The Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia

Homelessness is the ultimate experience of disadvantage and social exclusion.

In 2011, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that there were 44,000 young Australians under the age of 25 who were homeless on Census night. On the same night, the Census count was 105,000, underlining the fact that children and young people are a significant proportion of those who experience homelessness.

The Cost of Youth Homelessness in Australia research study is the first national youth homelessness study of its kind in Australia. The longitudinal study attempts to understand the experience and impacts of youth homelessness in terms of economic costs to the Australian community.

Swinburne University of Technology, in partnership with the Centre for Social Impact UWA, Charles Sturt University, The Salvation Army, Mission Australia and Anglicare NSW South and West, and ACT, led this landmark research project.