QCOSS Regional Homelessness Profile Mackay Statistical Division March 2011
Council of Social Service Inc (QCOSS) March 2011 QCOSS would like to thank the Department of Communities for providing data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which is cited within this profile, and for supplying the maps used throughout the profile. QCOSS welcomes feedback on the content of this profile. To provide feedback please call 1800 651 255. 1 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
Mackay Region This profile provides data on homelessness in the Mackay Statistical Division. This region includes the coastal communities of Mackay, Sarina, the Whitsundays and Bowen, as well as the northern part of the Central coalfields. Note that some data in this profile is based on slightly different boundaries where statistical and departmental boundaries differ or where departmental boundaries have changed over time. The area profiled is shown in the following map. Figure 1 Mackay Mackay region has an estimated population of approximately 173,000 and is growing at 2 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
a faster rate than as a whole, as shown in Table 1. Table 1 Population Source Number As a percentage of 2009 Estimated Residential Population 172,735 4,425,103 3.9% Projected population 2026 244,943 5,884,390 4.2% 2006 Census Population 159,800 3,904,534 4.1% Source: Treasury (2010), Regional Profiles Compared with the whole of, the Mackay region has a similar proportion of people of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent, but a lower proportion of people who speak a language other than English at home, as shown in Table 2. Its age structure is roughly similar to that of as a whole, but median household incomes are slightly higher. Table 2 Key Population Characteristics Item Number % % Indigenous persons 5,480 3.4% 127,580 3.3% Language other than English spoken 3,202 2.0% 303,096 7.8% at home Median age 35 36 Median household income (weekly) $1,138 $1,033 Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Basic Community Profile and Extended Community Profile, Census 2006 Mackay is by far the largest population centre among a number of other urban areas both on the coast and in the hinterland. Table 3 Main Population Centres Main population centres (2009) % of total region Number Mackay 76,500 44.3% Bowen 8,587 5.0% Moranbah 8,326 4.8% Cannonvale 4,890 2.8% Proserpine 3,712 2.1% Sarina 3,448 2.0% Dysart 3,444 2.0% Airlie Beach 3,417 2.0% Walkerston 3,052 1.8% Source: Treasury (2010), Regional Profiles 3 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
The breakdown of household types, shown in Table 4, is roughly similar to that for as a whole, with slightly fewer sole parent families and lone person households, and more couples with children. Table 4 Household Types Mackay Household Type number Mackay % Number % Couple no children 14,800 29.6% 392,709 28.2% Couple with children 17,986 36.0% 443,512 31.9% Sole parent family 4,645 9.3% 158,539 11.4% Other family 436 0.9% 17,221 1.2% Total families 37,867 75.7% 1,011,981 72.7% Lone person 10,372 20.7% 316,788 22.8% Group household 1,784 3.6% 62,864 4.5% Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Basic Community Profile and Extended Community Profile, Census 2006 Homelessness in Mackay Statistical Division The following data, taken from Counting the Homeless (2009), shows that Mackay has a higher proportion of homeless people per 10,000 population than as a whole, with 9.4% of s homeless people but 4.1% of the population. The homelessness rate is markedly higher outside Mackay City. Table 5 Numbers of Homeless People and Proportions per 10,000 population Number Location Total per 10,000 Mackay City Part A 692 95 Mackay SD Balance 1,814 235 Mackay SD 2,506 167 26,782 69 Source: Chamberlain, C Mackenzie, D., (2009), Counting the Homeless 2006:. Cat No. HOU 205, Canberra, AIHW. Table 6 shows the breakdown of Mackay s homeless population by their type of homelessness, and also includes estimates from Counting the Homeless of the number of marginal households in caravan parks those caravan park residents at immediate risk of homelessness. Table 7 shows this broken down by Indigenous and non-indigenous people. As for as a whole, friends and relatives are the most frequently used source of accommodation assistance and the rate of Indigenous homelessness is significantly higher than for the non-indigenous population. 4 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
