Carevan Blacktown; Homelessness Week 2022
Homelessness week 2022 
Homelessness Australia uses the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) statistical definition of homelessness.
“When a person does not have suitable accommodation alternatives they are considered homeless if their current living arrangement is in a dwelling that is inadequate; or has no tenure, or if their initial tenure is short and not extendable; or does not allow them to have control of, and access to, space for social relations”
The ABS definition of homelessness is informed by an understanding of homelessness as ‘home’lessness, not ‘roof’lessness.
It emphasises the core elements of ‘home’ in Anglo-American and European interpretations of the meaning of home… These elements may include a sense of security, stability, privacy, safety, and the ability to control living space.
Homelessness is therefore a lack of one or more of the elements that represent ‘home’.
In Australia, there are over 116,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given night.
Why do people experience homelessness?
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare;
Homelessness can be the result of many social, economic and health–related factors. Individual factors, such as low educational attainment, whether someone is working, experience of family and domestic violence, ill health (including mental health issues) and disability, trauma, and substance misuse may make a person more at risk of becoming homeless (Fitzpatrick et al. 2013). Structural factors, including lack of adequate income and limited access to affordable and available housing, also contribute to risk of homelessness (Johnson et al. 2015; Wood et al. 2015).
Organisations such as the Salvation Army and the Smith Family are critical and important services for people experiencing homelessness and the issues that can lead to this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEkPCKmzh1A
Carevan Blacktown works locally to serve all who attend, no matter the reason. Many of our community experience the issues that can lead to homelessness and rooflessness, living week to week with this reality and in a cycle of poverty and disadvantage. People seek out services such as ours to access meals, food, clothing and other resources to assist short or long term.
We work in collaboration with our amazing community and with its tremendous support, to provide care, connection and practical assistance, but we are not the solution
