Australia's hidden homeless: community-based approaches to asylum seeker homelessness

The complex immigration status of asylum seekers applying for protection, combined with having to compete with Australian residents for government-funded housing, can result in multiple barriers to secure housing for refugees. The majority of asylum seekers in Australia live lawfully in the community on bridging visas while they await resolution of their asylum claims. More than half of these asylum seekers have no access to a government-funded financial safety net or a sustained independent income. As this research demonstrates, many experience homelessness as a result. In-depth interviews with agencies working with asylum seekers in Australia identified a critical lack of housing and support for asylum seekers, resulting in health and welfare disadvantage that can impede the process of resolving their immigration status. The exploration of international models of asylum housing in the UK, Sweden and Canada revealed that a domestic legislative framework governing housing for asylum seekers significantly enhances access to safe and secure housing. Housing reception standards and a national service delivery framework arise from such a legislative context in these countries. Without such a framework, and given the exclusion of asylum seekers from the national strategic agenda for reducing homelessness in Australia, a robust service delivery framework for the provision of asylum housing is non-existent in this country. This research shows that, consistent with Australia’s human rights obligations, Australia needs a more humanitarian response to homelessness experienced by asylum seekers living in the community and the factors that give rise to it. A model for a medium-term solution is proposed, with a focus on an integrated service delivery approach utilising existing expertise in the Australian context