Table 6 Breakdown by Type of Homelessness Boarding house Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) Friends and relatives Improvised dwellings Total homeless Marginal residents in caravan parks Total homeless and marginally housed Rate per 10,000 (including caravan parks) Location Mackay City Part A 138 128 319 107 692 265 957 131 Mackay SD Balance 393 20 800 601 1,814 398 2,212 286 Mackay SD 531 148 1,119 708 2,506 663 3,169 211 5,438 3,233 12,946 5,165 26,782 6,385 33,167 85 Source: Chamberlain, C Mackenzie, D., (2009), Counting the Homeless 2006:. Cat No. HOU 205, Canberra, AIHW. Table 7 Indigenous and non-indigenous homeless people Location Mackay City Part A Mackay SD Balance Mackay SD Boarding house SAAP Friends and relatives Improvised dwellings Total homeless Marginal residents in caravan parks Total homeless and marginally housed Rate per 10,000 (including caravan parks) Non-Indigenous 129 82 305 83 599 84 683 98 Indigenous 9 39 14 24 86 0 86 259 Non-Indigenous 364 20 778 586 1,748 376 2,124 284 Indigenous 29 0 22 15 66 22 88 331 Non-Indigenous 493 102 1,083 669 2,347 460 2,807 195 Indigenous 38 39 36 39 152 22 174 291 Non-Indigenous 4,982 2,442 12,468 4,637 24,529 5,649 30,178 80 Indigenous 456 686 478 528 2,148 516 2,664 197 Source: Chamberlain, C Mackenzie, D., (2009), Counting the Homeless 2006:. Cat No. HOU 205, Canberra, AIHW. 5 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
Contributing Factors This section presents key data about housing disadvantage. Mackay as a whole has an unemployment rate which is substantially lower than, although Bowen is slightly higher as shown in Table 8. Table 8 Unemployment rates 2010 Unemployment Location rate March 2010 Bowen 7.8% Whitsunday 5.4% Sarina 5.2% Mackay SD 4.3% 5.6% Source: Treasury (2010), Regional Profiles Mackay has a slightly smaller proportion of people with a disability than as a whole, as shown in Table 9. Table 9 Persons with a severe or profound disability 2006 Mackay Number 4,817 154,707 Percentage 3.2% 4.0% Source: Treasury (2010), Regional Profiles The Socio-economic Indicators for Areas (SEIFA) Index for socio-economic disadvantage, summarised in Table 10, are an Australian Bureau of Statistics measure of overall disadvantage. This index shows that the Mackay area has less people at either end of the extremes of advantage or disadvantage. Table 10 Socio-economic Index for Areas 2006 Mackay % of population in most disadvantaged quintile 16.1% 20.0% % of population in least disadvantaged quintile 10.5% 20.0% Source: Treasury (2010), Regional Profiles 6 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
Housing Mackay households are broken down across tenures in much the same proportion as as a whole, as shown in Table 11. There is a slightly higher proportion of households in other tenures (including caravan parks), and who are outright home owners. Table 11 Key Housing Information 2006 Category Number Percentage Number Percentage Total households 50,025 N/A 1,391,632 N/A. Fully owned 16,254 32.5% 439,677 31.6% Being purchased 15,901 31.8% 470,114 33.8% Rented real estate agent 6,084 12.2% 220,041 15.8% Rented other person 3,890 7.8% 113,065 8.1% Rented State Government housing 1,719 3.4% 47,878 3.4% Rented community landlord 418 0.8% 9,997 0.7% Rented other 3,115 6.2% 28,595 2.1% Rented not stated 738 1.5% 12,720 0.9% Total rented 15,964 31.9% 432,296 31.1% Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Basic Community Profile and Extended Community Profile, Census 2006 Median rents for the major centres in Mackay are shown in Table 12. Table 12 - Median weekly rents, main population centres, March 2010 Housing Type Mackay $ Whitsunday $ Bowen $ 1 bedroom flat 230 230 180 2 bedroom flat 280 290 230 3 bedroom flat 400 350 400 2 bedroom house 330 280 275 3 bedroom house 375 350 340 4 bedroom house 460 400 350 Source: Residential Tenancies Authority, data for March Quarter 2010 7 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
