Latest data shows extent of homelessness in Adelaide

There are 226 people sleeping rough in Adelaide on any given night – but people are losing their home twice as fast as finding one.

At least 180 people sleeping rough around Adelaide have found housing in the past 14 months, but more than 380 have become homeless over the same period.

The latest data will be revealed at a homelessness conference hosted by the Don Dunstan Foundation on Wednesday.

Foundation executive director David Pearson said the number of rough sleepers was tracked each month as part of the Adelaide Zero project and had reached 226 on any given night.

“A whopping 384 new people have fallen into street homelessness”, he said, during the same time that 40 organisations had worked together to find housing for “a record 180 people”.

In the time that housing was found for 180 people, 384 more have ended up on the streets. Picture: Tait Schmaal

American expert Jake Maguire has travelled to Adelaide to address Wednesday’s conference.

Mr Maguire is the director of the Built for Zero initiative in the US and helped establish the Adelaide Zero project here.

Both programs aim for “functional zero” street homelessness, or when the number of people homeless on any given night is no more than the average number who can be found housing each month.

Mr Maguire urged Australian governments to provide more “flexible” financial support, such as covering missed rent, to stop people falling into entrenched homelessness, which was more expensive to manage.

South Australians can already apply to the Private Rental Assistance Program, which covers bonds and rent to avoid eviction.

Human Services Minister Michelle Lensink said “the current system is not working as well as it could be” and the State Government was developing a new Housing and Homelessness Strategy.

*** LATEST SUBSCRIPTION OFFER ***
50c/day for the first six months
Find out more and sign up here