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THE HOMELESS CRISIS

Dignity is a human right

UnderBridge

The Global Homeless Crisis

USA

  • 582,000 Americans are homeless on any given night (HUD 2022).
  • 233,832 of these homeless people will be unsheltered (HUD 2022).
  • 61% are men / 38% are women(HUD 2022).
  • 33,129 will be veterans(HUD 2022).
  • Mental health problems are up to eight times more common in the homeless population.
  • Every year, roughly 13,000 homeless people die in the US (National Homeless).
  • Homeless people have an average life expectancy of just 50 years (National Homeless).
  • 47% of unsheltered homeless live in California (Whitehouse).

Australia

The Australian Human Rights Commission stated Human Rights are greatly impacted by sleeping on the streets:

  • the right to health
  • the right to personal safety
  • the right to privacy
  • the right to non-discrimination
  • the right to freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment

The facts:

  • Up to 21% of Australia’s street sleeping homeless have suffered hypothermia, frostbite or trenchfoot.
  • Tonight up to 80% of families and 60% of individuals will be turned away from emergency shelters.

UK

  • 2,181 people were recorded as sleeping rough on any one night in England (an increase of 5%)
  • Street sleeping homeless are 13 times more likely to have experienced violence and 47 times more likely to be victims of theft.
  • Street sleeping homeless have an average life expectancy of 42 years compared to national average 74 for men and 79 for women
  • Street sleeping homeless are 35 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population.

New Zealand

  • No official government figures for the number of homeless people exists
  • 81 people were found sleeping on the streets in a 3km radius of the Auckland sky tower.

Germany

  • No official government figures for the number of homeless people exists
  • It is estimated the number of homeless people in Germany at over 250,000 – with 20,000 people living on the street

Questions about Homelessness

Homeless people and unhoused people (without shelter) are in all communities, towns and cities. They are people, like you and I.

Individuals and families living in accommodation which falls below general community standards:

  • Detrimental to physical and mental well-being
  • No access to personal amenities
  • No security, privacy or autonomy
  • On the streets and parks
  • Under bridges, sheds, sporting grounds, bus shelters, doorways
  • In abandoned buildings
  • In cars
  • With friends or extended family
  • Emergency accommodation & youth refuges
  • Boarding houses, caravan parks or hotels

Nobody wants to live on the streets - humans are not built for it.

  • Accident at work
  • Family problems – violence, sexual abuse, assault
  • Relationship breakdown
  • Periods of mental illness
  • Gambling addiction
  • Drug and alcohol addiction
  • Unemployment / Financial problems / Eviction
  • People without basic goods can be driven to petty crime.
  • Some are forced into sexual exploitation.
  • The above often leads to various forms of substance abuse and addiction - all of which promotes a wide array of desperate behaviour… involving substantial problems and costs for our community.

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