Community Services: Homelessness

“When a person does not have suitable accommodation alternatives they are 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, and access to space for social relations”.

(Australian Bureau of Statistics 2012)

There are also two main types of homelessness that those in the community may experience and they are as follows:

Primary Homelessness: This is someone that lives on the streets without any source of shelter or living space (Homelessness Australia, 2020).

Secondary Homelessness:  Is someone that does not have primary place of residence and moves between temporary accommodation such as friends houses, shelters and dwellings. This is essentially someone that does not have a primary address (Homelessness Australia, 2020).