Demand for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation 2008–09
A report from the SAAP National Data Collection
July 2010

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health and welfare statistics and information agency. The Institute’s mission is
 better information and statistics for better health and wellbeing.
© Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2010

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Suggested citation 
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2010. Demand for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation 2008–09: a report from the SAAP National Data Collection. Cat. no. HOU 230. Canberra: AIHW.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Board Chair
Hon. Peter Collins, AM, QC

Director
Penny Allbon

Any enquiries about or comments on this publication should be directed to:
Manager
SAAP National Data Collection Agency
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
GPO Box 570
Canberra ACT 2601
Phone: 1800 627 191
Email: ndca@aihw.gov.au

Published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Please note that there is the potential for minor revisions of data in this report.
Please check the online version at <www.aihw.gov.au> for any amendments.

Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations and symbols
Summary
1	Introduction
1.1	SAAP
1.2	NAHA and NPAH
1.3	SAAP National Data Collection
1.4	Caution on interpreting data in this report
1.5	Structure of the report
2	Meeting the accommodation needs of clients and accompanying children
2.1	Provision of accommodation
2.2	Tables
3	Unmet requests for accommodation
3.1	Extent of unmet requests
3.2	Referrals for accommodation
3.3	Tables
4	People making a valid unmet request for accommodation
4.1	People requesting accommodation
4.2	Tables
5	Estimating the number of people turned away without receiving accommodation
5.1	Data issues
6	Adults and unaccompanied children turned away without receiving 
accommodation
6.1	Turn-away as a percentage of those requiring new and immediate 
accommodation
6.2	Turn-away as a percentage of the total expressed demand for immediate accommodation
6.3	Tables
7	Accompanying children turned away without receiving accommodation
7.1	Turn-away as a percentage of those requiring new and immediate 
accommodation
7.2	Turn-away as a percentage of the total expressed demand for immediate accommodation
7.3	Tables

8	Total people turned away without receiving accommodation
8.1	Turn-away as a percentage of those requiring new and immediate 
accommodation
8.2	Turn-away as a percentage of the total expressed demand for immediate accommodation
8.3	Tables
9	Conclusion
9.1	Availability of accommodation
9.2	Supply and demand
9.3	Hidden need for accommodation
9.4	Tables
Appendix 1	Additional state and territory tables
Appendix 2	Summary diagram
Appendix 3	The data
A3.1	Client Collection
A3.2	Demand for Accommodation Collection
A3.3	Interpretation of tables
A3.4	Counting rules and glossary
Appendix 4	Collection forms
References
List of tables
List of figures

Preface
This report presents an overview of the expressed demand for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation in 2008–09. It is accompanied by a summary publication Demand for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation 2008–09: summary.
Data presented in this report and its summary exclude Victorian data. In Victoria, accommodation for homeless people is also provided through the Transitional Housing Management program. As accommodation provided through transitional housing is not recorded in this report it is therefore not possible to derive turn-away rates for Victoria that are comparable with information reported in previous years, or with those reported by other states and territories. For more information on the reporting of accommodation data in Victoria in 2008–09, refer to Government-funded specialist homelessness services 2008–09 (AIHW 2010b). The AIHW and the Victorian Government are working to improve data recording for future reporting.
Some significant developments have occurred in the area of homelessness data collection since the publication of the previous report on this topic, Demand for SAAP accommodation by homeless people 2007–08: a report from the SAAP National Data Collection.
On 1 January 2009, the SAAP V Agreement between the Australian Government and the states and territories was replaced by the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) and the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH).
These agreements continue to emphasise the importance of a sound evidence base for policy development and program management. The data collection from the specialist homelessness agencies previously funded through the SAAP program will continue until the 2010–11 data are reported.
For future years, the data collection from specialist homelessness services is being revamped, to provide a stronger evidence base for understanding those who use the services and the services provided. Reporting of that new collection will be available for the 2011–12 year.

Penny Allbon
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Acknowledgments
This report was written by staff of the SAAP National Data Collection Agency at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). The Information Services and Publishing Unit of the AIHW helped in preparing the report for publication.
This report draws together a large amount of statistical material and could not have been produced without the efforts and cooperation of agencies and clients, who provided service and client information, and the state and territory funding departments, which provided administrative data.
Abbreviations and symbols
Abbreviations
ACT	Australian Capital Territory	
AIHW	Australian Institute of Health and Welfare	
CAP	Crisis Accommodation Program	
NAHA	National Affordable Housing Agreement	
NDC	National Data Collection	
NDCA	National Data Collection Agency	
no.	number	
NPAH	National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness	
NSW	New South Wales	
NT	Northern Territory	
Qld	Queensland	
SA	South Australia	
SAAP	Supported Accommodation Assistance Program	
SAAP NDC	Supported Accommodation Assistance Program National Data Collection	
SMART	SAAP Management and Reporting Tool	
Tas	Tasmania	
Vic	Victoria	
WA	Western Australia	

Symbols
. .	not applicable	
—	nil or rounded to zero	
n.a.	not available	

Summary
The data presented in this report show that government-funded specialist homelessness agencies are operating to capacity and are unable to completely meet the expressed demand for accommodation. Some groups, such as families, experience more difficulty than others in obtaining immediate accommodation.
Turn-away rates
When purely new requests for accommodation are considered on any given day, the turn-away rates seem high, with 62% of all people who sought immediate accommodation being turned away (Chapter 9). But new requests comprise only around 4% of the total demand for accommodation (new requests plus all people currently in accommodation).
When considered in terms of the total demand for accommodation, just under 2% (1.7%) of all people who sought immediate accommodation were newly accommodated on any given day while close to 3% (2.7%) were turned away.
The small number of people not accommodated relative to the total expressed demand for accommodation suggests that a small increase in the number of places available on an average day could have a significant impact on the level of unmet demand. However, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the answer is more complex than this.
For example, many people who are turned away are likely to require accommodation for more than one night, on average 54 days. On this basis, if all people turned away on an average day were provided with accommodation, then these beds would not become available again for an average of 54 days.
In addition, as supply increases, so too might the demand for that accommodation. There will always be a ‘hidden need’ for accommodation caused by people not seeking assistance when they need it.
Are the accommodation needs of existing clients being met?
Agencies were able to provide specialist homelessness accommodation directly to existing clients and their accompanying children in most cases during the periods data were collected (88% and 82%, respectively) (Chapter 2). When accommodation could not be provided directly, referrals to other organisations were arranged in 6% and 9% of cases, respectively. The accommodation need remained unmet in 5% of cases for clients and in 9% of cases for accompanying children.
Why was accommodation not provided?
The majority of valid unmet requests for accommodation occurred because there was a lack of accommodation (84%) (Chapter 3). This was highest for family groups with children. 

Caution on interpreting data in this report
This report excludes Victorian data. Also, comparisons with previous years are not strictly possible because of changes in the 2008–09 financial year when the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) was replaced by the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) and the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH). For more information on these and other caveats please see Section 1.4 on page 3.

1	Introduction
This report provides an overview of the expressed demand for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation during the 2008–09 financial year. It is accompanied by a summary publication Demand for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation 2008–09: summary (AIHW 2010a).
1.1	SAAP
From 1985 to 31 December 2008, the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) was the largest of the many government programs to support people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness in Australia.
Transitional accommodation, including emergency and crisis accommodation, and other support services were provided by SAAP agencies (sometimes referred to as government-funded specialist homelessness agencies). These agencies were administered by the states and territories, and consisted of non-government, community or local government agencies, ranging from small stand-alone agencies with single outlets to large auspices with multiple outlets. Many focussed on specified target groups—single men, single women, young people, families, and women and children escaping domestic violence. The remainder were generalist agencies that supported a combination of client groups.
1.2	NAHA and NPAH
From 1 January 2009, the government response to homelessness is administered under the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) and the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH).
The NAHA is designed to provide a framework for governments to work together to reduce homelessness, improve housing affordability and reduce Indigenous housing disadvantage. Funding for the NAHA began on 1 January 2009.
The NAHA is supported by the NPAH, which outlines the roles and responsibilities of the Australian Government and state and territory governments in reducing homelessness. The NPAH is complemented by other partnership agreements, including the National Partnership Agreement on Social Housing and the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing. The NPAH was signed in December 2008, with funding to begin on 1 July 2009. As such, no services funded under the NPAH are included in this report.
Data collection from government-funded specialist homelessness agencies has continued under the new arrangements as the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program National Data Collection (SAAP NDC).
1.3	SAAP National Data Collection
Data in this report are sourced from the 2008–09 SAAP NDC. The SAAP NDC focuses on services provided by ‘specialist homelessness agencies’—those that specifically target and provide services to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Mainstream service providers are not included.
In 2008–09, the SAAP NDC had three distinct components—the Client Collection, the Demand for Accommodation Collection and the Administrative Data Collection. This report is primarily based on the analysis of the first two collections. Details about these two collections are provided in Box 1 and Appendix 3. The forms used for collecting the data can be found in Appendix 4.

Box 1.1: Supported Accomodation Assistance Program National Data Collection
Client Collection
The Client Collection consists of information about clients of government-funded specialist homelessness agencies who received accommodation or support that was ongoing or generally lasted for more than 1 hour on a given day. The information is collected throughout the financial year. Agencies are required to complete one form per adult or unaccompanied child per support period. Details about accompanying children are also obtained through the Client Collection and recorded on their parents’ or guardians’ forms.
The main findings from the Client Collection are published in the national and state and territory SAAP NDC annual reports (see, for example, AIHW 2010b). Chapter 2 of this report contains summary information on the accommodation needs of these clients and accompanying children.
Demand for Accommodation Collection
The Demand for Accommodation Collection covers 2 weeks each year. In 2008–09 it was conducted on 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009.
The Demand for Accommodation Collection measures the levels of met and unmet demand for accommodation by collecting information about requests for accommodation. Agencies were required to fill out a form per presenting unit (individual or group) every time accommodation was sought. The information reported included whether a request for accommodation was met and whether the person or group was unable to be accommodated. These data are used in conjunction with Client Collection data to calculate the percentage of people turned away from accommodation.
Often when a request for accommodation is not met, agencies are still able to provide one-off assistance to the person or group; for example, when an agency is unable to provide accommodation but is able to provide a referral for accommodation. This information is also collected on the Demand for Accommodation form and is presented in Chapter 3.
As there can be seasonal influences and people can have several unmet requests in a year, the 2‑week and daily figures derived from this collection cannot be used as a basis for deriving annual figures. It should also be noted that the numbers of unmet requests, people who made those requests and people turned away presented in this report are underestimates. This is because only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection were used to calculate the turn-away measures and provide an indication of the overall ability of government-funded specialist homelessness agencies to cope with the demand for accommodation (see chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8).

The Client Collection measures met and unmet need for accommodation and other support services, but how many times a service is met or remains unmet is not measured (see Appendix 3). For example, a client may be assessed as needing accommodation three times within a period of support but the Client Collection is only able to report that accommodation was needed sometime during that support period, not that it was needed three times. Another consequence of this collection method is that a service is only reported as unmet if it was needed and never provided or referred throughout the entire period of support. If, for example, a service was needed three times but only able to be provided once, that service is reported as provided.
The Demand for Accommodation Collection measures met and unmet demand for accommodation for each request for accommodation made. Met and unmet demand for other support services is not measured.
It is important to note that there are overlaps between the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection. For example, a person can be a client with an unmet need for accommodation in the Client Collection and, at the same time, have an unmet request for accommodation in the Demand for Accommodation Collection.
Accurate interpretation of the analyses presented here requires an understanding of the concepts and terms used in the SAAP NDC. Readers are therefore encouraged to consult Appendix 3 of this report and the SAAP National Data Collection Agency collectors manual (AIHW 2005b).
Although the SAAP Agreement has ceased, for the purposes of continuity the SAAP NDC continues to use the terminology and labels of data produced under that agreement. For example, ‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ continues to be reported as a type of support.
1.4	Caution on interpreting data in this report
There are several caveats surrounding the data presented in this report. These are related to new agreements that came into effect during 2008–09, the sample size and the period surveyed, and to the non-inclusion of data from Victoria.
New government arrangements
Midway through the 2008–09 financial year, the SAAP was discontinued and replaced by the NAHA. Although data collection has continued under the new arrangements, the adoption of the NAHA may affect the scope and interpretation of data in the collection and, for this reason, caution is recommended when comparing the data for 2008–09 with data for previous years.
Development and implementation of new services under the revised arrangements has been ongoing. It is not possible to quantify the extent to which services changed or new services were added by the time of the second enumeration period for the Demand for Accommodation Collection (6–12 May 2009), although it is known that these were not extensive. That is, the majority of existing services under SAAP continued at that time. Information on the coverage of the collection and any adjustments made can be found in Appendix 3.
Sample size, period surveyed
While the measures of turn-away and other Demand for Accommodation data included in this report provide an indication of the overall experience of people seeking specialist homelessness accommodation, such measures:
•	include only data from agencies that responded to the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection. These agencies represented 70% (663) of all participating agencies (945) (see Appendix 3; excludes Victorian data). No attempt has been made to extrapolate these results to the total number of people seeking accommodation from government-funded specialist homelessness agencies. Further, it is not known to what extent the activities of non-responding agencies differ from those that did respond. It is, however, known that many of the non-responding agencies were those that provided support services only, rather than accommodation
•	relate to 2 weeks in the year. It is not known to what extent seasonal and other factors may result in different rates being experienced at other times of the year (Box 1.1).
Exclusion of Victorian data
This report excludes Victorian data. In Victoria, accommodation for homeless people is also provided through the Transitional Housing Management program. As accommodation provided through transitional housing is not recorded in this report it is therefore not possible to derive turn-away rates for Victoria that are comparable with information reported in previous years, or with those reported by other states and territories. For more information on the reporting of accommodation data in Victoria in 2008–09, refer to Government-funded specialist homelessness services 2008–09 (AIHW 2010b). The AIHW and the Victorian Government are working to improve data recording for future reporting.
1.5	Structure of the report
This report is presented in a format that aligns with the reporting required under the previous SAAP V arrangements and no attempt has been made to explain the data in terms of the new reporting environment. As has been the practice under the SAAP Agreement, commentary on the data is descriptive rather than analytical. It is not aimed at measuring the performance of the states and territories in delivering homelessness services under the new agreements.
The structure of this report is outlined below.
•	Chapter 2 focuses on the requirement for and provision of accommodation to clients and accompanying children as recorded in the Client Collection.
•	Chapter 3 discusses the number of unmet requests for accommodation as recorded in the Demand for Accommodation Collection. It examines valid and invalid requests, and when the requested accommodation was needed. It also looks at one-off assistance and referrals for accommodation offered to individuals and groups with valid unmet requests for accommodation.
•	Chapter 4 presents information on the number of people making a valid unmet request for accommodation. Some of these people may have been accommodated later on the same day as making a valid unmet request. For this reason, the number of people making a valid unmet request is not the same as the number of people turned away without receiving accommodation.
•	Chapter 5 discusses how the estimates of people turned away are formed, and highlights some data issues.
•	Chapters 6, 7 and 8 present data on the people who were turned away and provide two measures of the ability of government-funded specialist homelessness agencies to meet the demand for their accommodation.
•	Chapter 9 discusses issues about meeting the demand for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation.
•	Appendix 1 contains additional state and territory tables on the people turned away.
•	Appendix 2 presents a summary diagram showing how the number of people turned away from accommodation is calculated.
•	Appendix 3 contains an explanation of the data used in this report and includes the counting rules and glossary.
•	Appendix 4 provides the collection forms used to collect the data used in this report. Note that agencies could also submit data via an electronic collection tool, the SAAP Management and Reporting Tool (SMART).
2	Meeting the accommodation needs of clients and accompanying children
The homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless present to government-funded specialist homelessness agencies with a diverse range of needs (see Appendix 3). This is reflected in the broad range of services that agencies provide. Although agencies endeavour to meet all the needs of clients and their accompanying children, sometimes a particular service cannot be provided. In such cases the agency may refer the client to another agency (referred) or the service is neither provided nor referred on (unmet).
This chapter uses data from the SAAP NDC Client Collection to compare the need for specialist homelessness accommodation (as expressed by the agency worker) with the resulting service response. A detailed discussion of all support services, including accommodation, is contained in the 2008–09 SAAP NDC annual report (AIHW 2010b).

Box 2.1: Who is included in this chapter?
This chapter uses data from the SAAP NDC Client Collection. Data are reported in terms of support periods: a discrete period of time in which a person receives ongoing support from a government-funded specialist homelessness agency (see Appendix 3). A person may have one or more periods of support within a year.
People covered in this chapter:
•	were a client or an accompanying child of a government-funded specialist homelessness agency
•	needed specialist homelessness accommodation (‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’) within their period of support.

The Client Collection measures met and unmet need for accommodation and other support services, but how many times a service is met or remains unmet is not measured (see Appendix 3). For example, a client may have needed accommodation three times in a support period but the Client Collection only records that an unmet need occurred sometime during the period of support.
Another consequence of the collection method is that a service is only reported as unmet if it is needed and never provided or referred throughout the entire period of support. If, for example, a service is needed three times but only able to be provided once, that service will be reported as provided. As a result, the unmet need for accommodation data reported in the Client Collection (discussed here) is not directly comparable with the unmet demand for accommodation data reported in the Demand for Accommodation Collection (discussed in subsequent chapters).
Readers should note that data reported in this chapter exclude Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail. Estimates are therefore not comparable with those reported in the SAAP NDC national annual report (AIHW 2010b).
2.1	Provision of accommodation
The ability of agencies to meet the needs of clients and their accompanying children is better described by looking at only support periods that have been completed; that is, where the client has finished receiving support from the agency (closed support periods).
For clients, specialist homelessness accommodation (‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’) was needed in 51% of closed support periods and was able to be provided in 88% of these (Table 2.1 and derived from AIHW 2010b:Table 7.1). When it was not provided directly, it was referred to other organisations in just over 6% of cases and remained unmet in just over 5%.
For accompanying children, specialist homelessness accommodation (‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’) was required in 65% of closed accompanying child support periods. It was able to be provided directly to accompanying children in 82% of cases (Table 2.4 and derived from AIHW 2010b:Table 7.3). When it could not be provided directly, it was referred to other organisations in 9% of cases and remained unmet in 9%.
States and territories
There were large variations between the reporting jurisdictions in the provision of specialist homelessness accommodation (tables 2.1 and 2.4).
The Northern Territory (95%) and Western Australia (95%) had the highest level of direct provision of accommodation to clients (Table 2.1). This compares with the lower rates reported by South Australia (62%). South Australia also reported the highest level of referral to other organisations (16%) and the highest level of unmet need (22%).
Accompanying children followed a similar pattern to clients, with the Northern Territory having the highest level of direct provision of accommodation (99%) and South Australia2 the lowest (38%) (Table 2.4).
Client group
All client groups had specialist homelessness accommodation provided directly in most of the cases in which it was required (figures 2.1 and 2.2).
Individuals who presented without children had the highest level of direct provision of accommodation to clients (93%), followed by couples without children (81%) and individuals with children (79%) (Table 2.2). Couples with children had the lowest level of direct provision of accommodation (61%), the highest level of referral (16%) and the highest level of unmet need (23%).
Figure 2.1: Provision of accommodation required by clients, by client group, 2008–09 (per cent closed support periods)
Vertical bar chart showing, for provided, referred only and unmet, per cent on y-axis and client group on x-axis.
Note: Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
Source: Table 2.2.
Children accompanying an individual or individuals who were not a couple were more likely to be accommodated than children accompanying a couple (directly provided with accommodation in 83% of closed support periods in which it was required, compared with 70%) (Table 2.5). Children accompanying couples had requests for accommodation referred on in 10% of cases, with their requirement for accommodation remaining unmet in 20%, higher than the 9% referral and 8% unmet for children accompanying individuals.
These data suggest that family groups, particularly couples with children, find it harder to obtain government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation even when they are already being supported or accommodated in the system. One reason that family groups may find it harder to get into accommodation is that, once they are accommodated, these groups tend to stay longer and hence places for them become available less often (see Chapter 9).
Figure 2.2: Provision of accommodation required by accompanying children, by client group,
2008–09 (per cent closed accompanying child support periods)
Vertical bar chart showing, for provided, referred only and unmet, per cent on y-axis and client group on x-axis.
Note: Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
Source: Table 2.5.
Primary target group of agency
Reflecting the client groups most likely to attend these agencies, agencies for single men and single women had the highest levels of direct provision of accommodation to clients (99% and 92%, respectively) (Table 2.3).
Family agencies had the lowest level of direct provision to clients (50%), the highest level of referral (21%) and the highest level of unmet need (30%). Family agencies also had a relatively low level of direct provision of accommodation to accompanying children (52%) and high levels of both referral (19%) and unmet need (30%) (Table 2.6).
This data supports the conclusion that family groups find it more difficult to obtain specialist homelessness accommodation than those who present on their own.
2.2	
Tables
Table 2.1:	‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ required by clients in closed support periods: state and territory, by provision, 2008–09 (per cent)
State/territory	Unmet	Referred
only	Provided	Total	Closed support periods
(number)	
NSW	3.3	6.3	90.5	100.0	22,600	
Vic	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	
Qld	2.9	3.2	93.8	100.0	14,300	
WA	2.6	2.4	94.9	100.0	7,100	
SA	21.8	16.4	61.8	100.0	7,400	
Tas	3.5	4.8	91.7	100.0	2,500	
ACT	1.4	14.2	84.3	100.0	1,000	
NT	1.3	3.4	95.3	100.0	3,000	
Total(2)	5.3	6.3	88.3	100.0	57,700	
Notes for tables 2.1–2.3
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions (weighted): 3,221 (closed support periods with no information on service requirements or provision).
2.	Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	In South Australia, a large number of agencies do not provide accommodation; they provide support services only.
4.	Figures have been weighted to adjust for agency non-participation.
Source: Client Collection.