Department of Communities Disadvantage-Need-Risk Rankings The Department of Communities has developed a method to identify and rank the high priority populations and their locations across using a combination of measures of disadvantage, need and risk (DNR). The department uses data from COMSIS to develop these rankings as part of its evidence in matching human services to priority community need. COMSIS is the Department of Communities Statistical Information System and is available publicly at https://statistics.oesr.qld.gov.au/comsis. The DNR rank is a composite of: Disadvantage: the Socio-Economic Index for Areas (SEIFA) Disadvantage scale, (recalculated so that higher SEIFA ranks represent greater disadvantage but SEIFA average and standard deviation measures are unaffected); Sentinel Indicators of Need (often protected data such as births to mothers aged 15 19 years, child protection notifications in the case of identifying vulnerable children and families; and Risk is based on the proportion of the target population within the general population. The final rank provides an indicative ordinal ranking of statistical local areas (SLAs) so that localities with a lower DNR rank are identified as having a higher need for support services than localities with higher DNR ranks. However, the ranks do not represent an absolute comparison of need (i.e., a locality with a lower DNR rank than another locality is not necessarily more needy ). For example an SLA with a DNR Rank of 1 indicates the SLA has the most disadvantage for a specified population or issue and a ranking of 479 indicates an SLA of least disadvantage. This ranking provides a first indication of need within relevant populations that can be checked against the local knowledge of regional service staff. Use of the DNR ranking must be considered in conjunction with the regional intelligence about an area to best identify areas of need for a population or issue. The opportunity to capture this qualitative information occurs during regional validation of DNR Rankings when a qualitative assessment is made based on the advice and experience of local staff. The rankings are most powerful when displayed as a thematic layer on a map in conjunction with other spatial data such as the location of services and target population density. 8 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
Figure 2: Mackay area Key to map For service key refer page 8 Small black dots indicate social housing stock 9 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
Service System The following tables summarise data from the SAAP National Data Collection for 2007-08, collected by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The boundaries of the Whitsundays region used in this analysis may not be identical to those used in the rest of this profile but are substantially the same. Table 13 Summary of SAAP service provision 2007-08 Amount per homeless/ marginally Whitsundays housed person Amount per homeless/marginally housed person Number of agencies 10 0.00 240 0.01 Funding allocation $2,127,000 $671.19 $67,080,000 $2,022.49 Mean funding per agency $212,700 N/A 279,500 N/A Total person/days of support in SAAP 35,410 11.17 1,469,900 44.32 Total accommodation nights SAAP 23,220 7.33 538,270 16.23 Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, (2009), Homeless People in SAAP: SAAP National Data Collection annual report 2007-08, supplementary table; Chamberlain, C Mackenzie, D. 2009 Counting the Homeless 2006:. Cat No. HOU 205, Canberra, AIHW. 10 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
Figure 3: Services Homelessness services are indicated on the map below, clustered in Mackay, as per the key below. Note: Accommodation and support services for families, women and children escaping domestic and family violence are not included for security reasons. 11 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
