Homelessness+in+Melbourne

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====**Homelessness is an important issue and it is most common in urban areas. It affects 1 in 200 people in Melbourne alone. Around the world there are more than 100 million people homeless every night. This page will focus on the facts and the affects of homelessness and will give you an insight into the issue and help you to understand the challenges homeless people face everyday.**====

**Each night in Australia 105,000 people are homeless. This is an increase of 13.8% since 1996 when the number was 99,900.**
====**Homelessness: a person that does not have access to proper housing, cannot afford to pay for a house or leaves home in fear of their safety. People are also considered homeless if they access emergency services. There are three different types of homelessness:-**====
 * ====**Primary: people living on the streets and living rough. Living rough means sleeping on the street**====
 * ====**Secondary: people living in emergency accommodation such as boarding houses, where you could be sleeping with 30 other people and sharing bathroom facilities with everyone**====
 * ====**Tertiary: people staying temporarily in friends or families houses. This is also known as couch surfing**====

**On any one night,in Australia, homeless people can be grouped into the following categories:-**

 * ====**44% of homeless people stay with friends or relatives**====
 * ====**20% are in emergency accommodation or boarding houses**====
 * ====**18% are on the streets**====
 * ====**18% are in homeless services**====

**of those groups:-**

 * ====**23% are under 18 years old**====
 * ====**43% are under 25 years old**====

**and**

 * ====**50% who request help get turned away from emergency accommodation services**====
 * ====**1/50 women aged 18-19 stayed in a homeless assistance center this year, alone.**====

Causes and effects
====**Homelessness is caused by many things including debt and physical and mental issues, drug and alcohol addiction. People don't choose to be homeless and sometimes they have no choice. The biggest cause of homelessness and probably the most surprising cause is domestic violence. Women and children will sometimes leave the family home if a member of the family is being physically, mentally or sexually abusive. The largest group of homeless people are families with children**==== ====**When a person has no home they will base themselves: outdoors, in abandoned structures (squatting), in cars, public places and tunnels and under bridges. Also in more formal places such as inexpensive hotels, boarding houses, homeless shelters and at friend's houses (couch surfing).**====

**We can now see that homelessness is a big problem and something needs to be done about it. And remember that anyone young or old**, **boy or girl, can become homeless.**
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