MORE than a HOME National Hospitaller, Dr Robert Costa KMG on understanding homelessness and the Order of Malta Australia’s response.
H The most common reasons homelessness occurs in people aged 15 to 24 include a housing crisis, family or domestic violence, and relationship or family breakdown. 60
omeless is a term attributed to an individual with no fixed address or place of residence. However, on reflection, it is a gross misunderstanding and oversimplification of the circumstances under which a homeless person lives. On researching the issue of homelessness, one comes across many definitions, which add significantly to the meaning, and one’s understanding of the complexity or the reality of the true homeless person. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012). it states that when a person does not have suitable accommodation alternatives, they are considered homeless if their living arrangements are: living in a dwelling that is inadequate, have no tenure or their initial tenure is short and not extendable,
and does not allow them space for social interaction. This definition is formed by the understanding that a home is more than a roof over one’s head. It encompasses the Anglo American and European interpretation of a home to include the elements of shelter, personal safety, security, stability, privacy, and the ability to control the living space. Therefore, homelessness is a situation, which leads to the lack of one or more of the situational elements considered to be necessary for a “home”. The United Nations (2014) has two broad groups to define a homeless person: Primary homelessness or rooflessness, which includes individuals living on the streets without shelter or adequate housing, and secondary homelessness, where individuals move between 2018 Australian Hospitaller
