A new report suggests three million Australians are at risk of homelessness, with families and individuals regularly turned away from services which are buckling under the pressure. The new modelling from 'Homelessness Australia' shows the risk of people ending up on the street has increased more than 60% since 2016. CEO Kate Colvin says more resources are needed for support services that are being forced to turn people away.
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00:00What the survey found was that on 40% of days across a two-week period, services had to
00:08close their doors. And the other thing that services have to do is they have to triage
00:13the support that they do have to the most vulnerable people. But even with that triaging,
00:20on one in five days, they had to turn away families with children who had no accommodation,
00:25nowhere to go that night. And it's absolutely devastating for people who have reached out
00:31for help and just no one can help them. It's a really shocking situation. I think Australians
00:38expect that when someone reaches out for help because they've lost their home or they're
00:43about to lose their home, they've got an eviction notice in their hand, perhaps, that someone
00:47will be there to help them. But the reality is that homelessness services are just buckling
00:52under the pressure of the housing crisis. And often, the door might be closed, the phones
00:59are not being answered because homelessness services just don't have the resources to
01:03respond to everyone who needs help.