Table 2.2:	‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ required by clients in closed support periods: client group, by provision, 2008–09 (per cent)
Requesting group	Unmet	Referred 
only	Provided	Total	Closed support periods
(number)(2)	
Individual(s) no children	2.7	4.3	93.0	100.0	41,600	
Individual(s) with children	10.9	10.5	78.5	100.0	13,000	
Couple no children	7.4	11.2	81.4	100.0	1,000	
Couple with children	23.0	15.8	61.2	100.0	2,100	
Total(2)	5.3	6.3	88.3	100.0	57,700	

Table 2.3:	‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ required by clients in closed support periods: primary target group of agency, by provision, 2008–09 (per cent)
Primary target group	Unmet	Referred only	Provided	Total	Closed support periods
(number)	
						
Young people	5.6	6.5	87.9	100.0	11,100	
Single men only	0.8	0.1	99.1	100.0	16,100	
Single women only	6.8	1.3	91.9	100.0	1,900	
Families	29.5	20.9	49.7	100.0	4,700	
Women escaping domestic violence	4.1	9.0	86.9	100.0	13,300	
Cross-target/multiple/general	2.4	6.4	91.2	100.0	10,700	
Total(2)	5.3	6.3	88.3	100.0	57,700	

Table 2.4:	‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ required for accompanying children in closed accompanying child support periods: state and territory, by provision, 2008–09 (per cent)
State/territory	Unmet	Referred 
only	Provided	Total	Closed accompanying child support periods
(number)	
						
NSW	3.4	14.7	81.9	100.0	7,600	
Vic	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	
Qld	0.5	0.8	98.8	100.0	5,300	
WA	2.2	0.6	97.1	100.0	4,400	
SA	40.9	21.1	38.0	100.0	4,400	
Tas	0.7	2.1	97.2	100.0	700	
ACT	1.2	14.9	83.9	100.0	600	
NT	0.6	0.4	99.1	100.0	1,600	
Total(2)	9.0	9.1	81.9	100.0	24,600	
Notes for tables 2.4–2.6
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions (weighted): 22,656 (closed accompanying child support periods with no information on service requirements or provision or where ‘no assistance’ indicated). In 21,995 of these, ‘no assistance’ was indicated as required for the accompanying child.
2.	Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	In South Australia, a large number of agencies do not provide accommodation; they provide support services only.
4.	Figures have been weighted to adjust for agency non-participation.
Source: Client Collection.

Table 2.5:	‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ required for accompanying children in closed accompanying child support periods: client group, by provision, 2008–09 (per cent)
Requesting group	Unmet	Referred 
only	Provided	Total	Closed accompanying child support periods
(number)	
Individual(s) with children	8.0	9.0	83.1	100.0	22,500	
Couple with children	19.5	10.3	70.2	100.0	2,200	
Total(2)	9.0	9.1	81.9	100.0	24,600	

Table 2.6:	‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ required for accompanying children in closed accompanying child support periods: primary target group of agency, by provision, 2008–09 (per cent)
Primary target group	Unmet	Referred 
only	Provided	Total	Closed accompanying child support periods
(number)	
Young people	3.1	7.1	89.8	100.0	800	
Single men only	—	—	100.0	100.0	200	
Single women only	50.7	6.0	43.3	100.0	300	
Families	29.7	18.8	51.5	100.0	5,400	
Women escaping domestic violence	3.0	7.5	89.6	100.0	14,200	
Cross-target/multiple/general	0.6	2.5	96.9	100.0	3,800	
Total(2)	9.0	9.1	81.9	100.0	24,600	
3	Unmet requests for accommodation
This chapter presents data on the extent and nature of unmet requests for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation collected in the 2008–09 SAAP NDC Demand for Accommodation Collection (see Box 3.1). As a request may include more than one person and a person may make more than one request in a day, the counts of requests in this chapter are not the same as the actual number of people making those requests. This is discussed in Chapter 4.

Box 3.1: Who is included in this chapter? 
This chapter uses data from the SAAP NDC Demand for Accommodation Collection. Data are reported in terms of requests. A request may include more than one person and a person may make more than one request in a day.
People covered in this chapter:
•	made an unmet request for accommodation at a government-funded specialist homelessness agency. An unmet request for accommodation occurs when a person approaches a government-funded specialist homelessness agency for accommodation but is turned away.

People may be turned away from an agency for a variety of reasons, not all of which indicate that accommodation was unavailable. This report makes a distinction between valid and invalid requests to provide a more useful measure of unmet demand (see Appendix 3). For example, a request for accommodation made at an inappropriate agency, or an offer of accommodation refused by the person who requested it, is classified as an invalid request.
Valid requests are further categorised as requests for immediate accommodation—that is, accommodation required within 24 hours—and accommodation required after 24 hours. This is because requests for immediate accommodation are of particular importance in the context of homelessness.
Readers should note that data reported in this chapter exclude Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.1	Extent of unmet requests
During the 2008–09 Demand for Accommodation Collection period, 10,746 requests for accommodation were made, of which an estimated 7,640 were unmet (Table 3.1; Appendix 1). Of these unmet requests, 24% (1,810) were classified as invalid. The most common reasons why an invalid request could not be met were because the person or group was in the wrong target group for the agency they approached (in 46% of invalid requests for accommodation), the person or group refused an offer of accommodation (30%), or the person or group was inappropriate for the agency (for example, because they were banned from the agency or were intoxicated) (22%).
Valid unmet requests for accommodation accounted for 76% (5,830) of unmet requests for accommodation (Table 3.1). When this is converted to a daily average number, an estimated 416 valid unmet requests for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation were made each day (Table 3.4).
The majority of valid unmet requests occurred because there was a lack of accommodation (84%), either because insufficient accommodation was available at the agency itself or because a referral agency was unable to refer the group on because they had no vacancies on their books (Table 3.1). In 7% of valid unmet requests the agency did not offer accommodation because the type of accommodation the group required, such as longer term or independent accommodation, was not able to be provided by the agency. For example, the agency might be set up to provide refuge or dormitory-style crisis accommodation only.
Well over half of all valid unmet requests for accommodation were for immediate accommodation (62%) (Table 3.4). The remaining 38% were for accommodation required after 24 hours.
Although not all people received the accommodation they required, most were offered some form of assistance (in 88% of all valid unmet requests for accommodation) (Table 3.7). The most common type of one-off assistance offered was information (in 82% of valid unmet requests), followed by a referral for accommodation (57%) and emotional support or counselling (46%).
States and territories
Across the reporting states and territories the predominant reason why valid unmet requests for accommodation could not be met was because of a lack of accommodation. This ranged from a low of 77% in South Australia to a high of 95% in the Australian Capital Territory (Figure 3.1).
In most states and territories, the majority of valid unmet requests for accommodation were for immediate accommodation (Table 3.4). The exception to this was South Australia, where slightly more requests were for accommodation after 24 hours (51%). Tasmania had the highest percentage of requests for immediate accommodation (75%).
Figure 3.1: Valid unmet requests for accommodation: main reason why request was not met, by state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
Vertical bar chart showing, for lack of accommodation and other reasons, per cent on y-axis and state/territory on x-axis.
Source: Derived from Table 3.1.

Requesting group
Individuals who presented without children accounted for the largest percentage of valid unmet requests for accommodation (59%), followed by individuals who presented with children (34%) (Table 3.2). Couples with and without children accounted for only a small percentage of valid unmet requests for accommodation (6% and 2%, respectively).
Across all requesting groups, the predominant reason why valid requests for accommodation could not be met was because of a lack of accommodation (Figure 3.2). This was highest for family groups with children. Couples with children and individuals with children reported this reason in 92% and 89% of their valid unmet requests for accommodation, respectively, compared with 82% for individuals without children and 67% for couples without children.
Individuals without children most often requested immediate accommodation (in 69% of their valid unmet requests for accommodation required), as did couples without children (56%) and individuals with children (54%) (Table 3.5). In contrast, couples with children slightly more often requested accommodation after 24 hours (57%). 
Figure 3.2: Valid unmet requests for accommodation: main reason why request was not met, by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
Vertical bar chart showing, for lack of accommodation on y-axis and other reasons, per cent on y-axis and requesting group on x-axis. 
Note: Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
Source: Derived from Table 3.2.
Primary target group of agency
General agencies accounted for the highest percentage of valid unmet requests (26%), followed by youth agencies (25%), family agencies (18%), domestic violence agencies (15%) and agencies for single men (14%) (Table 3.3). Agencies that mainly supported single women had the lowest percentage of unmet requests (2%).
The percentage of requests that could not be met because of a lack of accommodation ranged from a low of 79% for youth agencies to a high of 94% for agencies set up to primarily support families (Figure 3.3).
In most types of agencies, people more often requested immediate accommodation (Table 3.6). The exception to this was family agencies, where most valid requests for accommodation were for accommodation required after 24 hours (52%).
Figure 3.3: Valid unmet requests for accommodation: main reason why request was not met, by primary target group of agency, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
Horizontal bar chart showing, for lack of accommodation and other reasons, primary target group on y-axis and per cent on x-axis.
Note: Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
Source: Derived from Table 3.3.

3.2	Referrals for accommodation
In order to inform the discussion in Chapter 9 regarding the ability of government-funded specialist homelessness agencies to deal with the demand for accommodation, it is necessary to examine whether attempts were made to secure accommodation at another source when people were turned away. Note that referrals for accommodation are examined based on valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation.
While not all people requesting immediate accommodation were able to be accommodated, government-funded specialist homelessness agencies were able to make a referral for accommodation at an alternative source in 57% of valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation (Table 3.8). This means that individuals or groups whose request for accommodation was not able to be met directly by that agency were helped to find accommodation at another source in over half of cases (for example, in another agency, a hostel or a caravan park). Note that outcomes from referrals are not recorded so it is not known how many of the people who were referred on for accommodation actually secured that accommodation or whether the quality of the referred accommodation is comparable with that offered by government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
States and territories
The highest level of referral when accommodation could not be provided was recorded in New South Wales (62%) (Table 3.8). The lowest percentage of referral was recorded in Western Australia (45%).
Requesting group
All requesting groups obtained a referral for accommodation in at least half of their valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation. People who presented without children had the highest level of referral, with couples with no children and individuals with no children being referred to other accommodation in 64% and 58% of their valid unmet requests for accommodation, respectively (Table 3.9). In contrast, individuals with children were referred on for accommodation in 56% of their valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation and couples with children were referred on in 55%.
Primary target group of agency
Referrals for accommodation were most often made in general agencies (in 67% of valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation), followed by single women’s and single men’s agencies (64% and 59%, respectively) (Table 3.10). Family agencies had the lowest level of referral (48%).
3.3	Tables
Table 3.1:	Unmet requests for accommodation: main reason why request was not met, by state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (per cent)
Main reason	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Total(2)
%	Total(2)
No.	
Valid requests	
Insufficient 
accommodation available	52.7	n.a.	66.5	71.6	43.0	66.7	78.7	73.0	59.9	3,490	
Referral agency with no vacancies on books	30.7	n.a.	20.7	15.8	33.8	16.3	16.0	7.3	24.5	1,430	
Type of accommodation requested is not provided	7.6	n.a.	6.1	4.8	7.5	7.1	4.1	9.0	6.8	390	
Insufficient staff 
to provide support	0.7	n.a.	0.8	0.5	1.6	—	—	4.5	0.9	50	
Facilities for special needs not available	1.2	n.a.	0.2	0.9	0.7	0.4	—	1.1	0.7	40	
Other(a)	7.1	n.a.	5.6	6.4	13.4	9.6	1.2	5.1	7.2	420	
Total	100.0	n.a.	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	35.6	n.a.	30.5	11.1	12.0	4.8	2.9	3.1	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	2,080	n.a.	1,780	650	700	280	170	180	. .	5,830	
Invalid requests	
Agency inappropriate—
wrong target group	41.1	n.a.	51.6	52.8	39.5	35.8	59.3	46.8	46.2	840	
Person/group 
inappropriate for agency	21.4	n.a.	17.1	28.1	23.0	22.4	25.9	26.6	21.9	400	
No fee-free 
accommodation available	1.8	n.a.	1.0	2.0	3.3	6.0	—	1.8	1.9	30	
Person/group refused 
offer of accommodation	35.8	n.a.	30.2	17.2	34.2	35.8	14.8	24.8	30.1	540	
Total	100.0	n.a.	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	36.8	n.a.	26.9	16.7	8.4	3.7	1.5	6.0	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	670	n.a.	490	300	150	70	30	110	. .	1,810	
Total requests for accommodation (number)	2,740	n.a.	2,260	950	850	350	200	290	. .	7,640	
(a)	In a small number of cases, requests for accommodation were unmet because of the age of a male child (applicable to domestic violence agencies only). To ensure confidentiality, these cases are not presented separately but are included in the ‘other’ valid request category.
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	A person or group may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of requests in this chapter are not the same as the actual number of people making those requests; this is discussed in Chapter 4.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.
Table 3.2:	Unmet requests for accommodation: main reason why request was not met, by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (per cent)
Main reason	Individual(s) no children	Individual(s) with children	Couple no children	Couple with children	Total(2)
%	Total(2) No.	
Valid requests	
Insufficient 
accommodation available	56.1	65.2	50.4	70.6	59.9	3,490	
Referral agency with no vacancies on books	25.6	23.8	16.5	20.9	24.5	1,430	
Type of accommodation requested is not provided	7.1	5.6	22.6	4.7	6.8	390	
Insufficient staff to provide support	1.1	0.8	—	—	0.9	50	
Facilities for special needs not available	1.0	0.4	0.9	—	0.7	40	
Other(a)	9.2	4.3	9.6	3.8	7.2	420	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	58.7	33.8	2.0	5.5	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	3,420	1,970	120	320	. .	5,830	
Invalid requests	
Agency inappropriate—wrong target group	45.4	46.0	47.8	71.8	46.2	840	
Person/group 
inappropriate for agency	23.5	16.6	28.3	17.9	21.9	400	
No fee-free 
accommodation available	2.2	1.2	2.2	—	1.9	30	
Person/group refused 
offer of accommodation	28.9	36.2	21.7	10.3	30.1	540	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	71.6	23.7	2.5	2.2	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	1,300	430	50	40	. .	1,810	
Total requests for accommodation (number)	4,720	2,400	160	360	. .	7,640	
(a)	In a small number of cases, requests for accommodation were unmet because of the age of a male child (applicable to domestic violence agencies only). To ensure confidentiality, these cases are not presented separately but are included in the ‘other’ valid request category.
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	A person or group may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of requests in this chapter are not the same as the actual number of people making those requests; this is discussed in Chapter 4.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.
Table 3.3:	Unmet requests for accommodation: main reason why request was not met, by primary target group of agency, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (per cent)
Main reason	Young people	Single men 
only	Single women only	Families	Women escaping domestic violence	Cross-target/
multiple/general	Total(2)
%	Total(2)
No.	
Valid requests	
Insufficient 
accommodation available	51.1	67.2	52.8	70.8	53.9	60.9	59.9	3,490	
Referral agency with no vacancies on books	27.4	20.6	30.4	22.8	33.7	19.3	24.5	1,430	
Type of accommodation requested is not provided	9.3	3.8	6.4	2.4	4.4	10.2	6.8	390	
Insufficient staff 
to provide support	2.1	0.6	1.6	0.4	0.7	0.3	0.9	50	
Facilities for special 
needs not available	1.0	0.7	1.6	0.1	0.9	0.7	0.7	40	
Other(a)	9.1	6.9	7.2	3.5	6.4	8.6	7.2	420	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	24.8	13.8	2.1	17.8	15.1	26.3	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	1,450	810	130	1,040	880	1,530	. .	5,830	
Invalid requests	
Agency inappropriate—wrong target group	46.3	33.3	39.0	67.9	44.1	43.1	46.2	840	
Person/group inappropriate for agency	26.9	23.3	33.8	12.4	21.6	17.0	21.9	400	
No fee-free accommodation available	2.1	1.8	—	—	0.3	4.8	1.9	30	
Person/group refused offer of accommodation	24.6	41.6	27.3	19.7	34.0	35.1	30.1	540	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	31.0	12.1	4.3	12.9	20.2	19.5	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	560	220	80	230	370	350	. .	1,810	
Total requests for accommodation (number)	2,010	1,030	200	1,270	1,250	1,880	. .	7,640	
(a)	In a small number of cases, requests for accommodation were unmet because of the age of a male child (applicable to domestic violence agencies only). To ensure confidentiality, these cases are not presented separately but are included in the ‘other’ valid request category.
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	A person or group may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of requests in this chapter are not the same as the actual number of people making those requests; this is discussed in Chapter 4.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.
Table 3.4:	Valid unmet requests for accommodation: when accommodation was required, by state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
When 
accommodation required	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Total(2)
%	Total(2) No.	
Within 24 hours	64.5	n.a.	57.8	69.9	49.4	75.2	78.7	69.1	62.3	259.4	
After 24 hours	35.5	n.a.	42.2	30.1	50.6	24.8	21.3	30.9	37.7	156.9	
Total	100.0	n.a.	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	35.6	n.a.	30.5	11.1	12.0	4.8	2.9	3.1	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	148.4	n.a.	126.8	46.1	50.1	20.1	12.1	12.7	. .	416.4	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	A person or group may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of requests in this chapter are not the same as the actual number of people making those requests; this is discussed in Chapter 4.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 3.5:	Valid unmet requests for accommodation: when accommodation was required, by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
When 
accommodation required	Individual(s) no children	Individual(s) with children	Couple no children	Couple with children	Total(2) %	Total(2)  No.	
Within 24 hours	69.0	54.1	55.7	43.4	62.3	259.4	
After 24 hours	31.0	45.9	44.3	56.6	37.7	156.9	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	58.7	33.8	2.0	5.5	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	244.5	140.8	8.2	22.9	. .	416.4	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	A person or group may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of requests in this chapter are not the same as the actual number of people making those requests; this is discussed in Chapter 4.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 3.6:	Valid unmet requests for accommodation: when accommodation was required, by primary target group of agency, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
When 
accommodation required	Young people	Single
men
only	Single women only	Families	Women escaping domestic violence	Cross-target/
multiple/general	Total(2)
%	Total(2)
No.	
Within 24 hours	58.1	73.7	62.4	48.2	77.4	61.1	62.3	259.4	
After 24 hours	41.9	26.3	37.6	51.8	22.6	38.9	37.7	156.9	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	24.8	13.8	2.1	17.8	15.1	26.3	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	103.4	57.6	8.9	74.1	62.9	109.4	. .	416.4	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	A person or group may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of requests in this chapter are not the same as the actual number of people making those requests; this is discussed in Chapter 4.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 3.7:	Valid unmet requests for accommodation: one-off assistance, by state and territory,
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
One-off assistance	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Total(2)
%	Total(2)
No.	
Referral for accommodation	61.5	n.a.	58.3	42.8	57.5	50.4	60.9	56.2	57.2	238.4	
Information	81.2	n.a.	83.2	78.0	90.7	61.7	76.9	81.5	81.5	339.4	
Referral for non-accommodation	45.4	n.a.	37.4	35.2	52.8	29.4	42.6	28.7	41.4	172.2	
Meals	30.9	n.a.	21.3	20.8	32.8	10.3	42.0	11.8	25.8	107.6	
Financial assistance/material aid	25.9	n.a.	18.5	19.8	32.3	9.9	22.5	12.4	22.5	93.6	
Transport	27.9	n.a.	15.7	19.7	28.9	11.7	27.2	17.4	22.3	92.8	
Laundry/shower facilities	27.3	n.a.	18.8	20.6	23.5	8.2	38.5	10.7	22.4	93.3	
Emotional support/counselling	47.8	n.a.	41.8	34.7	66.1	31.6	43.2	48.9	45.8	190.9	
Other	20.3	n.a.	13.2	12.1	26.8	5.0	16.0	12.9	16.9	70.4	
None	12.4	n.a.	10.9	17.8	5.0	24.5	14.8	8.4	12.2	50.7	
Total (row per cent)	35.6	n.a.	30.5	11.1	12.0	4.8	2.9	3.1	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	148.4	n.a.	126.8	46.1	50.1	20.1	12.1	12.7	. .	416.4	
Mean types of one-off assistance offered	3.7	n.a.	3.1	2.8	4.1	2.2	3.7	2.8	. .	3.4	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	A person or group may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of requests in this chapter are not the same as the actual number of people making those requests; this is discussed in Chapter 4.
6.	A person or group seeking assistance were able to be offered more than one type of one-off assistance so percentages do not total 100.
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 3.8:	Referrals for accommodation made in valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation, by state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
State/territory	Referrals for accommodation(2)
(a)	Valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation(2) (b)	Referrals for accommodation as a percentage of valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation(2)
(a ÷ b × 100)	
	Per cent	Number	Per cent	Number	Per cent	
NSW	40.0	59.2	36.9	95.7	61.9	
Vic	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	
Qld	28.2	41.6	28.2	73.3	56.8	
WA	9.7	14.4	12.4	32.2	44.6	
SA	9.9	14.7	9.6	24.8	59.4	
Tas	5.0	7.4	5.8	15.1	48.6	
ACT	3.8	5.6	3.7	9.5	58.6	
NT	3.4	5.1	3.4	8.8	57.7	
Total(2)	100.0	147.9	100.0	259.4	57.0	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	A person or group may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of requests in this chapter are not the same as the actual number of people making those requests; this is discussed in Chapter 4.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 3.9:	Referrals for accommodation made in valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation, by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
Requesting group	Referrals for accommodation(2)
(a)	Valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation(2)
(b)	Referrals for accommodation as a percentage of valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation(2)
(a ÷ b × 100) 	
	Per cent	Number	Per cent	Number	Per cent	
Individual(s) no children	65.6	97.0	65.1	168.8	57.5	
Individual(s) with children	28.7	42.5	29.4	76.1	55.8	
Couple no children	2.0	2.9	1.8	4.6	64.1	
Couple with children	3.7	5.5	3.8	9.9	55.4	
Total(2)	100.0	147.9	100.0	259.4	57.0	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	A person or group may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of requests in this chapter are not the same as the actual number of people making those requests; this is discussed in Chapter 4.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 3.10:	Referrals for accommodation made in valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation, by primary target group of agency, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
Primary target group	Referrals for accommodation(2)
(a)	Valid unmet requests
for immediate accommodation(2)
(b)	Referrals for accommodation as a percentage of valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation(2)
(a ÷ b × 100)	
	Per cent	Number	Per cent	Number	Per cent	
Young people	20.8	30.7	23.2	60.1	51.1	
Single men only	16.9	25.0	16.4	42.4	58.9	
Single women only	2.4	3.6	2.1	5.6	64.1	
Families	11.6	17.2	13.8	35.7	48.2	
Women escaping domestic violence	18.3	27.0	18.8	48.7	55.4	
Cross-target/
multiple/general	30.0	44.4	25.8	66.9	66.5	
Total(2)	100.0	147.9	100.0	259.4	57.0	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	A person or group may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of requests in this chapter are not the same as the actual number of people making those requests; this is discussed in Chapter 4.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.
4	People making a valid unmet request for accommodation
This chapter presents data from the 2008–09 SAAP NDC Demand for Accommodation Collection on the people who made a valid unmet request for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation (see Box 4.1), including information on the immediacy of their need for that accommodation.

