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- Indicator: Increase in victim survivors who have safe, secure, stable and affordable housing
- Measure: Proportion of victim survivors who are homeless or without a permanent place to live
- Measure: Number and Proportion of victim survivors who experience an improvement in their housing situation after receiving a service
Indicator: Increase in victim survivors who have safe, secure, stable and affordable housing
Family violence is recognised as a leading cause of homelessness, especially for women and children.
Homelessness can occur as a direct result of experiencing family violence – for example, having to leave the home for safety from a perpetrator’s use of violence. Structural barriers including gender inequality, a lack of affordable housing, and limited social support can also prevent victim-survivors from finding a safe and secure place to live.
Measure: Proportion of victim survivors who are homeless or without a permanent place to live
In 2020-21 there were 5,472 family violence service cases1 where victim survivors identified themselves as homeless. This was an increase from 4,693 in 2015–16.
Despite the increase in numbers, the proportion of family violence cases where victim survivors identified as homeless decreased slightly from 19.9 per cent in 2015–16 to 17.7 per cent in 2020–21.
Data shows that clients accessing refuges make up the greatest proportion of victim survivors experiencing homelessness. This cohort also tends to be at highest risk as they are often forced to leave their homes to escape the violence.
Family violence is the number one cause of homelessness for women. Stable housing is identified as a critical protective factor in promoting safety, wellbeing and recovery for victim survivors of family violence.
Proportion of cases presenting to specialist family violence services with victim survivors who were homeless at presentation – 2015-16 to 2020-21
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Source
Data for this measure is from the Department of Families Fairness and Housing, Homelessness Data Collection dataset.
Definition
Numerator - Number of cases supported by specialist family violence services where homelessness indicated on first presentation.
Denominator - Total number of cases supported by specialist family violence services where housing situation is recorded on presentation.
Time period
Data captures six financial years (FY), 01-Jul-2015 to 30-Jun-2016 through to 01-Jul-2020 to 30-Jun-2021.
Data details
Data is reported by household cases. A household case is defined as only including a lead family member (presenting unit head) who is 16 years old or over.
The measure relates to support periods opened during the reference Period.
Clients are considered to not be homeless if they were living in any of the following circumstances at the open or close of the case:
- public or community housing (renter or rent free): dwelling type is house/townhouse/flat and tenure type is renter or rent-free public housing, renter or rent-free community housing
- private or other housing (renter, rent free or owner): dwelling type is house/townhouse/flat and tenure type is renter-private housing, life tenure scheme, owner–shared equity or rent/buy scheme, owner–being purchased/with mortgage, owner-fully owned, rent-free private/other housing.
- institutional settings: dwelling type is aged care
- or the client is living in other circumstances with long term tenure (not couch surfer).
Clients were considered to be homeless if they were living in any of the following circumstances on presentation (start of the case):
- no shelter or improvised dwelling: includes where dwelling type is no dwelling/street/park/in the open, motor vehicle, improvised building/dwelling, caravan, cabin, boat or tent; or tenure type is renting or living rent free in a caravan park
- short-term temporary accommodation: dwelling type is boarding/rooming house, emergency accommodation, hotel/motel/bed and breakfast; or tenure type is renting or living rent free in boarding/rooming house, renting or living rent free in emergency accommodation or transitional housing
- house, townhouse or flat (couch surfing or with no tenure): tenure type is no tenure; or conditions of occupancy are living with relatives fee free, couch surfing.
Cases are not included that recorded 'Don't know' for housing situations at end of support. Some cases also did not have quite enough information to know what the housing situation was. These have been combined with clients in institutions in a 'Homeless at presentation' category called 'Housed, Institution or Not enough information.
Data quality and caveats
There are historical issues with data quality. In particular, the inflated number of case records created after police referrals distorts both numerator and denominator for this measure, in 2016-17 and 2017-18 in particular. This inflation was due to poor practice at some agencies, where workers would open a support period for an affected person (victim-survivor) as soon as they received an L17 referral from police. This practice was largely ceased by the end of 2017-18.
The data is not a full representative sample of victim survivors experiencing homelessness. This is both because service delivery reported through IRIS is not included due to data quality issues and because a significant proportion of clients reporting through the HDC do not have housing status recorded and so have been excluded.
