HOMELESSNESS has become invisible in the Swan Hill district because the problem is no longer easily identified, a local service provider said.
This week is national Homelessness Prevention Week, with data released by Homelessness Australia showing one in every 200 Australians don’t have access to their own housing.
More than 254,000 people were assisted by homelessness services across the country last year, with almost half of them being young people under 18 years of age (41,000 of them were children under 10).
According to Mallee Family Care (MFC) regional practice manager Helen Chaston, the problem was just as prevalent in the Swan Hill district, even though it wasn’t as visible to the public as it would be in metropolitan city centers.
“The face of homelessness in the Swan Hill area has changed,” Ms Chaston said.
“Homelessness has become mostly invisible and people are no longer easily identified as experiencing homelessness.
“It’s no longer the stereotypical homeless person that we see presenting to us, people who are sleeping it rough on the street or under a bridge.
“They are more likely to be couch-surfing or living in a shed, or any kind of inappropriate housing, and that is considered homelessness as well.”
For more on this story, grab a copy of Wednesday’s Guardian (August 5).