Box 4.1: Who is included in this chapter?
This chapter uses data from the SAAP NDC Demand for Accommodation Collection. Data are reported in terms of people.
A request can include more than one person and people can make more than one unmet request in a day. To estimate the number of people making those requests as distinct from the number of requests themselves, each valid unmet request presented in Chapter 3 has been attributed to an estimated number of individuals (see Appendix 3 for more detail). A person is only counted once if they made multiple requests.
People covered in this chapter:
•	made an unmet request for accommodation at a government-funded specialist homelessness agency and
•	that unmet request was valid (see Chapter 3 and Appendix 3 for more detail).

The tables at the end of this chapter generally present data firstly for adults and unaccompanied children, then for accompanying children, and finally for total people (adults, unaccompanied children and accompanying children combined).
Readers should note that data reported in this chapter exclude Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
4.1	People requesting accommodation
On an average day, 595 people (357 adults and unaccompanied children and 238 accompanying children) had a valid unmet request for accommodation (Table 4.1). Adults and unaccompanied children accounted for 60% of all people with a valid unmet request for accommodation, and accompanying children for 40% (derived from Table 4.1).
Fifty-eight per cent of all people with a valid unmet request for accommodation required immediate accommodation, with the remaining 42% requiring it after 24 hours.
States and territories
The percentage of people with a valid unmet request for accommodation who required that accommodation immediately varied greatly by jurisdiction—ranging from 48% in Queensland to 78% in Tasmania. Queensland was the only jurisdiction where accommodation was more often required after 24 hours.
Requesting group
Over half (53%) of all people with a valid unmet request for accommodation presented as individuals with children (Table 4.2). People presenting as individuals without children accounted for a third (33%), couples with children for 12% and couples without children for 2%.
Family groups, particularly couples with children, were less likely to request immediate accommodation than individuals who presented without children.
Primary target group of agency
Twenty-nine per cent of all people with a valid unmet request for accommodation tried to obtain accommodation through a general agency (Table 4.3). Twenty-six per cent tried at family agencies, 19% tried at domestic violence agencies, 15% tried at youth agencies, 9% at single men’s agencies and just over 1% at single women’s agencies.
At most types of agencies, people more often requested immediate accommodation. The exception to this was at family agencies where people more often requested accommodation after 24 hours (55%).
Sex
Most people with a valid unmet request for accommodation were female (57%) (Table 4.4).
Males (60%) were slightly more likely to require immediate accommodation than females (57%).
Age
Over half of all people who had a valid unmet request for accommodation were aged under 20 years (58%). Thirty-five per cent were aged 20–44 years, 6% were aged 45–64 years and less than 1% were aged 65 years and over (Table 4.5).
The majority of people in most age groups required immediate accommodation. The exception was those aged 65 years and over who slightly more often required accommodation after 24 hours (51%).
Country of birth
It is not possible to report the country of birth of adults and unaccompanied children separately from accompanying children as this information is collected through a single question on the collection form (see Appendix 4 for a copy of the form).
There was a large amount of missing or unknown data in relation to country of birth. Of the 595 people who made a valid unmet request for accommodation on an average day, 79% (470) provided data on their country of birth and data were missing or unknown for 21% (derived from tables 4.1 and 4.6). No imputation was done to adjust for missing data on country of birth (see Appendix 3).
The vast majority of people with a valid unmet request for accommodation were born in Australia (90%) (Table 4.6). Just under 7% were born overseas in a predominantly non-English-speaking country and 4% were born overseas in a predominantly English-speaking country.
All more often requested immediate accommodation than accommodation after 24 hours.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
It is not possible to report the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status of adults and unaccompanied children separately from accompanying children, as this information is collected through a single question on the collection form (see Appendix 4 for a copy of the form).
There was a large amount of missing or unknown data in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status. Of the 595people who made a valid unmet request for accommodation, 75% (445) provided data on their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, and data were missing or unknown for 25% (derived from tables 4.1 and 4.7). No imputation was done to adjust for missing data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status (see Appendix 3).
The majority (70%) of people with a valid unmet request for accommodation were not Indigenous, that is, they did not identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. It must be noted, however, that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were over-represented in comparison with their population size. An estimated 2% of the Australian population were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, yet 30% of people with a valid unmet request for accommodation identified as Indigenous (Table 4.7 and ABS 2009).
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a valid unmet request for accommodation were equally likely to request immediate accommodation (50%) as accommodation after 
24 hours (50%) (Table 4.7). Non-Indigenous people slightly more often requested immediate accommodation (57%).
4.2	Tables
Table 4.1:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation was required and state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
When 
accommodation required	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Total(2)
%	Total(2)
No.	
	Adults and unaccompanied children	
Within 24 hours	64.6	n.a.	55.5	71.8	50.8	76.1	76.1	67.2	61.6	220.1	
After 24 hours	35.4	n.a.	44.5	28.2	49.2	23.9	23.9	32.8	38.4	137.1	
Total	100.0	n.a.	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	33.8	n.a.	31.3	11.3	13.3	4.5	2.3	3.5	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	120.7	n.a.	111.6	40.2	47.5	16.1	8.4	12.6	. .	357.2	
	Accompanying children	
Within 24 hours	58.4	n.a.	39.4	67.2	57.0	81.2	69.7	62.8	53.5	127.4	
After 24 hours	41.6	n.a.	60.6	32.8	43.0	18.8	30.3	37.2	46.5	110.6	
Total	100.0	n.a.	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	24.8	n.a.	39.6	13.7	10.1	5.1	2.0	4.7	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	59.0	n.a.	94.3	32.7	24.1	12.1	4.7	11.1	. .	238.1	
	Total people	
Within 24 hours	62.5	n.a.	48.1	69.7	52.9	78.3	73.8	65.2	58.4	347.5	
After 24 hours	37.5	n.a.	51.9	30.3	47.1	21.7	26.2	34.8	41.6	247.8	
Total	100.0	n.a.	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	30.2	n.a.	34.6	12.3	12.0	4.8	2.2	4.0	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	179.7	n.a.	205.9	72.9	71.6	28.3	13.1	23.8	. .	595.3	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3). Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of people in this chapter are not the same as the counts of requests that are discussed in Chapter 3.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 4.2:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation was required and requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
When 
accommodation required	Individual(s) no children	Individual(s) with children	Couple no children	Couple with children	Total(2)
%	Total(2)
No.	
	Adults and unaccompanied children	
Within 24 hours	68.9	54.9	57.7	43.0	61.6	220.1	
After 24 hours	31.1	45.1	42.3	57.0	38.4	137.1	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	55.1	32.7	3.3	8.9	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	197.0	116.6	11.6	31.9	. .	357.2	
	Accompanying children	
Within 24 hours	. .	56.4	. .	38.0	53.5	127.4	
After 24 hours	. .	43.6	. .	62.0	46.5	110.6	
Total	. .	100.0	. .	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	. .	84.4	. .	15.6	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	. .	201.0	. .	37.1	. .	238.1	
	Total people	
Within 24 hours	68.9	55.8	57.7	40.3	58.4	347.5	
After 24 hours	31.1	44.2	42.3	59.7	41.6	247.8	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	33.1	53.4	2.0	11.6	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	197.0	317.6	11.6	69.0	. .	595.3	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3). Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of people in this chapter are not the same as the counts of requests that are discussed in Chapter 3.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 4.3:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation was required and primary target group of agency, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
When 
accommodation required	Young people	Single men
only	Single women only	Families	Women escaping domestic violence	Cross-target/
multiple/general	Total(2)
%	Total(2)
No.	
	Adults and unaccompanied children	
Within 24 hours	58.9	70.4	65.6	46.8	77.8	60.4	61.6	220.1	
After 24 hours	41.1	29.6	34.4	53.2	22.2	39.6	38.4	137.1	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	22.2	13.4	1.9	18.7	15.1	28.7	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	79.4	47.9	6.9	66.8	53.8	102.5	. .	357.2	
	Accompanying children	
Within 24 hours	38.6	16.3	33.3	44.2	76.1	50.3	53.5	127.4	
After 24 hours	61.4	83.7	66.7	55.8	23.9	49.7	46.5	110.6	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	5.0	1.3	0.7	36.8	25.7	30.6	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	11.9	3.1	1.7	87.5	61.1	72.8	. .	238.1	
	Total people	
Within 24 hours	56.3	67.2	59.2	45.3	76.9	56.2	58.4	347.5	
After 24 hours	43.7	32.8	40.8	54.7	23.1	43.8	41.6	247.8	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	15.3	8.6	1.4	25.9	19.3	29.4	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	91.3	50.9	8.6	154.3	114.9	175.3	. .	595.3	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3). Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of people in this chapter are not the same as the counts of requests that are discussed in Chapter 3.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 4.4:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation was required and sex, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
When 
accommodation required	Male	Female	Total(2)
Per cent	Total(2)
Number	
	Adults and unaccompanied children	
Within 24 hours	65.7	58.9	61.6	220.1	
After 24 hours	34.3	41.1	38.4	137.1	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	39.7	60.3	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	141.9	215.4	. .	357.2	
	Accompanying children	
Within 24 hours	53.8	53.3	53.5	127.4	
After 24 hours	46.2	46.7	46.5	110.6	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	48.7	51.3	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	116.0	122.1	. .	238.1	
	Total people	
Within 24 hours	60.3	56.9	58.4	347.5	
After 24 hours	39.7	43.1	41.6	247.8	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	43.3	56.7	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	257.9	337.4	. .	595.3	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3). Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of people in this chapter are not the same as the counts of requests that are discussed in Chapter 3.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 4.5:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation was required and age, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
When 
accommodation required	Under 20 
years(a)	20–44 
years	45–64 
years	65 years
and over	Total(2)
Per cent	Total(2)
Number	
	Adults and unaccompanied children	
Within 24 hours	58.3	60.5	63.9	48.8	60.1	194.5	
After 24 hours	41.7	39.5	36.1	51.2	39.9	129.1	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	27.5	61.3	10.3	0.9	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	89.0	198.3	33.2	3.1	. .	323.6	
	Accompanying children(b)	
Within 24 hours	53.5	. .	. .	. .	53.5	127.4	
After 24 hours	46.5	. .	. .	. .	46.5	110.6	
Total	100.0	. .	. .	. .	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	100.0	. .	. .	. .	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	238.1	. .	. .	. .	. .	238.1	
	Total people	
Within 24 hours	54.8	60.5	63.9	48.8	57.3	321.9	
After 24 hours	45.2	39.5	36.1	51.2	42.7	239.7	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	58.2	35.3	5.9	0.5	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	327.1	198.3	33.2	3.1	. .	561.6	
(a)	Note that accompanying children are aged 17 years and under. For the ‘Accompanying children’ section of this table, the age group 
‘Under 20 years’ is all accompanying children, including those of ‘unknown’ age. For the ‘Total people’ section of this table, the age group ‘Under 20 years’ includes all accompanying children, including those of ‘unknown’ age.
(b)	74% of accompanying children with a valid unmet request for accommodation were aged under 12 years, 17% were aged 12–17 years and 9% were of unknown age.
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 33.6 adults and unaccompanied children, 0 accompanying children, and 33.6 people of unknown age (daily average).
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3). Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of people in this chapter are not the same as the counts of requests that are discussed in Chapter 3.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 4.6:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation was required and country of birth, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
When 
accommodation required	Australia	Other English-speaking countries	Non-English- speaking countries	Total(2)
Per cent	Total(2)
Number	
Within 24 hours	54.9	51.5	56.1	54.9	257.8	
After 24 hours	45.1	48.5	43.9	45.1	212.1	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	89.8	3.5	6.7	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	421.9	16.5	31.6	. .	469.9	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 125.4 people of unknown or missing country of birth.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3). However, adjustments could not be made for missing country of birth.
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3). Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of people in this chapter are not the same as the counts of requests that are discussed in Chapter 3.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 4.7:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation was required and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
When 
accommodation required	Aboriginal and 
Torres Strait Islander	Non-Indigenous	Total(2)	Total(2)	
			Per cent	Number	
Within 24 hours	50.1	56.8	54.8	243.9	
After 24 hours	49.9	43.2	45.2	201.3	
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	. .	
Total (row per cent)	30.2	69.8	100.0	. .	
Total (number)	134.4	310.7	. .	445.1	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 150.2 people of unknown or missing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status.
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data (see Appendix 3). However, adjustments could not be made for missing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status.
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3). Further, a request (counted as one request) can be made by an individual or on behalf of a group of people (counted as one or more people). Therefore, the counts of people in this chapter are not the same as the counts of requests that are discussed in Chapter 3.
6.	Figures are unweighted.
Source: Demand for Accommodation Collection.
5	Estimating the number of people turned away without receiving accommodation
Some people who make a valid unmet request for accommodation subsequently receive accommodation later on the same day. For this reason, when estimating how many people were turned away it is essential to distinguish between people who made a valid unmet request for accommodation but could not be accommodated at all and those who eventually found accommodation by the end of each day (see Appendix 3).
Chapters 6, 7 and 8 present two measures of the ability of government-funded specialist homelessness agencies to meet the demand for their accommodation. The first measure is the turn-away for people requiring new and immediate accommodation; that is, the daily average percentage of people who could not be accommodated relative to all people who required new and immediate accommodation. This provides an indication of a person’s likelihood of obtaining government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation.
However, government-funded specialist homelessness agencies accommodate large numbers of clients on any given day, including clients who are continuing their accommodation from a previous day. For this reason simply examining the daily request turn-away without acknowledging the number of people already in accommodation may provide an incomplete picture. Therefore, it is important to consider the level of unmet demand for accommodation in relation to the total expressed demand for accommodation. This is calculated as the daily average percentage of people who could not be accommodated relative to all people who required new and immediate accommodation plus those who were continuing their accommodation from the previous day. It provides an indication of the overall ability of government-funded specialist homelessness agencies to meet the demand for their accommodation.
It is important to note that neither of these provide a measure of the additional capacity required, only a measure of the expressed undersupply of accommodation (in terms of people) on an average day during the Demand for Accommodation Collection period. A discussion on meeting the expressed demand for accommodation is contained in Chapter 9.
5.1	Data issues
The counts of people turned away from immediate accommodation are important in providing policy makers, program developers and advocates with evidence of the minimum response required to support people needing such accommodation. It must be noted that there are some data issues that should be considered when analysing the estimated turn-away measures:
•	It is possible to estimate the number of people turned away only for those who required immediate accommodation, that is, accommodation required within 24 hours. This means that the measures might underestimate the turn-away for groups who are more likely to request accommodation after 24 hours.
•	Dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children in the Client Collection. For the purposes of calculating the turn-away measures, accompanying children are assumed to have the same periods of accommodation as the parent or guardian. Note that accompanying children are recorded on only one parent’s or guardian’s record when clients present as a couple.
The next chapters present the measures of turn-away by state, requesting group and primary target group of the agency, but do not present turn-away by age, sex, country of birth or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status. This is because:
•	On occasion, only part of a group requesting accommodation was able to be accommodated. While the Demand for Accommodation Collection collects demographic information—such as age, sex, country of birth and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status—on the group making the request for accommodation, it does not break down by demographics the number of people who were accommodated out of that group. Only the total number accommodated is collected. For example, if a group of male and female friends make a request but only some of that group are able to be accommodated, the collection cannot distinguish how many of the males or how many of the females in the group were accommodated. Analysis suggests that the accommodation of a partial group is not common. However, the issue is significant enough to prevent calculation of valid estimates of turn-away by demographics.
•	Age, country of birth and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status are collected only for clients who provided informed consent in the Client Collection but are collected for all people who request accommodation in the Demand for Accommodation Collection.
6	Adults and unaccompanied children turned away without receiving accommodation
This chapter presents data on adults and unaccompanied children turned away from government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation during the 2008–09 Demand for Accommodation Collection period. It also includes two measures of the ability of agencies to meet the expressed demand for their accommodation.