There are historical issues with data quality. In particular, the inflated number of case records created after police referrals distorts both numerator and denominator for this measure, in 2016-17 and 2017-18 in particular. This inflation was due to poor practice at some agencies, where workers would open a support period for an affected person (victim-survivor) as soon as they received an L17 referral from police. This practice was largely ceased by the end of 2017–18.
Full / Partial / Proxy / Ideal
Proxy – measure assumes a causal link between homelessness and family violence.
Measure: Number and Proportion of victim survivors who experience an improvement in their housing situation after receiving a service
There has been an increase in the number and proportion of victim survivors receiving family violence support who indicated they were homeless at the start of their support period and were in secure housing by the end of their support period.
In 2020–21, there were 877 family violence service cases where victim survivors who identified as homeless on presentation were recorded in secure housing at the end of their support period. This represents 16.6 per cent of total family violence service cases and compares with 590, or 13.0 per cent, in 2015–16.
Despite the above improvement, in 2020–21 about 80 per cent of family violence service cases with victim survivors who indicated homelessness when they initially accessed family violence support services remained homeless when their support period ended.
Many family violence refuge clients exit the system to transitional housing and other temporary accommodation arrangements (which fall within the definition of homelessness) while they await a more stable and secure housing pathway.
Proportion of cases where homelessness indicated at first presentation where client no longer homeless at end of support period – 2015-16 to 2020-21
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Source
Data for this measure is from the Department of Families Fairness and Housing, Homelessness Data Collection dataset
Definition
Numerator - Number of cases supported by specialist family violence services where homelessness was indicated on first presentation who are no longer homeless at end of latest/last support period.
Denominator - Number of cases/support periods supported specialist family violence services where homelessness was indicated on presentation and support has ended.
Time period
Data captures six financial years, 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016 through to 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021.
Data details
Data is reported by household cases. A household case is defined as only including a lead family member (presenting unit head) who is 16 years old or over.
The measure relates to support periods closed during the reference Period.
Clients are considered to not be homeless if they were living in any of the following circumstances at the open or close of the case:
public or community housing (renter or rent free): dwelling type is house/townhouse/flat and tenure type is renter or rent free public housing, renter or rent-free community housing
private or other housing (renter, rent free or owner): dwelling type is house/townhouse/flat and tenure type is renter-private housing, life tenure scheme, owner–shared equity or rent/buy scheme, owner-being purchased/with mortgage, owner-fully owned, rent-free private/other housing
institutional settings: dwelling type is aged care
or the client is living in other circumstances with long term tenure (not couch surfer).
Clients were considered to be homeless if they were living in any of the following circumstances on presentation (start of the case):
no shelter or improvised dwelling: includes where dwelling type is no dwelling/street/park/in the open, motor vehicle, improvised building/dwelling, caravan, cabin, boat or tent; or tenure type is renting or living rent free in a caravan park
short-term temporary accommodation: dwelling type is boarding/rooming house, emergency accommodation, hotel/motel/bed and breakfast; or tenure type is renting or living rent free in boarding/rooming house, renting or living rent free in emergency accommodation or transitional housing
house, townhouse or flat (couch surfing or with no tenure): tenure type is no tenure; or conditions of occupancy are living with relatives fee free, couch surfing.
Cases are not included that recorded 'Don't know' for housing situations at end of support. Some cases also did not have quite enough information to know what the housing situation was. These have been combined with clients in institutions in a 'Homeless at presentation' category called 'Housed, Institution or Not enough information.
Data quality and caveats
There are historical issues with data quality. In particular, the inflated number of case records created after police referrals distorts both numerator and denominator for this measure, in 2016-17 and 2017-18 in particular. This inflation was due to poor practice at some agencies, where workers would open a support period for an affected person (victim-survivor) as soon as they received an L17 referral from police. This practice was largely ceased by the end of 2017–18.
The data is not a full representative sample of victim survivors experiencing homelessness. This is both because service delivery reported through IRIS is not included due to data quality issues and because a significant proportion of clients reporting through the HDC do not have housing status recorded and so have been excluded.
Full / Partial / Proxy / Ideal
Proxy data – homelessness status is used as a proxy for improvements in housing status.
Notes
1In this report, ‘family violence cases’ count one client per presenting group or household.
Reviewed 14 April 2022