There are renewed calls for housing solutions for those experiencing homelessness, with a new report revealing many are at acute risk of dying young. The Australian institute of health and welfare found the average age at which a homeless person dies is 46 years. Homelessness Australia CEO Kate Colvin says services are buckling under the pressure of unprecedented demand.
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TVTranscript
00:00What we're seeing is that there's just so much pressure in the housing market that's
00:05pushing more people into homelessness. So we've had a massive increase in the number
00:09of people at risk of homelessness. That means more people do become homeless and homeless
00:14services haven't had increased resourcing to meet that extra need. And so they end up
00:20in situations where a survey that we commissioned revealed that over a two week period, 40%
00:28of services literally had to close their door because they just didn't have the support
00:32that they, the workers that could see everyone. And that means that people at their hour of
00:38need, you know, they've lost their home. They're desperately trying to get some help, can't
00:42even get through to a worker. In terms of the homeless services are sort of one of the
00:47things that they do is really support people to navigate other services. And so often at
00:53a local level, there will be good networks. But what we see is that, for example, hospitals
00:58are so under pressure that they do either often not treat people who are homeless because
01:06they don't want to bring them into a bed and then not be able to discharge them somewhere,
01:11or they do treat someone, but then discharge them to homelessness. So what we need is for,
01:17you know, housing and healthcare to be really considered part of the health system.