Box 6.1: Who is included in this chapter?
This chapter uses data from the SAAP NDC Demand for Accommodation Collection and the SAAP NDC Client collection. Data are reported in terms of people.
Some people who make a valid unmet request for accommodation (as presented in 
Chapter 4) subsequently receive accommodation later on the same day. For this reason, when estimating how many people were turned away, it is essential to distinguish between people who made a valid unmet request for accommodation but could not be accommodated at all and those who eventually found accommodation by the end of each day (see Appendix 3 for more detail).
Adults or unaccompanied children covered in this chapter:
•	made a valid unmet request for accommodation at a government-funded specialist homelessness agency
•	did not receive accommodation later that same day.

An analysis of data pertaining to accompanying children is contained in Chapter 7 which, together with the data presented in this chapter on adults and unaccompanied children, enables an analysis of all people in Chapter 9.
Data presented in this chapter needs to be considered in light of the length of time people stay once they are accommodated (see Chapter 9 for more detail).
Readers should note that data reported in this chapter exclude Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
6.1	Turn-away as a percentage of those requiring new and immediate accommodation
Table 6.1 shows that 57% of the adults and unaccompanied children who required new and immediate accommodation were unable to be accommodated by the end of the day.
States and territories
Across all the reporting jurisdictions, over half of the adults and unaccompanied children who requested new and immediate accommodation were turned away on an average day 
(Table 6.1). The highest turn-away rate was recorded in the Australian Capital Territory (75%). The lowest turn-away rates were recorded in New South Wales (51%) and the Northern Territory (52%).
Requesting group
The turn-away rates for the different groups that required immediate accommodation suggest that, overall, individuals who presented without children find it easier than other groups to obtain accommodation on an average day. This group had the lowest daily turn-away rate (50%) (Figure 6.1). In contrast, 81% of couples with children, 75% of couples without children and 71% of individuals with children were turned away on an average day.
Figure 6.1: Turn-away for adults and unaccompanied children who required new and immediate
accommodation, by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
Vertical bar chart showing, for turned away and newly accommodated, per cent on y-axis and requesting group on x-axis.
Note: Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
Source: Table 6.2.
Primary target group of agency
Agencies primarily targeted at supporting single men had by far the lowest turn-away of adults and unaccompanied children requiring new and immediate accommodation (31%) (Table 6.3). This type of agency was also the only one more likely to be able to provide accommodation than not. In contrast, family agencies had by far the highest turn-away (86%). This supports the data on turn-away by requesting group presented above, which suggest that family groups have more difficulty than individuals in obtaining accommodation.
6.2	Turn-away as a percentage of the total expressed demand for immediate accommodation
On an average day during the Demand for Accommodation Collection period, 7,191 adults and unaccompanied children either required accommodation or were already accommodated (Table 6.1; Figure 6.2). Of this total:
•	206 (3%) made a valid request for immediate accommodation and did not obtain accommodation by the end of the day
•	6,986 (97%) were accommodated (153 were newly accommodated and 6,833 were continuing their accommodation from the previous day and into the next day).
Figure 6.2: Turn-away for total expressed demand for immediate accommodation by adults and
unaccompanied children, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
Pie chart showing: turned away (2.9%); newly accommodated (2.1%); and continuing accommodation (95.0%).
Note: Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
Source: Table 6.1.
States and territories
The Northern Territory (5%) had the highest turn-away as a percentage of total demand for accommodation (Table 6.1). New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory reported the lowest turn-away (both around 2%).
Requesting group
Although couples without children accounted for the smallest number of adults and unaccompanied children who requested new and immediate accommodation, and the smallest number already accommodated on an average day, they had the highest turn-away as a percentage of the total demand for accommodation (5%) (Table 6.2). All other requesting groups had a turn-away of 3%. This suggests that there is slightly less ability to meet the demand for accommodation for couples without children than for the other client groups.
Primary target group of agency
As a percentage of the total demand for accommodation, general agencies reported the highest turn-away for adults and unaccompanied children (4%), followed by family agencies and agencies that primarily supported women and children escaping domestic violence (both 3%) (Table 6.3).
6.3	
Tables
Table 6.1:	Adults and unaccompanied children turned away, by state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Total(2)	
	Adults and unaccompanied children requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	74.2	n.a.	54.4	27.9	23.3	11.3	6.3	8.1	205.5	
Newly accommodated (B)	72.7	n.a.	34.5	16.9	12.4	6.5	2.1	7.6	152.6	
Successful first request	69.0	n.a.	26.9	15.9	11.6	5.5	2.0	7.1	138.1	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	3.7	n.a.	7.6	0.9	0.9	1.0	0.1	0.4	14.6	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	146.9	n.a.	88.9	44.8	35.7	17.8	8.4	15.6	358.1	
	Clients already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	66.2	n.a.	36.7	18.2	11.5	8.7	2.9	8.4	152.7	
Continuing accommodation (D)	3,362.5	n.a.	1,397.2	607.1	775.4	258.5	288.6	143.9	6,833.1	
Total accommodated (B + D)	3,435.2	n.a.	1,431.7	623.9	787.8	265.0	290.6	151.5	6,985.8	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	3,509.4	n.a.	1,486.1	651.9	811.1	276.3	296.9	159.6	7,191.3	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	50.5	n.a.	61.2	62.4	65.2	63.5	75.2	51.6	57.4	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	2.1	n.a.	3.7	4.3	2.9	4.1	2.1	5.1	2.9	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 25.3 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3).
6.	The accommodation status of a client on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency—these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day.
7.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (see Appendix 3). 
8.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 6.2:	Adults and unaccompanied children turned away, by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Individual(s) no children	Individual(s) with children	Couple no children	Couple with children	Total(2)	
	Adults and unaccompanied children requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	123.5	62.1	6.4	13.6	205.5	
Newly accommodated (B)	121.6	25.7	2.1	3.2	152.6	
Successful first request	109.5	23.8	1.7	3.1	138.1	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	12.1	1.9	0.4	0.1	14.6	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	245.1	87.8	8.4	16.8	358.1	
	Clients already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	120.1	26.2	2.9	3.5	152.7	
Continuing accommodation (D)	4,113.3	2,113.9	130.9	475.0	6,833.1	
Total accommodated (B + D)	4,234.9	2,139.6	133.0	478.2	6,985.8	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	4,358.4	2,201.7	139.4	491.8	7,191.3	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	50.4	70.7	75.4	80.9	57.4	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	2.8	2.8	4.6	2.8	2.9	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 25.3 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3).
6.	The accommodation status of a client on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency—these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day.
7.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (see Appendix 3). 
8.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 6.3:	Adults and unaccompanied children turned away, by primary target group of agency,
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Young people	Single men 
only	Single women only	Families	Women escaping domestic violence	Cross-target/
multiple/
general	Total(2)	
	Adults and unaccompanied children requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	44.2	26.1	4.4	30.9	40.1	59.8	205.5	
Newly accommodated (B)	29.6	58.1	3.9	4.9	29.9	26.2	152.6	
Successful first request	27.0	50.6	3.8	4.5	28.1	24.1	138.1	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	2.6	7.6	0.1	0.4	1.8	2.1	14.6	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	73.8	84.3	8.3	35.8	70.0	86.0	358.1	
	Clients already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	27.1	57.1	5.1	6.0	30.9	26.5	152.7	
Continuing accommodation (D)	1,903.8	1,328.4	210.6	886.6	1,157.5	1,346.3	6,833.1	
Total accommodated (B + D)	1,933.4	1,386.6	214.5	891.4	1,187.4	1,372.5	6,985.8	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	1,977.6	1,412.7	218.9	922.4	1,227.5	1,432.3	7,191.3	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	59.9	31.0	52.6	86.4	57.2	69.5	57.4	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	2.2	1.9	2.0	3.4	3.3	4.2	2.9	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 25.3 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3).
6.	The accommodation status of a client on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency—these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day.
7.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (see Appendix 3). 
8.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 6.4:	Adults and unaccompanied children turned away each day, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009
	Wed
3
Dec	Thu
4
Dec	Fri
5
Dec	Sat
6
Dec	Sun
7
Dec	Mon
8
Dec	Tue
9
Dec	Wed
6
May	Thu
7
May	Fri
8
May	Sat
9
May	Sun
10
May	Mon
11
May	Tue
12
May	Daily average(2)	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	283	258	231	56	65	281	235	278	256	264	44	51	304	271	205.5	
Newly accommodated (B)	175	166	219	75	90	168	175	159	166	181	84	90	189	200	152.6	
Successful first request	158	140	201	59	78	152	153	133	158	170	79	89	170	193	138.1	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	17	26	18	16	12	16	22	26	8	11	5	1	19	7	14.6	
Total requiring new accommodation (C) 
(A + B)	458	424	450	131	155	449	410	437	422	445	128	141	493	471	358.1	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	159	177	218	79	101	187	163	191	178	162	103	86	175	159	152.7	
Continuing accommodation (D)	6,897	6,886	6,845	6,964	6,948	6,866	6,852	6,771	6,741	6,751	6,821	6,817	6,744	6,761	6,833.1	
Total accommodated (B + D)	7,072	7,052	7,064	7,039	7,038	7,034	7,027	6,930	6,907	6,932	6,905	6,907	6,933	6,961	6,985.8	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	7,355	7,310	7,295	7,095	7,103	7,315	7,262	7,208	7,163	7,196	6,949	6,958	7,237	7,232	7,191.3	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	61.8	60.8	51.3	42.7	41.9	62.6	57.3	63.6	60.7	59.3	34.4	36.2	61.7	57.5	57.4	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	3.8	3.5	3.2	0.8	0.9	3.8	3.2	3.9	3.6	3.7	0.6	0.7	4.2	3.7	2.9	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 25.3 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3).
6.	The accommodation status of a client on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency—these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day.
7.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (see Appendix 3).
8.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

7	Accompanying children turned away without receiving accommodation
This chapter presents data on accompanying children turned away from government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation during the 2008–09 Demand for Accommodation Collection period. It also includes two measures of the ability of agencies to meet the expressed demand for accommodation from these children.
Data presented in this chapter needs to be considered in light of the length of time people stay once they are accommodated (see Chapter 9 for more detail).
Readers should note that data reported in this chapter exclude Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.

Box 7.1: Who is included in this chapter?
This chapter uses data from the SAAP NDC Demand for Accommodation Collection and the SAAP NDC Client collection. Data are reported in terms of people.
Some people who make a valid unmet request for accommodation (as presented in 
Chapter 4) subsequently receive accommodation later on the same day. For this reason, when estimating how many people were turned away, it is essential to distinguish between people who made a valid unmet request for accommodation but could not be accommodated at all and those who eventually found accommodation by the end of each day (see Appendix 3).
Children covered in this chapter:
•	accompanied a parent or guardian who made a valid unmet request for accommodation at a government-funded specialist homelessness agency
•	did not receive accommodation later that same day (see Appendix 3 for more detail).
7.1	Turn-away as a percentage of those requiring new and immediate accommodation
Table 7.1 shows that 70% of the accompanying children who required new and immediate accommodation could not be accommodated by the end of the day.
Given the higher turn-away reported for family groups presented in Chapter 6, it is not surprising that the turn-away for accompanying children is higher than that for adults and unaccompanied children.
States and territories
In all reporting jurisdictions, more accompanying children were turned away than were newly accommodated. Tasmania reported the highest percentage of accompanying children turned away (80%), followed by South Australia (76%) and the Australian Capital Territory (75%) (Table 7.1). The Northern Territory reported the lowest percentage turned away (59%). 
Requesting group
Children accompanying couples were more likely to be turned away than children accompanying individuals (80% compared with 69%) (Table 7.2).
Primary target group of agency
All types of agencies had to turn accompanying children away more often than not (with turn-away of 57% or more) (Table 7.3).
It should be noted that some agencies do accept a limited number of people outside their primary target group. This explains why a small number of people with accompanying children were accommodated by, or tried to get accommodation from, agencies that primarily support single women or single men. However, although, for example, a woman with children might be acceptable to a single women’s agency, accommodating people with children is not the agency’s primary focus and it might not have the facilities to do so.
7.2	Turn-away as a percentage of the total expressed demand for immediate accommodation
On an average day during the Demand for Accommodation Collection period, 5,225 accompanying children required new and immediate accommodation or were already accommodated (Table 7.1; Figure 7.1). Of this total:
•	125 (2%) accompanied a parent or guardian who made a valid request for immediate accommodation and who did not obtain accommodation by the end of the day
•	5,100 (98%) were accommodated (54 were newly accommodated and 5,046 were continuing their accommodation from the previous day and into the next day).
States and territories
The ability of agencies to accommodate accompanying children was lowest in the Northern Territory (with a turn-away of 6%), Tasmania (4%) and Western Australia (4%); and highest in the Australian Capital Territory (1%) (Table 7.1).
This data needs to be considered in light of the length of time people stay once they are accommodated. For example, the apparent contradiction between the comparatively low turn-away of new requestors and the high turn-away as a proportion of the total demand for accommodation in the Northern Territory can be largely explained by the relatively short periods of accommodation in this jurisdiction (Table 9.1). Shorter periods of accommodation generally mean that places become available more quickly, leading to a lower turn-away of new requestors.
Figure 7.1: Turn-away for total expressed demand for immediate accommodation for accompanying
children, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
Pie chart showing: turned away (2.4%); newly accommodated (1.0%); and continuing accommodation (96.6%).
Note: Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
Source: Table 7.1.
Requesting group
When the turn-away is expressed as the percentage of accompanying children who could not be accommodated relative to the total demand for accommodation by accompanying children, it shows that there is little difference in the ability of agencies to accommodate children who accompany individuals compared with those who accompany couples (with a turn-away of 3% for children accompanying individuals and 2% for children accompanying couples) (Table 7.2).
Primary target group of agency
 General agencies had a slightly lower ability to accommodate accompanying children than other types of agencies (with a turn-away of 4%) (Table 7.3). Other types of agencies reported turn-away of between 1% and 2%.
7.3	
Tables
Table 7.1:	Accompanying children turned away, by state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and
6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Total(2)	
	Accompanying children requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	33.7	n.a.	35.8	21.7	13.4	9.9	3.3	6.8	124.6	
Newly accommodated (B)	17.8	n.a.	15.9	8.1	4.4	2.4	1.1	4.7	54.4	
Successful first request	17.1	n.a.	14.5	7.9	4.1	2.4	1.1	4.5	51.5	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	0.7	n.a.	1.4	0.3	0.3	—	—	0.2	2.9	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	51.5	n.a.	51.6	29.9	17.8	12.3	4.4	11.5	178.9	
	Accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	13.4	n.a.	20.4	10.7	4.6	2.9	1.7	4.6	58.4	
Continuing accommodation (D)	1,953.6	n.a.	1,265.3	521.1	722.1	221.1	252.7	109.7	5,045.8	
Total accommodated (B + D)	1,971.4	n.a.	1,281.1	529.3	726.5	223.6	253.8	114.4	5,100.1	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	2,005.1	n.a.	1,316.9	551.0	739.9	233.4	257.1	121.2	5,224.7	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	65.5	n.a.	69.3	72.7	75.5	80.2	75.4	59.0	69.6	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	1.7	n.a.	2.7	3.9	1.8	4.2	1.3	5.6	2.4	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 13.7 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3).
6.	Dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children in the Client Collection; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated. For this reason, figures are based on the support periods with accommodation of the child’s parent or guardian. The accommodation status of a client on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency—these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. 
7.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to children accompanying people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (see Appendix 3). 
8.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 7.2:	Accompanying children turned away, by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and
6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Individual(s) 
with children	Couple 
with children	Total(2)	
	Accompanying children requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	110.6	13.9	124.6	
Newly accommodated (B)	50.8	3.6	54.4	
Successful first request	48.1	3.4	51.5	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	2.7	0.1	2.9	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	161.4	17.5	178.9	
	Accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	53.4	4.9	58.4	
Continuing accommodation (D)	4,346.1	699.6	5,045.8	
Total accommodated (B + D)	4,396.9	703.2	5,100.1	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	4,507.6	717.1	5,224.7	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	68.5	79.6	69.6	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	2.5	1.9	2.4	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 13.7 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3).
6.	Dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children in the Client Collection; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated. For this reason, figures are based on the support periods with accommodation of the child’s parent or guardian. The accommodation status of a client on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency—these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. 
7.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to children accompanying people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (see Appendix 3). 
8.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 7.3:	Accompanying children turned away, by primary target group of agency, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Young people	Single men 
only	Single women only	Families	Women escaping domestic violence	Cross-target/
multiple/
general	Total(2)	
	Accompanying children requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	4.4	0.5	0.6	38.1	44.7	36.3	124.6	
Newly accommodated (B)	2.9	—	—	6.8	33.8	10.9	54.4	
Successful first request	2.7	—	—	6.4	31.9	10.6	51.5	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	0.2	—	—	0.4	1.9	0.3	2.9	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	7.3	0.5	0.6	44.9	78.5	47.2	178.9	
	Accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	2.0	0.1	0.2	9.2	35.6	11.3	58.4	
Continuing accommodation (D)	555.9	32.0	122.1	1,626.6	1,751.0	958.2	5,045.8	
Total accommodated (B + D)	558.8	32.0	122.1	1,633.4	1,784.8	969.1	5,100.1	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	563.2	32.5	122.7	1,671.5	1,829.5	1,005.4	5,224.7	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	60.2	100.0	100.0	84.8	57.0	76.9	69.6	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	0.8	1.5	0.5	2.3	2.4	3.6	2.4	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 13.7 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3).
6.	Dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children in the Client Collection; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated. For this reason, figures are based on the support periods with accommodation of the child’s parent or guardian. The accommodation status of a client on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency—these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. 
7.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to children accompanying people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (see Appendix 3). 
8.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 7.4:	Accompanying children turned away each day, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009
	Wed
3
Dec	Thu
4
Dec	Fri
5
Dec	Sat
6
Dec	Sun
7
Dec	Mon
8
Dec	Tue
9
Dec	Wed
6
May	Thu
7
May	Fri
8
May	Sat
9
May	Sun
10
May	Mon
11
May	Tue
12
May	Daily average(2)	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	167	186	127	20	21	152	143	192	143	163	9	17	226	178	124.6	
Newly accommodated (B)	66	86	110	15	21	35	78	45	49	72	18	21	77	68	54.4	
Successful first request	61	84	106	15	18	35	73	45	47	67	18	21	66	65	51.5	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	5	2	4	—	3	—	5	—	2	5	—	—	11	3	2.9	
Total requiring new accommodation (C) 
(A + B)	233	272	237	35	42	187	221	237	192	235	27	38	303	246	178.9	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	61	61	118	23	39	71	50	75	83	65	26	21	68	56	58.4	
Continuing accommodation (D)	5,225	5,221	5,191	5,278	5,252	5,201	5,189	4,901	4,859	4,845	4,891	4,886	4,841	4,861	5,045.8	
Total accommodated (B + D)	5,291	5,307	5,301	5,293	5,273	5,236	5,267	4,946	4,908	4,917	4,909	4,907	4,918	4,929	5,100.1	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	5,458	5,493	5,428	5,313	5,294	5,388	5,410	5,138	5,051	5,080	4,918	4,924	5,144	5,107	5,224.7	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	71.7	68.4	53.6	57.1	50.0	81.3	64.7	81.0	74.5	69.4	33.3	44.7	74.6	72.4	69.6	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	3.1	3.4	2.3	0.4	0.4	2.8	2.6	3.7	2.8	3.2	0.2	0.3	4.4	3.5	2.4	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 13.7 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3).
6.	Dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children in the Client Collection; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated. For this reason, figures are based on the support periods with accommodation of the child’s parent or guardian. The accommodation status of a client on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency—these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. 
7.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to children accompanying people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (see Appendix 3). 
8.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.
1	
8	Total people turned away without receiving accommodation
This chapter presents data on the total number of people (adults, unaccompanied children and accompanying children) turned away from government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation during the 2008–09 Demand for Accommodation Collection period. It also includes two measures of the ability of agencies to meet the expressed demand for their accommodation. 
Data presented in this chapter needs to be considered in light of the length of time people stay once they are accommodated (see Chapter 9 for more detail).
Readers should note that data reported in this chapter exclude Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.

