clients; sometimes these differences are not sufficiently known and planned for.

The focus on humanitarian and refugee visas demonstrated that this cohort was, on average, younger than other migrants, and more likely to need economic assistance. The increasing number of visas granted to vulnerable women and children needs to be matched with specialist services focusing on addressing trauma and mental health; the issue of mental health remains the largest single challenge for our humanitarian intake in general.

There are ongoing funding issues in providing services which address specific challenges facing those granted refugee status in Australia; these include income support, torture trauma counselling and case management.

This report has focused on identifying the nature and prevalence of several key issues facing Western Australia and Australia more broadly, as well as the gaps in services which address them. It is anticipated that this will inform more effective allocation of funding and changes to service delivery so that those in need can be targeted in a more comprehensive manner.

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Appendices Appendix 1: West Australian Average Weekly Pre-Tax Earnings @ May 2018 202 Males; Full Time; Adult; Ordinary time earnings; Western Australia.

Persons; Full Time; Adult; Ordinary time earnings; Western Australia.

Unit Pre-Tax$ Type Trend May-2012 Nov-2012 May-2013 Nov-2013 May-2014 Nov-2014 May-2015 Nov-2015 May-2016 Nov-2016 May-2017 Nov-2017 May-2018

$ Male 1672.80 1743.70 1790.30 1767.20 1786.90 1826.30 1855.00 1859.10 1848.10 1852.00 1858.50 1877.90 1886.70

$ Female 1245.00 1279.50 1321.40 1336.80 1339.80 1356.40 1375.90 1397.50 1403.00 1412.40 1433.30 1454.90 1464.30

$ Persons 1528.60 1588.30 1634.70 1627.40 1641.50 1671.20 1692.30 1705.00 1700.90 1703.10 1717.30 1737.70 1743.20

May-2018 Net after tax

1390.70

1121.30

1303.20

202

100

Females; Full Time; Adult; Ordinary time earnings; Western Australia.

"Average Weekly Earnings, Australia. Cat.6302. August 2018 Release."

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Appendix 2: Count of people experiencing homelessness in WA by category (2011-2016) Appendix 3: Humanitarian Program grants by category 2011-12 to 2015-16 ABS category Category 2011–12 Sleeping Offshore -rough 5,993 Refugee Supported accommodation for Offshore714 the homeless Special Staying with others temporarily Humanitarian In boarding houses and Program 2 lodgings* temporary Onshore 7,037 3 Total 13,744 In severely crowded dwellings

2012–13 11,980 503

7,505 19,988

2011 2013–14 9256,491 (9%) 931 (10%) 4,505

2014–15 5,994 5,007

2016 2015–161 1,083 (12%) 8,284 1,054 (12%) 7,268

2,169 (23%)

1,950 (22%)

1,413 (15%) 2,751 4,15413,747 (43%)

1042 (12%) 2,003 17,555 3,871 (43%)

2,747 13,748

Offshore statistics for 2015-16 include visas granted towards the Annual Humanitarian Program and the Additional 12,000 TOTAL IN WA 9,592 (100%) 9,005 (100%) places for Syrians and Iraqis 2 Includes protection visas and onshore humanitarian visa grants that are countable under the Humanitarian Program. *Two operational groups have been collapsed into one group. Source: ABS 2016 (Census of Population and Housing: 3 Data in this table is revised2016)203 as at thePercentages end of the 2015-16 program year and WA mayhomeless differ frompopulation. previously published figures. 204 Estimating homelessness, are the proportion of total 1

Appendix 3: Humanitarian Program grants by category 2011-12 to 2015-16 Category Offshore Refugee OffshoreSpecial Humanitarian Program Onshore2 Total3

2011–12 5,993

2012–13 11,980

2013–14 6,491

2014–15 5,994

2015–161 8,284

714

503

4,505

5,007

7,268

7,037 13,744

7,505 19,988

2,751 13,747

2,747 13,748

2,003 17,555

Offshore statistics for 2015-16 include visas granted towards the Annual Humanitarian Program and the Additional 12,000 places for Syrians and Iraqis 2 Includes protection visas and onshore humanitarian visa grants that are countable under the Humanitarian Program.

3 Data in this table is revised as at the end of the 2015-16 program year and may differ from previously published figures. 204 1

"Census of Population and Housing: Estimating Homelessness, Cat. 2049.."; Kaleveld et al., "Homelessness in Western Australia: A Review of the Research and Statistical Evidence.."

203

204

"Fact Sheet - Australia's Refugee and Humanitarian Program 2015-2016".

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