HOMELESSNESS

The Hon. DAVID WINDERLICH (15:17): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for State/Local Government Relations, representing the Minister for Housing, questions about the number of homeless people in the Adelaide area.

Leave granted.

The Hon. DAVID WINDERLICH: Last Wednesday, the Minister for Housing made a questionable claim that the number of homeless South Australians in the Adelaide area had decreased by 50 per cent over two years. The minister's figures were based on data collected by the Social Inclusion Unit, which purported to show that the number of South Australians sleeping rough in Adelaide had decreased from 108 to 53 over the two years since mid-2007. However, both of these claims are questionable when compared with the latest report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which showed that South Australia has the highest level of unmet demand in Australia, with only 63.7 per cent of cases being attended to. Unmet demand suggests a severe shortage of services, and it is hard to see how this can be consistent with a decline in the levels of homelessness or the number of South Australians sleeping rough.

Homeless shelters in and around the Adelaide CBD have also reported an increase in the mortality of homeless people during the past year. That means that more homeless people are dying. There are also indications that the methodology used by the Social Inclusion Unit to compile its figures on those sleeping rough may be flawed, because the number of homeless people refusing to participate in the survey from 2007 to May 2008 increased by 55 per cent. In real terms, that means that 87 of Adelaide's 260 homeless people refused to participate in the Social Inclusion Unit's survey. In other words, the number of people who refused to participate is greater than the claimed reduction in the number of people sleeping rough. My questions are:

1. Can the minister give an explanation for the discrepancy between the government's claimed reductions in homelessness and sleeping rough and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's report, which shows that South Australia has the highest level of unmet demand?

2. How does the minister know that the reduction in sleeping rough is not the result of an increase in the number of homeless people simply refusing to participate in the government's survey?

3. Does the minister know whether more homeless people have died over the period that the data was collected, and what impact would this increase in mortality have on the results of research into the number of South Australians sleeping rough?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Energy) (15:20): I thank the honourable member for his most important questions. The Rann Labor government has committed considerable effort and money around the issues of homelessness, particularly in relation to those people sleeping rough who have a chronic issue, which is often associated with substance abuse or mental health issues and suchlike. So, they were a particular target audience.

What this government did in terms of that commitment was to establish the Social Inclusion Unit, which was an initiative of the Rann Labor government. It established a Social Inclusion Commissioner, Monsignor Cappo, and one of the terms of reference that it gave to the Social Inclusion Unit was, of course, to investigate the issue of homelessness and to look at solutions around that.

Indeed, Monsignor Cappo and the Social Inclusion Unit did undergo the most extraordinary efforts, and also achievements, in relation to that particular term of reference and that initiative. I do not have the figures on me, but considerable funds were put into this initiative and a number of very practical on-the-ground initiatives were rolled out. One that I would particularly mention is the way that particular individuals, who are well known within the system in terms of chronic homelessness, were case managed, which was found to be a very successful technique in finding them more permanent accommodation.

I am also aware that in a number of hospitals positions were established—because, often, a number of people suffering from homelessness present themselves to emergency departments of public hospitals—for staff to identify these particular people, to ensure that their health needs were met but to also follow them, if you like, and case manage them back out into the community and assist them to find more permanent accommodation.

They are just a couple of the initiatives that I can recall offhand. Obviously, this is not an area that I am responsible for, and I would be very pleased to pass that question on to the Minister for Housing in another place and bring back a response.