Box 8.1: Who is included in this chapter?
This chapter uses data from the SAAP NDC Demand for Accommodation Collection and the SAAP NDC Client collection. Data are reported in terms of people.
Some people who make a valid unmet request for accommodation (as presented in 
Chapter 4) subsequently receive accommodation later on the same day. For this reason, when estimating how many people were turned away, it is essential to distinguish between people who made a valid unmet request for accommodation but could not be accommodated at all and those who eventually found accommodation by the end of each day (see Appendix 3).
People covered in this chapter:
•	made a valid unmet request for accommodation at a government-funded specialist homelessness agency
•	did not receive accommodation later that same day (see Appendix 3 for more detail).
8.1	Turn-away as a percentage of those requiring new and immediate accommodation
Table 8.1 shows that 62% of all people who required new and immediate accommodation were unable to be accommodated by the end of the day. Data presented in Chapter 3 show that the most likely reason for this was that there was a lack of accommodation available.
States and territories
In all states and territories people were more likely to be turned away than accommodated, with over half turned away each day. People in the Australian Capital Territory were the least likely to obtain accommodation (with 75% turned away on an average day). The lowest turn-away was recorded in New South Wales (54%).
Requesting group
Family groups, particularly couples with and without children, were the groups least likely to obtain accommodation. Agencies turned away 80% of couples with children, 75% of couples without children and 69% of individuals with children who required new and immediate accommodation. Individuals without children were the group most likely to obtain accommodation (50%) (Figure 8.1).
Figure 8.1: Turn-away for people who required new and immediate accommodation, by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
Vertical bar chart showing, for turned away and newly accommodated, per cent on y-axis and requesting group on x-axis.
Note: Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
Source: Derived from Table 8.2.
Primary target group of agency
Family agencies were the most likely type of agency to turn people away, with 86% of people who required new and immediate accommodation being turned away on an average day (Table 8.3). General agencies turned away 72% of people, youth agencies 60%, domestic violence agencies 57% and single women’s agencies 56%. Agencies that primarily supported single men were the only agency type more likely to be able to accommodate people than not, with 31% of people who required new and immediate accommodation being turned away and 69% able to be accommodated.
8.2	Turn-away as a percentage of the total expressed demand for immediate accommodation
On an average day during the Demand for Accommodation Collection period, 12,416 people either required new accommodation or were already accommodated (Table 8.1). Of this total: 
•	330 (3%) made a valid request for immediate accommodation and did not obtain accommodation by the end of the day
•	12,086 (97%) were accommodated (207 were newly accommodated and 11,879 were continuing their accommodation from the previous day and into the next day).

Figure 8.2: Turn-away for total expressed demand for immediate accommodation, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average percentage)
Pie chart showing: turned away (2.7%); newly accommodated (1.7%); and continuing accommodation (95.7%).
Note: Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
Source: Table 8.1. 

As can be seen from Figure 8.2, government-funded specialist homelessness agencies accommodated large numbers of people each day and it is important to note that people requiring new accommodation made only a small proportion of the total demand for accommodation on an average day.
States and territories
The overall ability of agencies to accommodate people was lowest in the Northern Territory, where around 5% of people, as a percentage of the total demand for accommodation, were not able to be accommodated.
Despite having one of the highest levels of turn-away as a percentage of people making requests for new and immediate accommodation on an average day, when looked at in terms of the total demand for accommodation (including those continuing accommodation), the Australian Capital Territory had the lowest turn-away (at just under 2% of the expressed total demand). This suggests that this jurisdiction has the greatest ability to provide new and immediate accommodation. This apparent contradiction can be explained by examining the length of time that people stay once they are accommodated. The Australian Capital Territory had by far the highest mean and median lengths of accommodation, indicating that, once people were accommodated, they were staying for longer periods than in the other reporting jurisdictions (Table 9.1). This suggests that places were not becoming as readily available, leading to a higher turn-away of people making new requests.
Requesting group
When the turn-away is expressed as the percentage of people who could not be accommodated relative to the total demand for accommodation, couples without children had the highest turn-away (5%), followed by individuals with and without children 
(both 3%) and couples with children (2%) (Table 8.2).
Primary target group of agency
As a percentage of the total demand for accommodation, general agencies reported the highest turn-away (4%), followed by domestic violence and family agencies (both around 3%) (Table 8.3). Agencies that primarily support single women reported the lowest turn-away (1%).
8.3	
Tables
Table 8.1:	Total people turned away, by state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT	Total(2)	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	107.9	n.a.	90.2	49.6	36.7	21.1	9.6	14.9	330.1	
Newly accommodated (B)	90.5	n.a.	50.4	25.0	16.8	8.9	3.1	12.3	207.0	
Successful first request	86.1	n.a.	41.4	23.8	15.6	7.9	3.1	11.6	189.6	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	4.4	n.a.	8.9	1.2	1.1	1.0	0.1	0.6	17.4	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	198.4	n.a.	140.6	74.6	53.5	30.1	12.7	27.1	537.1	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	79.6	n.a.	57.1	28.9	16.1	11.6	4.6	13.1	211.1	
Continuing accommodation (D)	5,316.1	n.a.	2,662.5	1,128.2	1,497.5	479.6	541.3	253.6	11,878.9	
Total accommodated (B + D)	5,406.6	n.a.	2,712.9	1,153.2	1,514.3	488.6	544.4	265.9	12,085.9	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	5,514.6	n.a.	2,803.1	1,202.9	1,551.0	509.7	554.0	280.8	12,416.0	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	54.4	n.a.	64.2	66.5	68.6	70.3	75.3	54.7	61.5	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	2.0	n.a.	3.2	4.1	2.4	4.1	1.7	5.3	2.7	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 39.0 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3).
6.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency—these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
7.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (see Appendix 3). 
8.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 8.2:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Individual(s) no children	Individual(s) with children	Couple no children	Couple with children	Total(2)	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	123.5	172.7	6.4	27.5	330.1	
Newly accommodated (B)	121.6	76.5	2.1	6.8	207.0	
Successful first request	109.5	71.9	1.7	6.5	189.6	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	12.1	4.6	0.4	0.3	17.4	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	245.1	249.2	8.4	34.3	537.1	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	120.1	79.6	2.9	8.4	211.1	
Continuing accommodation (D)	4,113.3	6,460.1	130.9	1,174.6	11,878.9	
Total accommodated (B + D)	4,234.9	6,536.6	133.0	1,181.4	12,085.9	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	4,358.4	6,709.3	139.4	1,208.9	12,416.0	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	50.4	69.3	75.4	80.2	61.5	
						
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	2.8	2.6	4.6	2.3	2.7	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 39.0 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3).
6.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency—these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
7.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (see Appendix 3). 
8.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 8.3:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, 3–9 December 2008 and
6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Young people	Single men only	Single women only	Families	Women escaping domestic violence	Cross-target/
multiple/
general	Total(2)	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	48.6	26.6	4.9	69.1	84.9	96.1	330.1	
Newly accommodated (B)	32.5	58.2	3.9	11.6	63.7	37.1	207.0	
Successful first request	29.7	50.5	3.8	10.9	60.0	34.7	189.6	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	2.8	7.7	0.1	0.8	3.5	2.4	17.4	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	81.1	84.7	8.8	80.7	148.5	133.2	537.1	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	29.1	57.2	5.3	15.2	66.4	37.8	211.1	
Continuing accommodation (D)	2,459.6	1,360.4	332.6	2513.2	2,908.5	2,304.5	11,878.9	
Total accommodated (B + D)	2492.2	1418.6	336.5	2524.8	2972.2	2341.7	12,085.9	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	2,540.7	1,445.2	341.4	2,593.9	3,057.1	2,437.7	12,416.0	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	59.9	31.4	55.7	85.6	57.1	72.1	61.5	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	1.9	1.8	1.4	2.7	2.8	3.9	2.7	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 39.0 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3).
6.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency—these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
7.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (see Appendix 3). 
8.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table 8.4:	Total people turned away each day, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009
	Wed
3
Dec	Thu
4
Dec	Fri
5
Dec	Sat
6
Dec	Sun
7
Dec	Mon
8
Dec	Tue
9
Dec	Wed
6
May	Thu
7
May	Fri
8
May	Sat
9
May	Sun
10
May	Mon
11
May	Tue
12
May	Daily average(2)	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	450	444	358	76	86	433	378	470	399	427	53	68	530	449	330.1	
Newly accommodated (B)	241	252	329	90	111	203	253	204	215	253	102	111	266	268	207.0	
Successful first request	219	224	307	74	96	187	226	178	205	237	97	110	236	258	189.6	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	22	28	22	16	15	16	27	26	10	16	5	1	30	10	17.4	
Total requiring new accommodation (C) 
(A + B)	691	696	687	166	197	636	631	674	614	680	155	179	796	717	537.1	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	220	238	336	102	140	258	213	266	261	227	129	107	243	215	211.1	
Continuing accommodation (D)	12,122	12,107	12,036	12,242	12,200	12,067	12,041	11,672	11,600	11,596	11,712	11,703	11,585	11,622	11,878.9	
Total accommodated (B + D)	12,363	12,359	12,365	12,332	12,311	12,270	12,294	11,876	11,815	11,849	11,814	11,814	11,851	11,890	12,085.9	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	12,813	12,803	12,723	12,408	12,397	12,703	12,672	12,346	12,214	12,276	11,867	11,882	12,381	12,339	12,416.0	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	65.1	63.8	52.1	45.8	43.7	68.1	59.9	69.7	65.0	62.8	34.2	38.0	66.6	62.6	61.5	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	3.5	3.5	2.8	0.6	0.7	3.4	3.0	3.8	3.3	3.5	0.4	0.6	4.3	3.6	2.7	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 39.0 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
4.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (see Appendix 3).
5.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (see Appendix 3).
6.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency—these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated. 
7.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (see Appendix 3). 
8.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

9	Conclusion
The data presented in this report suggest that agencies are generally operating to capacity, with the demand for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation unable to be met completely. In particular, the high turn-away for people who required new and immediate accommodation (62%), the low daily turnover of people already in accommodation (with relatively few people leaving their accommodation or taking up accommodation compared with those continuing) and the modest referral rate when accommodation cannot be provided (57%) suggest that obtaining specialist homelessness accommodation is difficult for some, particularly for families (tables 3.9, 8.2 and 8.4).
In contrast, the small number of people not accommodated (3%) relative to the total expressed demand for accommodation suggests that, theoretically, a small increase in the number of places available on an average day could have a significant impact on the level of unmet demand (Table 8.2). However, this takes no account of how long people stay once they do get accommodation nor of the unknown number of those who need accommodation but do not approach agencies.
One problem with the assumption that providing the same number of places as the number of people turned away would alleviate the current unmet demand is that, based on data on the length of support of existing clients, many people who are turned away are likely to require accommodation for more than one night, on average 54 days (Table 9.1, excludes Victorian data; Griffin 2008). On this basis, if all people turned away on an average day were provided with accommodation, none of the beds provided would become available for other people who require accommodation for however long those people stay.
In addition, an increase in capacity may have flow-on effects on the number of people seeking accommodation because, as supply increases, so too might the demand for that accommodation. In other words, the availability of more beds in the sector could result in an increase in the demand for accommodation. Related to supply and demand is the ‘hidden need’ for accommodation caused by people not seeking assistance when they need it.
Readers should note that data reported in this chapter exclude Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
9.1	Availability of accommodation
People experiencing or at risk of homelessness come from diverse sections of the community, with differing needs and requirements for accommodation. Therefore their barriers to obtaining accommodation and their patterns of accommodation use differ.
As shown in Chapter 3, an undersupply of accommodation appears to be a significant factor in why people are turned away from government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation (in 84% of valid unmet requests for accommodation). While this was the case overall and by client group and primary target group of the agency, it was particularly evident for people with children and in agencies that were primarily set up to support family groups.
Patterns of accommodation use
One reason why it may be more difficult for family groups to secure accommodation from government-funded specialist homelessness agencies is that, once they are accommodated, these groups tend to stay longer (Figure 9.1; Table 9.3). Therefore, the turnover of beds is less for family groups than for other clients. This, combined with the higher turn-away and the higher percentage where lack of accommodation was the main reason they were not offered accommodation, suggests that most of the accommodation that is available for family groups is already occupied each day.
Figure 9.1: Closed support periods with accommodation: mean and median length of accommodation for clients who were accommodated for at least 1 day, by client group, 2008–09 (number of days)
Vertical bar chart showing, for mean and median, days on y-axis and client group on x-axis.
Note: Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
Source: Table 9.2.

Data on the availability and affordability of suitable accommodation for low-income families in the social and private housing sectors suggest that one reason families may stay in accommodation for longer periods is because they are unable to find suitable accommodation elsewhere, with the demand by low-income households generally outstripping the availability of low-cost accommodation (AIHW 2009a).
9.2	Supply and demand
Figure 9.2 presents the daily expressed demand for accommodation. It shows that, on any given day, there was not a lot of variation between the number of people starting accommodation and those ending it. This suggests that accommodation is taken up when it becomes vacant and that agencies are operating to capacity.
Figure 9.2: Daily demand for accommodation, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (number)
Vertical bar chart showing, for accommodation ending, newly accommodated and not accommodated, number on y-axis and day on x-axis.
Note: Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
Source: Table 9.4.

It is also interesting to note that the demand for this accommodation appears to be following its supply. For example, Figure 9.2 shows that weekends, when some agencies are closed or have reduced staffing and hence fewer opportunities are available to obtain accommodation, are the only days on which the number of people turned away is less than the number starting or leaving accommodation. This suggests that, as the supply or availability of accommodation falls, so too does the demand for that accommodation (at least in terms of people actively attempting to obtain accommodation).
External barriers to obtaining independent accommodation in the social and private markets—such as long social housing waiting lists, the low availability of affordable housing and the need to provide additional support to help people maintain their tenancies—need to be considered in order to understand the demand for specialist homelessness accommodation. These factors affect the ability of people experiencing homelessness to leave specialist homelessness accommodation and move into other housing (AIHW 2009a). Such analysis, however, is outside the scope of this report.
9.3	Hidden need for accommodation
The data presented in this report relate to people who were actively seeking accommodation from government-funded specialist homelessness agencies. There is, however, evidence to suggest that not everyone who requires such accommodation is seeking it. For example, the large number of homeless people enumerated in the 2006 Census of Population and Housing homeless enumeration strategy, of which only a small percentage were accommodated in SAAP (see Chamberlain & MacKenzie 2008), suggests a significant level of hidden need for specialist homelessness accommodation.
In addition, the fact that the number of requests for accommodation was not considerably larger than the actual number of people making those requests suggests that people do not make repeated attempts if they fail initially. Tables 3.4 and 4.1 suggest that most of the people turned away on an average day did not approach another agency that same day.
Furthermore, referrals for other accommodation are not always obtained once a person has been unsuccessful. On an average day, only around half (57%) of the valid unmet requests for accommodation were formally referred on to accommodation at another source (Table 3.8). Those in need of accommodation may have inferred from this that accommodation was difficult to obtain, and that trying at another agency was unlikely to prove successful on that day.
9.4	
Tables
Table 9.1:	Closed support periods with accommodation: mean and median length of accommodation, by state and territory, 2008–09 (number of days)
State and territory	Mean	Median	
NSW	66	16	
Vic	n.a.	n.a.	
Qld	49	14	
WA	37	6	
SA	60	12	
Tas	45	11	
ACT	124	38	
NT	25	5	
Total(2)	54	12	
Notes for tables 9.1–9.3
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions (weighted): 1,007.
2.	Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
3.	Excludes accommodation that started and ended on the same day.
4.	Figures have been weighted to adjust for agency non-participation.
Source: Client Collection.

Table 9.2:	Closed support periods with accommodation: mean and median length of accommodation, by client group, 2008–09 (number of days)
Client group	Mean	Median	
Individual(s) no children	43	10	
Individual(s) with children	78	23	
Couple no children	58	11	
Couple with children	168	92	
Total(2)	54	12	

Table 9.3:	Closed support periods with accommodation: mean and median length of accommodation, by primary target group of agency, 2008–09 (number of days)
Primary target group	Mean	Median	
Young people	64	16	
Single men only	37	10	
Single women only	73	13	
Families	156	90	
Women escaping domestic violence	40	8	
Cross-target/multiple/general	54	14	
Total(2)	54	12	
Appendix 1	Additional state and territory tables
Table A1.1:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, New South Wales, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Individual(s) no children	Individual(s) with children	Couple no children	Couple with children	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	54.1	49.5	1.6	2.6	107.9	
Newly accommodated (B)	63.6	24.4	0.5	2.1	90.5	
Successful first request	60.4	23.1	0.4	2.1	86.1	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	3.1	1.2	0.1	—	4.4	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	117.7	73.9	2.1	4.7	198.4	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	58.4	19.5	0.5	1.3	79.6	
Continuing accommodation (D)	2,292.5	2,694.0	46.6	283.1	5,316.1	
Total accommodated (B + D)	2,356.1	2,718.4	47.1	285.1	5,406.6	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	2,410.2	2,767.9	48.7	287.8	5,514.6	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	46.0	67.0	76.7	56.1	54.4	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	2.2	1.8	3.4	0.9	2.0	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 9.1 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table A1.2:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, Queensland, 3–9 December 2008 and 
6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Individual(s) no children	Individual(s) with children	Couple no children	Couple with children	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	27.3	44.5	3.9	14.6	90.2	
Newly accommodated (B)	26.1	20.9	0.4	2.9	50.4	
Successful first request	19.6	18.9	0.3	2.6	41.4	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	6.5	2.0	0.1	0.3	8.9	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	53.4	65.4	4.3	17.4	140.6	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	27.3	24.9	0.4	4.5	57.1	
Continuing accommodation (D)	715.9	1,495.3	25.6	425.7	2,662.5	
Total accommodated (B + D)	742.1	1,516.2	26.0	428.6	2,712.9	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	769.4	1,560.7	29.9	443.1	2,803.1	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	51.1	68.0	90.0	83.6	64.2	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	3.5	2.9	12.9	3.3	3.2	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 14.2 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table A1.3:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, Western Australia, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Individual(s) no children	Individual(s) with children	Couple no children	Couple with children	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	15.1	29.0	0.6	4.9	49.6	
Newly accommodated (B)	11.6	12.3	0.3	0.8	25.0	
Successful first request	11.0	11.7	0.3	0.8	23.8	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	0.6	0.6	—	—	1.2	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	26.8	41.3	0.9	5.7	74.6	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	11.7	15.8	0.8	0.6	28.9	
Continuing accommodation (D)	350.9	625.0	16.0	136.4	1,128.2	
Total accommodated (B + D)	362.5	637.3	16.3	137.1	1,153.2	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	377.6	666.3	16.9	142.1	1,202.9	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	56.5	70.2	66.7	86.3	66.5	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	4.0	4.4	3.4	3.5	4.1	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 3.2 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table A1.4:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, South Australia, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Individual(s) no children	Individual(s) with children	Couple no children	Couple with children	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	14.9	20.2	—	1.6	36.7	
Newly accommodated (B)	9.3	6.9	0.4	0.2	16.8	
Successful first request	8.9	6.4	0.2	0.2	15.6	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	0.4	0.6	0.1	—	1.1	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	24.2	27.1	0.4	1.8	53.5	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	8.4	6.1	0.6	1.1	16.1	
Continuing accommodation (D)	364.4	942.4	32.1	158.6	1,497.5	
Total accommodated (B + D)	373.7	949.4	32.4	158.8	1,514.3	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	388.6	969.6	32.4	160.4	1,551.0	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	61.7	74.5	—	88.0	68.6	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	3.8	2.1	—	1.0	2.4	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 7.5 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table A1.5:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, Tasmania, 3–9 December 2008 and 
6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Individual(s) no children	Individual(s) with children	Couple no children	Couple with children	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	5.1	14.0	0.3	1.8	21.1	
Newly accommodated (B)	4.7	3.6	0.3	0.3	8.9	
Successful first request	3.7	3.6	0.3	0.3	7.9	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	1.0	—	—	—	1.0	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	9.8	17.6	0.6	2.1	30.1	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	6.6	4.3	0.4	0.3	11.6	
Continuing accommodation (D)	153.1	265.4	3.1	58.1	479.6	
Total accommodated (B + D)	157.8	269.1	3.4	58.4	488.6	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	162.9	283.1	3.6	60.1	509.7	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	51.8	79.4	50.0	86.2	70.3	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	3.1	4.9	7.8	3.0	4.1	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 2.4 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table A1.6:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, Australian Capital Territory, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Individual(s) no children	Individual(s) with children	Couple no children	Couple with children	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	4.3	4.6	—	0.6	9.6	
Newly accommodated (B)	1.4	1.6	—	0.1	3.1	
Successful first request	1.4	1.6	—	0.1	3.1	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	0.1	—	—	—	0.1	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	5.7	6.2	—	0.8	12.7	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	1.8	2.6	—	0.2	4.6	
Continuing accommodation (D)	145.9	302.6	7.0	85.7	541.3	
Total accommodated (B + D)	147.4	304.2	7.0	85.9	544.4	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	151.6	308.9	7.0	86.5	554.0	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	75.0	74.7	—	81.8	75.3	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	2.8	1.5	—	0.7	1.7	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 0 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table A1.7:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, Northern Territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Individual(s) no children	Individual(s) with children	Couple no children	Couple with children	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	2.6	10.9	—	1.4	14.9	
Newly accommodated (B)	4.9	6.8	0.2	0.4	12.3	
Successful first request	4.5	6.5	0.2	0.4	11.6	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	0.4	0.3	—	—	0.6	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	7.5	17.6	0.2	1.8	27.1	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	5.9	6.4	0.3	0.4	13.1	
Continuing accommodation (D)	90.6	135.3	0.6	27.1	253.6	
Total accommodated (B + D)	95.4	142.1	0.9	27.6	265.9	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	98.1	152.9	0.9	28.9	280.8	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	35.2	61.5	—	76.0	54.7	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	2.7	7.1	—	4.7	5.3	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 1.9 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table A1.8:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, New South Wales, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Young people	Single men only	Single women only	Families	Women escaping domestic violence	Cross-target/
multiple/
general	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	22.1	9.9	2.9	10.4	41.3	21.5	107.9	
Newly accommodated (B)	14.3	37.9	0.6	4.5	21.5	11.8	90.5	
Successful first request	12.6	36.8	0.6	4.3	20.1	11.7	86.1	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	1.6	1.1	—	0.2	1.4	0.1	4.4	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	36.4	47.7	3.4	14.9	62.8	33.3	198.4	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	11.1	35.1	1.0	2.5	17.2	12.7	79.6	
Continuing accommodation (D)	1,170.1	818.9	179.9	626.9	1,599.6	920.7	5,316.1	
Total accommodated (B + D)	1,184.4	856.7	180.5	631.4	1621.1	932.5	5,406.6	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	1,206.5	866.6	183.4	641.8	1,662.4	954.0	5,514.6	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	60.7	20.7	83.3	69.9	65.8	64.6	54.4	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	1.8	1.1	1.6	1.6	2.5	2.3	2.0	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 9.1 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table A1.9:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, Queensland, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Young people	Single men only	Single women only	Families	Women escaping domestic violence	Cross-target/
multiple/
general	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	16.6	—	0.6	33.2	4.9	35.0	90.2	
Newly accommodated (B)	9.2	11.0	0.6	5.2	13.7	10.6	50.4	
Successful first request	8.4	5.1	0.6	4.6	12.7	10.1	41.4	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	0.8	6.0	—	0.6	0.9	0.6	8.9	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	25.8	11.0	1.2	38.4	18.5	45.6	140.6	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	8.6	11.6	0.8	8.2	17.4	10.4	57.1	
Continuing accommodation (D)	442.1	227.1	68.3	972.1	398.6	554.2	2,662.5	
Total accommodated (B + D)	451.4	238.2	68.9	977.4	412.3	564.9	2,712.9	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	467.9	238.2	69.5	1,010.5	417.1	599.8	2,803.1	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	64.2	—	49.7	86.4	26.3	76.7	64.2	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	3.5	—	0.9	3.3	1.2	5.8	3.2	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 14.2 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table A1.10:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, Western Australia, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Young people	Single men only	Single women only	Families	Women escaping domestic violence	Cross-target/
multiple/
general	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	4.7	6.9	0.4	16.1	13.5	8.1	49.6	
Newly accommodated (B)	3.1	1.7	1.0	1.1	15.8	2.4	25.0	
Successful first request	3.0	1.6	0.9	1.1	15.1	2.0	23.8	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	0.1	0.1	0.1	—	0.6	0.4	1.2	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	7.8	8.6	1.4	17.1	29.3	10.5	74.6	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	2.9	2.8	0.9	0.5	19.6	2.3	28.9	
Continuing accommodation (D)	238.4	121.8	26.6	306.1	331.2	104.0	1,128.2	
Total accommodated (B + D)	241.5	123.5	27.6	307.2	347.0	106.4	1,153.2	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	246.2	130.4	28.0	323.3	360.5	114.5	1,202.9	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	60.6	80.0	26.3	93.7	46.1	77.6	66.5	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	1.9	5.3	1.3	5.0	3.7	7.1	4.1	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 3.2 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table A1.11:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, South Australia, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Young people	Single men only	Single women only	Families	Women escaping domestic violence	Cross-target/
multiple/
general	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	2.7	6.9	0.6	5.6	16.9	4.1	36.7	
Newly accommodated (B)	2.9	4.4	1.0	0.1	3.6	4.7	16.8	
Successful first request	2.6	4.4	0.9	0.1	3.4	4.1	15.6	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	0.2	—	0.1	—	0.2	0.6	1.1	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	5.6	11.4	1.6	5.7	20.5	8.8	53.5	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	2.9	3.9	0.9	2.0	3.4	3.0	16.1	
Continuing accommodation (D)	473.1	82.9	41.8	278.9	436.0	184.8	1,497.5	
Total accommodated (B + D)	475.9	87.4	42.8	279.1	439.6	189.5	1,514.3	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	478.6	94.3	43.4	284.6	456.5	193.6	1,551.0	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	48.7	61.0	36.4	97.5	82.2	46.3	68.6	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	0.6	7.3	1.3	2.0	3.7	2.1	2.4	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 7.5 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table A1.12:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, Tasmania, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Young people	Single men only	Single women only	Families	Women escaping domestic violence	Cross-target/
multiple/
general	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	0.6	0.4	—	—	—	20.2	21.1	
Newly accommodated (B)	1.5	1.4	—	—	—	6.1	8.9	
Successful first request	1.5	1.1	—	—	—	5.3	7.9	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	0.0	0.2	—	—	—	0.8	1.0	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	2.1	1.7	—	—	—	26.3	30.1	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	1.9	2.1	—	—	—	7.6	11.6	
Continuing accommodation (D)	28.3	42.8	—	—	—	408.6	479.6	
Total accommodated (B + D)	29.8	44.1	—	—	—	414.6	488.6	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	30.4	44.5	—	—	—	434.9	509.7	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	27.6	20.8	—	—	—	76.9	70.3	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	1.9	0.8	—	—	—	4.6	4.1	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 2.4 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table A1.13:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, Australian Capital Territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Young people	Single men only	Single women only	Families	Women escaping domestic violence	Cross-target/
multiple/
general	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	0.4	2.6	0.1	2.8	1.7	2.0	9.6	
Newly accommodated (B)	0.9	0.5	0.1	0.7	0.9	0.1	3.1	
Successful first request	0.9	0.4	0.1	0.7	0.9	0.1	3.1	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	—	0.1	—	—	—	0.0	0.1	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	1.2	3.1	0.2	3.5	2.6	2.1	12.7	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	0.9	0.6	0.1	2.0	0.9	0.1	4.6	
Continuing accommodation (D)	72.7	39.6	8.2	260.7	86.5	73.5	541.3	
Total accommodated (B + D)	73.6	40.1	8.3	261.4	87.4	73.6	544.4	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	73.9	42.7	8.4	264.2	89.1	75.6	554.0	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	29.4	83.7	66.7	79.6	66.7	93.3	75.3	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	0.5	6.0	1.7	1.1	1.9	2.6	1.7	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 0 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.

Table A1.14:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, Northern Territory, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
	Young people	Single men only	Single women only	Families	Women escaping domestic violence	Cross-target/
multiple/
general	Total	
	Total people requiring new accommodation (number)	
Not accommodated (turned away) (A)	1.4	0.6	0.4	0.9	6.6	5.0	14.9	
Newly accommodated (B)	0.7	1.3	0.6	—	8.2	1.4	12.3	
Successful first request	0.6	1.1	0.6	—	7.9	1.4	11.6	
Accommodated in subsequent request(s)	0.1	0.2	—	—	0.4	—	0.6	
Total requiring new accommodation (C)
(A + B)	2.1	1.9	1.1	0.9	14.8	6.4	27.1	
	Clients and accompanying children already accommodated (number)	
Accommodation ending	0.8	1.1	1.6	—	7.9	1.7	13.1	
Continuing accommodation (D)	34.9	27.3	7.8	68.5	56.5	58.7	253.6	
Total accommodated (B + D)	35.6	28.6	8.4	68.5	64.7	60.1	265.9	
Total demand for accommodation (E)
(A + B + D)	37.0	29.1	8.9	69.4	71.3	65.1	280.8	
	Per cent turned away	
Turn-away (A ÷ C × 100)
(per cent requiring new accommodation)	66.7	30.8	40.0	100.0	44.4	77.8	54.7	
Turn-away (A ÷ E × 100)
(per cent total demand for accommodation)	3.9	2.0	4.8	1.2	9.2	7.7	5.3	
Notes
1.	Number excluded due to errors and omissions: 0 Demand for Accommodation Collection; 1.9 Client Collection (daily average).
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Adjustments have been made for missing data from the Demand for Accommodation Collection (Appendix 3).
4.	People may make more than one request for accommodation in a day. Demand for Accommodation Collection data are based on the first valid unmet request for accommodation made (Appendix 3).
5.	The accommodation status of a client or accompanying child on a particular day is based on the reported periods of accommodation within a support period. A client can end one period of accommodation and start another on the same day at the same agency, these are considered to be a single period. It can be reasonably assumed that a client will not have more than one period of accommodation at different agencies on the same day. Note that dates of support and accommodation are not collected for accompanying children; however, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child is accommodated when their parent or guardian has been accommodated.
6.	‘Not accommodated’ and ‘Accommodated in subsequent request(s)’ refer to people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation (Appendix 3). 
7.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Client Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.
Appendix 2	Summary diagram
Figure A2.1 provides a summary of the 2008–09 demand for accommodation data. It outlines how requests for accommodation made during the Demand for Accommodation Collection were used in conjunction with data collected in the Client Collection to determine how many people were turned away on an average day.
Figure A2.1: Demand for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation summary
diagram, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009 (daily average)
Flow chart diagram.
Notes
1.	Excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
2.	Only data from agencies that participated in both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection are included. Consequently, the figures understate the level of activity in government-funded specialist homelessness agencies.
3.	Figures may not add due to rounding.

Appendix 3	The data
A3.1	Client Collection
The Client Collection is the main component of the SAAP NDC. Data are recorded by service providers (agencies) during, or immediately following, contact with clients and are then forwarded to the SAAP National Data Collection Agency (NDCA) after clients’ support periods have ended or, for ongoing clients, at the end of the reporting period (30 June). Data collected include information on basic sociodemographics; the types of support required by, and provided to, each client; and each client’s situation before and after receiving support. Some data items require consent from the client to collect.
To ensure that the data collected accurately reflect the work done, it is important that there is both a high level of agency participation in the collection and a high level of consent provided by clients.
Participation
A high level of participation among agencies is necessary to ensure that the data accurately reflect the work done. Overall, the participation rate for the Client Collection was high—in 2008–09, 94% of agencies participated in the collection (excludes Victorian data) (Table A3.1).
Consent and valid consent
In assessing the quality of data in any collection, it is important to consider the degree to which returned data are complete. All data collections and surveys invariably have some missing data, but this does not necessarily undermine the validity or reliability of information obtained. However, high levels of non-response to particular questions mean that some caution should be exercised when interpreting the data because the results may not fully reflect the entire population of interest.
In this context, note that the protocols established for the SAAP NDC require that clients provide information in a climate of informed consent. If a client’s consent is not obtained, only a limited number of questions can be completed and a ‘statistical linkage key’ is not recorded. Statistical linkage keys allow data collected on separate occasions from the same person to be combined without identifying the person. Thus they allow enumeration of actual clients and accompanying children in addition to occasions of support.
Clients
Consent and valid statistical linkage keys (also termed ‘valid consent’) were obtained from clients in 90% and 84% of records, respectively (Table A3.1; excludes Victorian data). This means that consent was not obtained for 10% of records for clients at participating agencies and valid statistical linkage keys were not obtained for around 16%.
Accompanying children
The protocols of the NDC state that data should be collected in a climate of informed consent. However, consent in the case of accompanying children is more complicated than that for clients. Young children are not able to understand the purpose of the collection and cannot, therefore, give informed consent. In addition, the question concerning the age at which young people are able to give consent has no simple, universally accepted answer.
For the purposes of the NDC, consent can be obtained from either the child or the child’s parent or guardian, depending on family circumstances and whether or not the child is judged able to comprehend what is being asked of her or him. In cases where there is a strong objection from the parent or guardian about the data collection, the wishes of the parent or guardian take precedence.
Note that consent is obtained at the support period level, not the accompanying child support period level, and that a client may choose to provide consent for their details to be recorded but not wish to record those of their accompanying child. This is highlighted by the large gap between the rates of consent and valid consent for accompanying children. In 2008–09, consent was obtained in 92% of accompanying child records but valid consent was obtained in only 76% of cases (Table A3.2; excludes Victorian data). This means that consent was not obtained in 8% of records from participating agencies and valid consent was not obtained for 24% (tables A3.1 and A3.2).
Adjusting for agency non-participation and client non-consent
The AIHW has developed a methodology—primarily for use when deriving annual estimates—that adjusts for differences between support periods with consent and those without. The methodology also adjusts estimates to allow for agency non-participation, for clients who give valid consent for some support periods but not for others (referred to as ‘mixed consent’) and for clients who do not give consent in any of their periods of support. A description of the methodology is given in the 2008–09 national annual report (AIHW 2010b:Appendix 1). In this current report, only the Client Collection data in tables 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3 and 9.4 have been adjusted.

Table A3.1:	Client Collection: participating agencies, agency participation rates and records returned with informed consent and valid consent for clients, by state and territory, and by primary target group of agency, Australia, 2008–09
	Agencies(a)	Records returned	
	Total
(number)	Participation rate
(per cent)	Total
(number)	Consent
(per cent)	Valid consent(b)
(per cent)	
State/territory	
NSW	359	92.2	57,120	89.7	82.7	
Vic	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	
Qld	225	95.1	28,876	92.7	88.1	
WA	142	93.7	16,159	92.5	84.9	
SA	111	98.2	20,810	88.5	83.2	
Tas	36	100.0	7,014	80.9	78.0	
ACT	32	96.9	2,662	86.9	81.1	
NT	40	90.0	4,381	92.9	88.7	
Total(1)	945	94.2	137,022	90.1	84.1	
Primary target group(1)	
Young people	306	94.4	30,891	86.2	80.2	
Single men only	73	95.9	20,493	94.4	92.5	
Single women only	25	92.0	3,572	89.6	86.6	
Families	95	97.9	11,274	94.0	88.0	
Women escaping domestic violence	228	93.0	30,850	90.1	80.9	
Cross-target/multiple/general	218	93.1	39,942	89.8	83.9	
Total(1)	945	94.2	137,022	90.1	84.1	
(a)	‘Agencies’ refers to the number of agencies that were ‘in scope’—that is, that should have been participating in the reference period. Refer to Section A3.4.
(b)	‘Valid consent’ refers to all records with a valid statistical linkage key (refer to Section A3.4).
Notes
1.	Table excludes Victorian data. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
2.	Table based on records returned from agencies in scope for the Client Collection during the reference period. Not all funded agencies are required to participate in the Client Collection. Consequently, some funded agencies (refer to AIHW 2010b:Table 2.1) are not included in this table.
3.	663 or 70% of the 945 participating agencies returned records for both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection (excludes Victoria).
Sources: Administrative Data Collection; Client Collection.

Table A3.2:	Client Collection: records returned with informed consent and valid consent for accompanying children, by state and territory, and by primary target group of agency, Australia, 2008–09
	Records returned	
	Total
(number)	Consent
(per cent)	Valid consent(a)
(per cent)	
State/territory				
NSW	22,936	92.2	76.9	
Vic	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	
Qld	15,940	93.7	73.2	
WA	10,593	93.5	72.0	
SA	14,936	90.7	79.4	
Tas	3,119	84.5	68.4	
ACT	1,915	90.0	74.4	
NT	2,741	91.0	81.4	
Total(1)	72,180	92.0	75.6	
Primary target group(1)				
Young people	5,399	84.4	62.7	
Single men only	352	87.8	75.9	
Single women only	1,056	98.8	88.4	
Families	14,944	93.2	78.8	
Women escaping domestic violence	31,137	92.7	78.5	
Cross-target/multiple/general	19,292	91.7	71.5	
Total(1)	72,180	92.0	75.6	
(a)	‘Valid consent’ refers to all records with a valid statistical linkage key (refer to Section A3.4).
Notes
1.	Table excludes Victorian data. Specialist homelessness accommodation in Victoria was not accurately reported. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
2.	Table based on records returned from agencies in scope for the Client Collection during the reference period.
Sources: Administrative Data Collection; Client Collection.

A3.2	Demand for Accommodation Collection
The Demand for Accommodation Collection is used to measure the level of unmet demand for accommodation, to calculate the percentage of people turned away from accommodation and to provide an indication of the overall ability of agencies to meet the demand for accommodation. Previously known as the Unmet Demand Collection and the Met Demand Collection, the Demand for Accommodation Collection is conducted annually (in two 1‑week periods). All participating agencies that provide support or accommodation to clients were asked to record each unsuccessful and successful request for accommodation during the collection period; a form was completed for each person (adult or unaccompanied child) or group of people (including accompanying children). In 2008–09 the collection was held on 
3–9 December 2008 and on 6–12 May 2008. During this collection period, 11,439 records were received (Table A3.3; excludes Victorian data).
The participation rate for the Demand for Accommodation Collection was lower than that for the Client Collection. Overall, 71% of agencies returned data following the 2 weeks of the collection period (excludes Victorian data).
It is not known whether agencies that did not participate in the Demand for Accommodation Collection received requests they could not meet. Consequently, it is possible that findings from this collection may understate the true extent of unmet demand. In addition, only demand for accommodation data for agencies that participated in the two collections used to calculate the turn-away measures in this report—the Client and Demand for Accommodation collections—are presented in the tables in chapters 3–8. These agencies accounted for 10,746 Demand for Accommodation Collection records (excludes Victorian data), and the analysis in those chapters is based on this reduced number of records and associated people (AIHW unpublished data).
Note that when comparing estimates across years several factors need to be taken into account, such as the participation rate in each year and any changes in the collection or estimation methodology. For example, before 2003–04, imputation for missing information was carried out at a national level while from 2003–04 onwards it was done at a state and territory level; in 2008–09 Victorian data was excluded from analysis and the SAAP V Agreement was replaced by the NAHA halfway through the financial year, resulting in changes to the agencies participating in the collection.

Table A3.3:	Demand for Accommodation Collection: agency participation rates and records returned, by state and territory, and by primary target group for 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009, and by reporting period, Australia
	Agencies
(number)	Participation rate
(per cent)	Records returned
(number)	
State/territory(a)	
NSW	359	75.5	4,844	
Vic	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	
Qld	225	72.9	3,206	
WA	142	70.4	1,342	
SA	111	56.8	1,007	
Tas	36	75.0	429	
ACT	32	62.5	206	
NT	40	62.5	405	
Total(a)	945	70.9	11,439	
Primary target group(a)	
Young people	306	73.5	2,409	
Single men only	73	72.6	2,282	
Single women only	25	76.0	242	
Families	95	80.0	1,327	
Women escaping domestic violence	228	70.2	1,688	
Cross-target/multiple/general	218	62.8	3,491	
Total(a)	945	70.9	11,439	
Reporting period	
12–25 November 1998	1,168	n.a.	7,001	
11–24 November 1999	1,164	n.a.	7,394	
29 November–5 December 2000 and 9–15 May 2001	1,236	n.a.	10,685	
22–28 August 2001 and 8–14 May 2002	1,286	n.a.	10,941	
9–15 December 2002 and 7–13 May 2003	1,202	89.7	14,034	
26 November–2 December 2003 and 5–11 May 2004	1,225	76.9	13,217	
1–7 December 2004 and 11–17 May 2005	1,212	73.2	11,970	
7–13 December 2005 and 17–23 May 2006	1,219	71.0	14,342	
2–8 August 2006 and 16–22 May 2007	1,456	61.4	14,992	
21–27 November 2007 and 14–20 May 2008	1,444	62.6	13,290	
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009(a)	945	70.9	11,439	
(a)	Excludes Victorian data. Specialist homelessness accommodation in Victoria was not accurately reported. See Chapter 1 for more detail.
Notes
1.	Based on records returned from agencies in scope for the Demand for Accommodation Collection.
2.	In 2008–09, 663 or 70% of the 945 participating agencies returned records for both the Client Collection and the Demand for Accommodation Collection (excludes Victorian data).
3.	‘Agencies’ refers to the number of agencies that were ‘in scope’— that is, agencies that should have been participating in the reference period.
4.	From 2002–03 onwards information on requests for accommodation was collected on a single form which captured groups with both met and unmet requests for accommodation. In 2001–02, information was also gathered on the demand for accommodation both met and unmet; however, two separate forms were used. In the years preceding 2001–02, data on unmet requests for both non-accommodation support services and requests for accommodation, were collected for unmet requests on a single form. For these reasons, the participation rate cannot be compared across years.
5.	Figures are unweighted.
Sources: Administrative Data Collection; Demand for Accommodation Collection.
Estimation methods and adjusting for missing information
In this report, imputed or edited data are included in all tables that use information from the Demand for Accommodation Collection. Also, only demand for accommodation data for the 70% of agencies that participated in the two collections used to calculate the turn-away measures in this report—the Client and Demand for Accommodation collections—are presented in the tables in chapters 3–8 (see tables A3.2 and A3.3; excludes Victorian data). These agencies accounted for 10,746 Demand for Accommodation Collection records (excludes Victorian data), and the analysis in those chapters is based on this reduced number of records and associated people (Figure A1.1).
Estimation methods
During the 2008–09 Demand for Accommodation Collection period, government-funded specialist homelessness agencies across Australia that participated in both the Client and Demand for Accommodation collections reported 7,640 requests for accommodation that were not met (excludes Victorian data) (Table 3.1). However, many of these requests were made at inappropriate agencies. This includes requests for accommodation at agencies where the person did not fall within the agency’s target group, where the person or group was inappropriate for the agency or where there was no fee-free accommodation available. It also includes those people who refused an agency’s offer of accommodation. Consequently, the number of valid unmet requests is a more useful measure of unmet demand. In addition, not all valid unmet requests involve immediate accommodation. In the context of homelessness, the level of unmet requests for immediate accommodation is of particular importance. It must also be emphasised that the number of valid unmet requests does not represent the actual number of people, since a person can make requests on more than one occasion and at more than one agency. There are thus two types of estimates of primary interest for unmet demand: numbers of valid unmet requests and numbers of people with valid unmet requests.
Invalid requests may be followed by successful requests at another agency, especially if a referral has been arranged. That is, a proportion of people who make an unsuccessful request for accommodation might subsequently receive accommodation from another agency on the same day. For this reason, when calculating turn-away it is important to count the number of times this occurred. During the 2008–09 Demand for Accommodation Collection period, agencies across Australia that participated in both the Client and Demand for Accommodation collections reported 3,108 requests for accommodation that were met (Figure A1.1; excludes Victorian data). Met requests for accommodation are not analysed separately in this publication; rather they are used to estimate the number of people who had a valid unmet request earlier in the day but were subsequently accommodated later that day 244 people, derived from Table 8.1; excludes Victorian data).
Several difficulties are associated with estimating the number of valid unmet requests and the number of people who make these requests. First, a proportion of people who make an unsuccessful request for accommodation may subsequently receive accommodation from another agency, quite possibly soon after the initial request. Use of a statistical linkage key has proved unworkable in the context of unmet demand, so previously it was not possible to identify when this situation occurred. Second, people may have their needs met by other means and no longer require assistance. Third, a person may make several requests for accommodation—again, without a linkage key, related requests cannot be identified with certainty. Finally, data required to identify valid unmet requests may be missing. These possibilities pose four main problems:
•	Estimates of the number of unmet requests obtained from the collection may overstate the actual level of unmet demand.
•	Estimates of the number of valid unmet requests may be too low as a result of missing data.
•	The number of people making valid unmet requests cannot be obtained directly from the collection.
•	An accurate final turn-away for those seeking assistance cannot be calculated.
Although it is not currently possible to resolve the first of these problems, a method has been developed for deriving estimates of both the number of valid unmet requests and the number of individuals whose valid requests were not met each day of the 2-week collection period. The method used to derive these estimates is outlined in the following section. It should be noted, however, that the resulting estimates would overstate the number of people involved if people make requests for accommodation on different approaches to agencies within the collection period. Additionally, because people might make several approaches on the same day to agencies throughout the year, the daily figure cannot be pro-rated up to give an estimate of the number of people turned away from agencies annually. People often approach an agency more than once within 12 months, as is illustrated by the fact that, nationally, 73% of clients had more than one period of support in 2008–09 (derived from AIHW 2010b:Table 3.1).
To address the fourth concern, it was decided to combine the collection of met and unmet demand into one—the Demand for Accommodation Collection. Using the estimated number of people mentioned above in conjunction with the number of people with met requests for accommodation and the Client Collection, it is now possible to estimate the number of people with a valid prior request on a particular day who successfully gained accommodation later that day, as well as the estimated number of people who were turned away with their needs unmet. The method used to derive these estimates is outlined in the following section and the analysis is provided in chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8.
Adjusting for missing information
There are several key estimates required for estimating both unmet and met demand. These are:
•	the number of valid unmet requests for immediate accommodation
•	the number of people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation
•	the number of people with a valid unmet request for immediate accommodation with a subsequent met request for accommodation.
These estimates are crucial because they show the volume of requests for immediate accommodation, indicate the number of people with unmet needs within the collection period and how much of that demand is later met, and are used in conjunction with data from other collections to examine total demand. Missing data in items used to derive these estimates will therefore affect the estimates’ utility because they lead to estimates being too low.
Unmet demand
The information used to derive the unmet demand estimates is elicited through seven questions on the Demand for Accommodation Collection form (see Appendix 4):
•	Question 2, asking the number of adults or unaccompanied children seeking accommodation
•	Question 3, asking the number of accompanying children requiring accommodation with their parent(s) or guardian(s)
•	Question 4, asking about the immediacy of the need for accommodation
•	Question 5a and Question 5b, asking whether or not the same request for accommodation had been made and turned away earlier that day and the reason for that turn-away, if applicable
•	Question 6, asking whether an offer of accommodation was made by the agency
•	Question 7a and Question 7b, asking if the person refused an offer of accommodation and, if so, why
•	Question 9, asking if the person made a valid request—that is, sought support from an appropriate agency.
Missing information for any of these questions affects estimates of valid unmet requests and/or estimates of people making those requests. To maximise the utility of estimates from the Demand for Accommodation Collection, an answer was imputed where information was missing for questions 4, 5a, 5b, 6, 7a, 7b and 9. The imputation itself was done at the form level by randomly assigning an answer for the missing question using the distribution of answers for that question. To improve accuracy, this imputation also used information from related questions. 
Some editing on questions 2 and 3 was undertaken to help minimise the effects of erroneous or missing responses to these questions. For example, editing was carried out based on the presenting unit and where accompanying children were erroneously recorded in both questions 2 and 3.
An estimate of the total number of valid unmet requests can then be derived by identifying records that correspond to valid unmet requests. This is done using both the original and the imputed answers: initially, valid requests are identified using questions 7 and 9, and any requests in which an offer of assistance was refused or where the reason for the agency refusing indicates that it was an invalid request are excluded. Question 4 can then be used to divide these valid unmet requests into requests for immediate accommodation and other requests.
The number of people associated with valid unmet requests for accommodation is identified by finding those valid unmet requests that correspond to first valid unmet requests. This can partly be done by excluding repeat requests at agencies (identified through Question 5) from identified valid unmet requests (estimated as described). However, in addition to this, to estimate the number of people with a valid unmet request for accommodation one further piece of information is needed—whether a first (invalid) request at an inappropriate agency later becomes an unmet (valid) request at an appropriate agency. This information is very difficult to obtain. In reports before 1999–00, adjustments were made for this gap in information at the state and territory level. The adjustments were based on the ratio of valid second (or further) unmet requests to the total number of first unmet requests. In the 2001–02 analysis, this ratio was also applied but it was used at the form level to provide an estimate of the probability of an invalid first unmet request later becoming a valid unmet request. Using this probability, a proportion of invalid first unmet requests were imputed to become first valid unmet requests. These imputed first valid unmet requests were then combined with observed first valid unmet requests to estimate the total number of people. This ‘unit-level’ approach allowed for greater flexibility in the tables that were produced than the ‘state-level’ adjustments. In the 2002–03 Demand for Accommodation Collection and onwards, information was gathered on whether a person had made an unmet request earlier that day and the reason for prior turn-away, meaning that the number of first invalid unmet requests that later became valid unmet requests could now be estimated using information gathered (in Questions 13a and 13b in 2002–03 and in Questions 5a and 5b in subsequent years).
Met demand
Missing information on the number of people accommodated and about whether a client was previously turned away affects estimates of the number of people who successfully gained accommodation later in the day on which they had made an unmet request. For met demand, the information used to derive the estimated number of people who had a previous valid unmet request for accommodation earlier on the same day is elicited through questions 5a, 5b, 6, 7a and 8 on the 2008–09 Demand for Accommodation form (see Appendix 4), which determine if the request is met, ask how many people were accommodated, whether the person or group had made a request for accommodation earlier that day and, if they were unsuccessful, the reason why. The turn-away measures in this report relate only to those who required immediate accommodation. This information is elicited through Question 4 on the form.
For the purposes of this report, only people with a met request who had a valid unmet request earlier in the day are considered as people who were accommodated in subsequent requests (see chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8). Whether the previous request was valid is determined on the basis of the response recorded against Question 5b on the form. Invalid requests include those made for accommodation where the person did not fall within the agency’s target group, where the person or group was inappropriate for the agency and where the person or group refused the offer of accommodation due to not wanting to split, because the agency was in the wrong area or where they refused accommodation for other reasons. The number of people who were accommodated in subsequent requests is subtracted from the number of people who had a first valid unmet request for accommodation to estimate the number of people who were not accommodated daily.
The imputation for questions 4, 5a, 5b, 6 and 7a was done at the form level by randomly assigning an answer for the missing question using the distribution of answers for that question. To improve accuracy, this imputation also used information from related questions (see also previous section on unmet demand). Some editing was carried out on Question 8 based on the presenting unit.
Matching requesting groups
The Demand for Accommodation Collection form collected information on the requesting group in a different format from that used in the Client Collection. The following table outlines the combinations used in this report.

Name of requesting group	Client Collection requesting groups	Demand for Accommodation Collection requesting groups	
Individual(s) no children	Person alone or with unrelated person	Person without child(ren)	
	Other, with no record of accompanying children in Part B of the form (see Appendix 4)	Persons without child(ren)	
	Requesting group missing, with no record of accompanying children in Part B of the form (see Appendix 4)	Requesting group missing, with no record of accompanying children in Question 3 or Question 8 of the form (see Appendix 4)	
Individual(s) with children	Person with child(ren)	Person with child(ren)	
	Other, with record of accompanying children in Part B of the form (see Appendix 4)	Persons with child(ren)	
	Requesting group missing, with record of accompanying children in Part B of the form (see Appendix 4)	Requesting group missing, with record of accompanying children in Question 3 or Question 8 of the form (see Appendix 4)	
Couple no children	Couple without child(ren)	Couple without child(ren)	
Couple with children	Couple with child(ren)	Couple with child(ren)	
A3.3	Interpretation of tables
When interpreting the tables in this report, readers should note the following:
•	the reference period for the table is specified in the title. This may vary from table to table, depending on the collection being used
•	the population to which the table refers is specified in the title. A number of tables use data from more than one collection, so a table may have two reference populations. This is specified in the title or the table notes
•	the main unit used in the table (for example percentages or numbers) is usually shown at the end of the table title; if no unit is given there, the units used are given in the body of the table
•	unless otherwise indicated, records with missing data (resulting from errors or omissions) are not included in the percentages or numbers in a table. Care should be taken when interpreting and using figures in a table if the numbers of errors and omissions are relatively high—as a rule of thumb, more than one-third as big as the number of records included in the table
•	components may not add to totals due to rounding
•	in some tables, people may have had more than one response, so percentages do not total 100. A note to the table indicates if this is the case.
In general, numbered notes at the bottom of the tables indicate:
•	the number of records excluded from the table because of missing data. The number missing for each collection used in the table is given separately
•	whether the data are unweighted or an adjustment for non-participation and/or client non-consent has been made
•	whether any imputed data have been used (see ‘Estimation methods and adjusting for missing information’ in Section A3.2)
•	any additional information needed to interpret the table.
A3.4	Counting rules and glossary
In this report the following rules and terms have been used. For detailed descriptions of categories, please see the SAAP National Data Collection Agency collectors’ manual (AIHW 2005b).
Accommodated client	A client is considered to be accommodated during a support period if the support type of ‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ was provided and/or a date of accommodation was provided.	
Accommodation period	The period during which a client was in supported accommodation (also referred to as a period of accommodation). A client may have no accommodation periods or one or more accommodation periods within a support period.
The dates on which each accommodation period began and ended during the support period are collected for clients but not for accompanying children. It can, however, be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child will have the same accommodation period start and end dates as their parent(s) or guardian(s) in the majority of cases.	
Accompanying child	A person aged under 18 years who:
•	has a parent or guardian who is a client, and
•	accompanies that client to a an agency any time during that client’s support period, and/or 
•	receives assistance directly as a consequence of a parent or guardian’s support period.	
Accompanying child support period	Each support period in which the child either accompanies a parent or guardian to an agency or receives assistance as a result of a parent’s or guardian’s support period.
Within an accompanying child support period the child may receive one-off assistance and/or support over a period of time. Since the child may not be supported for the entire duration of a parent’s or guardian’s support period, it is not possible to assess the exact length of support for an accompanying child. However, it can be reasonably assumed that an accompanying child will have the same support period start and end dates as their parent(s) or guardian(s) in the majority of cases.
The number of accompanying child support periods is calculated by summing the number of accompanying children reported for each support period.	
Agency	An organisation or establishment that receives a specified amount of SAAP/NAHA funds to provide transitional accommodation and/or support to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Agencies may also receive funding from other sources.
Agency inclusion is determined by the states and territories. 
Not all funded responses to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness are included in the SAAP NDC (see Chapter 1).
Note that the NPAH funding began on 1 July 2009 so services funded under the NPAH are not in scope for this report.
See also Participating agency and Government-funded specialist homelessness agency.	
Alpha code	A predetermined combination of letters from a client’s or accompanying child’s name, together with a letter designating their sex. See also Valid alpha code.	
At imminent risk of homelessness	Includes people who are at risk of losing their housing because of factors that do not pose a threat to their safety, for example interpersonal conflicts that do not involve violence. A person who requires the support of an agency worker to maintain their current housing situation and live independently in the community may also be considered to be at risk of becoming homeless.	
Client	A person who is homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness who:
•	is accommodated by an agency, or
•	enters into an ongoing support relationship with an agency, or
•	receives support or assistance from an agency which entails generally 1 hour or more of a worker’s time, either with that client directly or on behalf of that client, on a given day.
This includes people who are aged 18 years or older and people of any age not accompanied by a parent or guardian.	
Closed accompanying child support periods	An accompanying child support period associated with a closed support period.	
Closed support period	A support period that had finished on or before the end of the reporting period, 30 June.	
Country of birth	The country in which a person was born. Countries are divided into:
•	Australia
•	other English-speaking countries (Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Zimbabwe)
•	mainly non-English-speaking countries.	
Family group	Refers to the following requesting or client groups:
•	individual(s) with children
•	couple no children
•	couple with children.
See ‘Matching requesting groups’ in Section A3.2 for details of how these groups are formed.	
Government-funded specialist homelessness agency	For the purposes of this report, refers to agencies considered in-scope for the SAAP NDC.
See also Agency and Participating agency.	
Homeless person	A person who does not have access to safe, secure and adequate housing. A person is considered not to have access to safe, secure and adequate housing if the only housing to which they have access:
•	damages, or is likely to damage, their health, or
•	threatens their safety, or
•	marginalises them through failing to provide access to
–	adequate personal amenities, or
–	the economic and social supports that a home normally affords, or
•	places them in circumstances which threaten or adversely affect the adequacy, safety, security and affordability of that housing, or
•	has no security of tenure—that is, they have no legal right to continued occupation of their home.
A person is also considered homeless if he or she is living in accommodation provided by an agency or some other form of emergency accommodation.	
Immediate accommodation	Accommodation required/needed within 24 hours.	
Invalid unmet request for accommodation	An unmet request for accommodation is invalid if:
•	the request is made at an agency of an inappropriate target group
•	the person or group is inappropriate for the agency
•	there is no fee-free accommodation available at the agency
•	the proffered assistance is refused.
See also Valid unmet request for accommodation and ‘Estimation methods and adjusting for missing information’ in Section A3.2.	
Informed consent	For the purposes of the SAAP NDC, informed consent is a statement by the client that he or she agrees to have personal information recorded and sent to the NDCA for analysis. The protocols of the collection state that the client must be given appropriate information about why the information is being recorded and what the information will be used for.	
Length of accommodation	Accommodation length is obtained by summing the individual accommodation period lengths reported for a support period. An individual accommodation length is obtained by subtracting the accommodation start date from the accommodation finish date for those periods with valid dates. If a client starts and ends accommodation on the same date, the length of accommodation is recorded as zero.
A support period with accommodation may begin before the start of the financial year. For this report, length of accommodation is the total length of accommodation within a support period, not the length of accommodation within the financial year.	
Length of support	The length of support is calculated by subtracting the support period start date from the support period finish date.
A support period may begin before the start of the financial year. For this report, length of support refers to the length of the entire support period, not the length of support within the financial year.	
Mean	For non-funding support periods or client-level items, the mean value of an item is the weighted arithmetic average of the item using relevant records with valid values.
For funding items, the mean is the total funding as reported, divided by the relevant number of units. For funding per support period or per client, weighted estimates of support periods or clients are used in this division.	
Median	The median is the fiftieth percentile of a distribution. This is the value of an item such that half (using weights) of relevant records with valid values are below this value and half are above it.	
Met request for accommodation	A request for accommodation is met if the agency offers supported accommodation to the person or group requesting accommodation and that offer is accepted. All met requests for accommodation are considered to be valid as the accommodation could be provided.	
Missing values	Records that are not available for analysis are shown in table notes. The number of such records for each table is calculated in the following order of precedence:
•	records not available because of errors
•	records not available because of omissions.

In tables involving subpopulations, it is impossible to determine whether a given record should be included or excluded if data are missing for the variable(s) defining the subpopulation in the analysis. Such records are generally not included in the missing count for these tables.	
Ongoing support period	A support period is considered ongoing at the end of the reporting period if each of the following conditions is met:
•	no support end date is provided
•	no after-support information is provided
•	the corresponding client form was received in the month following the end of the reporting period.
Ongoing support periods are generally not included in tables relating to duration of support or accommodation.	
Ongoing support relationship	An ongoing support relationship exists between an agency and a person if some assistance has been provided to that person, and it is expected that future contact will occur between the person and the agency for the purpose of providing additional assistance. Future contact can be assumed if:
•	a definite appointment has been made with the person to work through particular problems/issues, or
•	an agreement has been reached with the person to work through particular problems/issues even if a specific appointment has not been made, or
•	the agency expects the client to return for more assistance within a month.
However, an invitation to return to the agency in the future if the need arises does not constitute an ongoing support relationship. Rather it should simply be seen as an offer to enter into a new support period or to provide assistance at some future time.	
Participating agency/
participation rate	The participation status of an agency is determined by their status in the Administrative Data Collection as well as by their participation in the SAAP NDC during the reference period.
The Administrative Data Collection contains information on all funded agencies. These agencies fall into one of two categories: non-participating agencies and participating agencies.
Non-participating agencies are funded but are not required to participate in data collection. They are excluded from the calculation of the participation rate but are included in tables relating to agency funding.
Participating agencies are those that are required to return data for the reference period. With some exceptions, these form the basis for the calculation of the participation rate. Participating agencies are not considered ‘in scope’ for the reference period if they were not able to participate in the collection for that year. For example, the Administrative Data Collection indicated that they were closed for the entire reference period and they did not return any data.	
Percentages	Percentages presented in the report are based on valid values only; that is, records without values for the relevant data item are excluded from the denominator before percentages are calculated.	
Period of accommodation	See Accommodation period. 	
Primary target group	Refers to the primary target group of the agency, that is, the primary characteristics of persons to whom a service is targeted.
There are six classifications used by the NDC. These are:
•	young people
•	single men only
•	single women only
•	families
•	women and children escaping domestic violence
•	cross-target/multiple/general.	
Referral	For the purposes of the NDC, a referral involves a formal process, not simply the provision of information. A (formal) referral occurs when an agency contacts another organisation and that organisation accepts the person concerned for an appointment or interview. A referral has not been provided if the person is not accepted for an appointment or interview.	
Rounding	Two-week estimates based on the Demand for Accommodation Collection are rounded to the nearest 10. 
Daily average estimates are generally rounded to one decimal place.
Annual estimates derived from the Client Collection are generally rounded to the nearest 100. 	
Statistical linkage key	A statistical linkage key is a derived variable that allows demographic data about the same client to be combined across support periods without the name of the client being recorded.
See also Valid statistical linkage key. 	
Support/service	Assistance, other than supported accommodation, provided to a client or accompanying child as part of a support period.
See also Type of support.	
Support period	Commences when a client begins to receive support and/or supported accommodation from an agency. The support period is considered to finish when:
•	the client ends the relationship with the agency, or
•	the agency ends the relationship with the client.

If it is not clear whether the agency or the client has ended the relationship, the support period is assumed to have ended if no assistance has been provided to the client for a period of 1 month. In such a case, the date the support period ended is the last contact with the client.
Support periods from operational agencies are included in the analyses presented in this report if:
•	the client’s support period ended in the reporting period, or
•	the client’s support period started on or before the end of the reporting period and either was ongoing at the end of the reporting period (30 June) or the end date of the support period was unknown and the record was entered by the NDCA before the data entry close-off date for the reporting period.	
Support period with accommodation	A support period in which a support type of ‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ was provided and/or a date of ‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ was provided.	
Supported accommodation	Accommodation owned, managed or arranged and paid for by an agency. The accommodation may be provided at the agency itself or may be purchased using SAAP/NAHA funds—at a motel, for example.	
Target group	See Primary target group.	
Total demand for accommodation	The total demand for accommodation refers to accommodation requested from an agency, whether that request was met or not. It includes accommodation that was newly starting and accommodation that was continuing from a previous day, as well as unmet requests for accommodation.	
Turn-away—percentage of people requiring new and immediate accommodation 	Calculated as the daily average percentage of people who could not be accommodated relative to all people who required new and immediate accommodation. It provides an indication of a person’s likelihood of obtaining government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation.	
Turn-away—percentage of total demand for immediate accommodation	Calculated as the daily average percentage of people who could not be accommodated relative to all people who required new and immediate accommodation plus those who were continuing their accommodation from a previous day. It provides a measure of the overall ability of government-funded specialist homelessness agencies to meet the expressed demand for their accommodation.	
Type of support	The Client Collection specifies 34 distinct types of support for clients and 17 distinct types of support for accompanying children and allows agencies to record other types not listed on the data form. 

For clients, this report presents individual service or support types and includes a subtotal for six distinct groupings. The major classifications for clients are:
•	housing or accommodation—‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’; assistance to obtain or maintain short-term accommodation; assistance to obtain or maintain medium-term accommodation; and assistance to obtain or maintain independent housing
•	financial or employment—assistance to obtain or maintain a government allowance; employment and training assistance; financial assistance or material aid; and financial counselling and support
•	personal support—incest or sexual assault support; domestic or family violence support; family or relationship support; emotional support; and assistance with problem gambling
•	general support or advocacy—living skills or personal development; assistance with legal issues or court support; advice or information; retrieval, storage or removal of personal belongings; and advocacy or liaison on behalf of the client
•	specialist services—psychological services; specialist counselling services; psychiatric services; pregnancy support; family planning support; drug or alcohol support or intervention; physical disability services; intellectual disability services; culturally specific services; interpreter services; assistance with immigration issues; and health or medical services
•	basic support and other not elsewhere specified—meals; laundry or shower facilities; recreation; transport; and other support.
For accompanying children, this report presents individual service or support types and includes a subtotal for six distinct groupings. The major classifications for accompanying children are: 
•	accommodation—‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’
•	school liaison or child care—school liaison; and child care
•	personal support—help with behavioural problems; sexual or physical abuse support; skills education; and structured play or skill development
•	general support or advocacy—access arrangements; advice or information; and advocacy
•	specialist services—specialist counselling; culturally specific services; and health or medical services

•	basic support and other not elsewhere specified—meals; showers or hygiene; recreation; transport; and other support.
Note that support for accompanying children is recorded on only one parent’s or guardian’s form when a couple presents to an agency.
For further information, refer to Appendix 4 for the form and to the collectors manual (AIHW 2005a) for the definitions.	
Unmet need	An unmet need occurs when an agency worker assesses that a client needs a support service during their support period, and that service is not provided or referred.	
Valid alpha code	This is an alpha code that is given with informed consent, and contains only letters from the alphabet or the numeral ‘2’ (to indicate a short name) and ends in either M or F to indicate the sex.	
Valid consent	Refers to a valid statistical linkage key.	
Valid date of birth	For the purposes of the NDC, a valid date of birth is one which is provided with informed consent; and has the day and month of birth completed and not estimated; and the year of birth completed either estimated or not estimated.	
Valid statistical linkage key	For the purposes of the NDC, a valid statistical linkage key comprises a valid alpha code and valid date of birth.	
Valid unmet request for accommodation	An unmet request for accommodation is valid if the agency cannot offer accommodation because:
•	insufficient accommodation is available 
•	the agency is a referred agency with no vacancies on the books
•	the type of accommodation requested is not provided by the agency
•	there are insufficient staff to provide support
•	facilities for special needs are not available
•	other reasons not elsewhere specified.
See also Invalid unmet request for accommodation and ‘Estimation methods and adjusting for missing information’ in Section A3.2.	

Appendix 4	Collection forms
These forms have been excluded from this format. Please contact feedback@aihw.gov.au for more information.

References
ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) 2009. Australian demographic statistics, September quarter 2009. ABS cat. no. 3101.0. Canberra: ABS.
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) 2005a. Australia’s welfare 2005. Cat. no. AUS 65. Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW 2005b. SAAP National Data Collection Agency collectors manual July 2005. Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW 2007. Australia’s welfare 2007. Cat. no. AUS 93. Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW 2009a. Australia’s welfare 2009. Australia’s welfare series no. 9. Cat. no. AUS 117. Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW 2009b. Demand for SAAP accommodation by homeless people 2007–08: a report from the SAAP National Data Collection. SAAP NDC report series 13. Cat. no. HOU 211. Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW 2010a. Demand for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation 2008–09: summary. Cat. no. HOU 231 . Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW 2010b. Government-funded specialist homelessness services: SAAP National Data Collection annual report 2008–09 Australia. Cat. no. HOU 219. Canberra: AIHW.
Chamberlain C & MacKenzie D 2008. Australian census analytical program: counting the homeless 2006. ABS cat. no. 2050.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. 
Griffin J 2008. Reducing unmet demand in SAAP: pointers from the evidence base. National conference edition. Fifth National Homelessness Conference, Adelaide, 5 May. Parity 21(4) May:38–9. Collingwood, Victoria: Council to Homeless Persons.

List of tables
Table 2.1:	‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ required by clients in closed support periods: 
state and territory, by provision, 2008–09	9
Table 2.2:	‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ required by clients in closed support periods: 
client group, by provision, 2008–09	9
Table 2.3:	‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ required by clients in closed support periods: 
primary target group of agency, by provision, 2008–09	10
Table 2.4:	‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ required for accompanying children in closed accompanying child support periods: state and territory, by provision, 2008–09	10
Table 2.5:	‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ required for accompanying children in closed accompanying child support periods: client group, by provision, 2008–09	11
Table 2.6:	‘SAAP/CAP accommodation’ required for accompanying children in closed accompanying child support periods: primary target group of agency, by 
provision, 2008–09	11
Table 3.1:	Unmet requests for accommodation: main reason why request was not met, 
by state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	16
Table 3.2:	Unmet requests for accommodation: main reason why request was not met, 
by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	17
Table 3.3:	Unmet requests for accommodation: main reason why request was not met, 
by primary target group of agency, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	18
Table 3.4:	Valid unmet requests for accommodation: when accommodation was required, 
by state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	19
Table 3.5:	Valid unmet requests for accommodation: when accommodation was required, 
by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	19
Table 3.6:	Valid unmet requests for accommodation: when accommodation was required, 
by primary target group of agency, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	20
Table 3.7:	Valid unmet requests for accommodation: one-off assistance, by state and territory, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	21
Table 3.8:	Referrals for accommodation made in valid unmet requests for immediate 
accommodation, by state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	22
Table 3.9:	Referrals for accommodation made in valid unmet requests for immediate 
accommodation, by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	23
Table 3.10:	Referrals for accommodation made in valid unmet requests for immediate 
accommodation, by primary target group of agency, 3–9 December 2008 and 
6–12 May 2009	24
Table 4.1:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation 
was required and state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	28
Table 4.2:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation 
was required and requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	29
Table 4.3:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation 
was required and primary target group of agency, 3–9 December 2008 and 
6–12 May 2009	30
Table 4.4:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation
was required and sex, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	31
Table 4.5:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation 
was required and age, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	32
Table 4.6:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation 
was required and country of birth, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	33
Table 4.7:	People with a valid unmet request for accommodation, by when accommodation 
was required and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, 3–9 December 2008 
and 6–12 May 2009	33
Table 6.1:	Adults and unaccompanied children turned away, by state and territory, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	39
Table 6.2:	Adults and unaccompanied children turned away, by requesting group, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	40
Table 6.3:	Adults and unaccompanied children turned away, by primary target group 
of agency, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	41
Table 6.4:	Adults and unaccompanied children turned away each day, 3–9 December 2008 
and 6–12 May 2009	42
Table 7.1:	Accompanying children turned away, by state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 
and 6–12 May 2009	46
Table 7.2:	Accompanying children turned away, by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 
and 6–12 May 2009	47
Table 7.3:	Accompanying children turned away, by primary target group of agency, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	48
Table 7.4:	Accompanying children turned away each day, 3–9 December 2008 and 
6–12 May 2009	49
Table 8.1:	Total people turned away, by state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 
6–12 May 2009	53
Table 8.2:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 
6–12 May 2009	54
Table 8.3:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, 3–9 December 2008 
and 6–12 May 2009	55
Table 8.4:	Total people turned away each day, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	56
Table 9.1:	Closed support periods with accommodation: mean and median lengths of accommodation, by state and territory, 2008–09	60
Table 9.2:	Closed support periods with accommodation: mean and median lengths of accommodation, by client group, 2008–09	60
Table 9.3:	Closed support periods with accommodation: mean and median lengths of accommodation, by primary target group of agency, 2008–09	60
Table A1.1:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, New South Wales, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	61
Table A1.2:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, Queensland, 3–9 December 2008 
and 6–12 May 2009	62
Table A1.3:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, Western Australia, 3–9 December 
2008 and 6–12 May 2009	63
Table A1.4:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, South Australia, 3–9 December 
2008 and 6–12 May 2009	64
Table A1.5:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, Tasmania, 3–9 December 2008 
and 6–12 May 2009	65
Table A1.6:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, Australian Capital Territory, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	66
Table A1.7:	Total people turned away, by requesting group, Northern Territory, 3–9 December 
2008 and 6–12 May 2009	67
Table A1.8:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, New South Wales, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	68
Table A1.9:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, Queensland, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	69
Table A1.10:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, Western Australia, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	70
Table A1.11:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, South Australia, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	71
Table A1.12:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, Tasmania, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	72
Table A1.13:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, Australian 
Capital Territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	73
Table A1.14:	Total people turned away, by primary target group of agency, Northern 
Territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009	74
Table A3.1:	Client Collection: participating agencies, agency participation rates and records 
returned with informed consent and valid consent for clients, by state and 
territory, and by primary target group of agency, Australia, 2008–09	78
Table A3.2:	Client Collection: records returned with informed consent and valid consent 
for accompanying children, by state and territory, and by primary target group 
of agency, Australia, 2008–09	79
Table A3.3:	Demand for Accommodation Collection: agency participation rates and records 
returned, by state and territory, and by primary target group for 3–9 December 2008 
and 6–12 May 2009, and by reporting period, Australia	81

List of figures
Figure 2.1:	Provision of accommodation required by clients, by client group, 2008–09
Figure 2.2:	Provision of accommodation required by accompanying children, by client group, 
2008–09
Figure 3.1:	Valid unmet requests for accommodation: main reason why request was not met, 
by state and territory, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009
Figure 3.2:	Valid unmet requests for accommodation: main reason why request was not met, 
by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009
Figure 3.3:	Valid unmet requests for accommodation: main reason why request was not met, 
by primary target group of agency, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009
Figure 6.1:	Turn-away for adults and unaccompanied children who required new and 
immediate accommodation, by requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 
6–12 May 2009
Figure 6.2:	Turn-away for total expressed demand for immediate accommodation by adults 
and unaccompanied children, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009
Figure 7.1:	Turn-away for total expressed demand for immediate accommodation for 
accompanying children, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009
Figure 8.1:	Turn-away for people who required new and immediate accommodation, by 
requesting group, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009
Figure 8.2:	Turn-away for total expressed demand for immediate accommodation, 
3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009
Figure 9.1:	Closed support periods with accommodation: mean and median length of 
accommodation for clients who were accommodated for at least 1 day, by client 
group, 2008–09
Figure 9.2:	Daily demand for accommodation, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009
Figure A2.1:	Demand for government-funded specialist homelessness accommodation 
summary diagram, 3–9 December 2008 and 6–12 May 2009