Table 14 below provides a summary of the amount of support given to different types of households assisted by SAAP services in Mackay and in. Table 14 Percentage of total support periods in SAAP by client type 2007-08 Household Type Whitsundays * % % Male alone 51.0 40.1 Female alone 20.6 25.2 Couple no children 0.3 3.7 Couple with children 5.0 7.1 Male with children 0.8 2.1 Female with children 21.7 21.5 Other 0.7 0.3 Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, (2009), Homeless People in SAAP: SAAP National Data Collection annual report 2007 08, supplementary table. * Column may not add up to 100% due to rounding Table 15 provides an age breakdown of the individual clients of SAAP agencies. Table 15 Age breakdown of clients of SAAP services 2008-09 Age Whitsundays Whitsundays %* %* 0-14 13 2.1 654 3.5 15-17 37 5.8 1,675 9.1 18-24 119 18.6 3,955 21.4 25-34 175 27.4 4,643 25.1 35-49 200 31.3 5,535 30 50-64 77 12.1 1,629 8.9 65+ 17 2.7 348 1.9 Total 638 100.0 18,439 99.9% Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Homeless People in SAAP: SAAP National Data Collection 2008-09. * Column may not add up to 100% due to rounding Table 16 identifies the proportion of Indigenous SAAP clients. Table 16 SAAP service client breakdown by Indigenous status 2008-09 Indigenous Status Whitsundays Whitsundays %* % Non-Indigenous 539 84.5 13,768 74.7 Indigenous 80 12.5 4,020 21.8 Unknown 19 3.0 651 3.5 Total 638 100 18,439 100 Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Homeless People in SAAP: SAAP National Data Collection 2008-09. * Column may not add up to 100% due to rounding 12 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
Table 17 provides a breakdown of the main reasons clients sought assistance from SAAP services. Note that clients often identify more than one reason for seeking assistance, and this data table documents the one they have nominated as their main reason. Table 17 Reasons for seeking assistance from a SAAP service 2008-09 Main Reason for Seeking Assistance Whitsundays Whitsundays %* % Family breakdown or relationship issues (1) 178 21.5 5,301 18.4 Escape from violence/abuse (2) 133 16 3,852 13.3 Gambling 0 0 70 0.2 Financial Difficulties (3) 106 12.8 4,419 15.3 Overcrowding issues 15 1.8 975 3.4 Eviction/asked to leave 78 9.4 2,175 7.5 Previous accommodation ended (emergency or other) (4) 70 8.4 2,960 10.2 Problematic drug/ alcohol/substance use 22 2.7 942 3.3 Mental health issues (5) 27 3.3 671 2.4 Other health issues 16 1.9 421 1.5 Gay/lesbian/ transgender issues 1 0.1 9 0 Recently left institution 4 0.5 340 1.2 Recent arrival in area or itinerant (6) 85 10.2 2,305 8 Other 68 8.2 1,361 4.7 Not known 26 3.1 3,075 10.6 Total 829 99.9 28,876 100 Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Homeless People in SAAP: SAAP National Data Collection 2008-09. (1) includes Time out from family/other situation, Relationship breakdown and Interpersonal conflict (2) includes Sexual abuse, Domestic/family violence and Physical/emotional abuse (3) includes Budgeting problems, Rent too high and Other financial difficulty (4) includes Emergency accommodation ended and Previous accommodation ended (5) includes Mental health issues and Psychiatric Illness (6) includes Recently arrived in area with no means of support and Itinerant * Column may not add up to 100% due to rounding Table 18 shows the proportion of SAAP clients seeking accommodation who could be provided with that accommodation. Note that many people approach SAAP services seeking support other than accommodation. This data is only collected over a limited period of time, and does not record the numbers accommodated over the entire year. 13 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
Table 18 Offers of accommodation from SAAP services 2008-09 Was accommodation offered? Whitsundays Whitsundays % * % Yes 13 22.8 1,064 33.2 No 44 77.2 2,083 65 Not known 0 0 59 1.8 Total 57 100 3,206 100 Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Homeless People in SAAP: SAAP National Data Collection 2008-09. * Column may not add up to 100% due to rounding Table 19 shows the main reasons for not offering accommodation for those who were not accommodated. Table 19 Reasons for SAAP services not offering accommodation 2008-09 Main reason for not offering accommodation Whitsundays Whitsundays %* % Referral agency with no vacancies on books 1 2.3 343 16.5 Insufficient accommodation available 36 81.8 1,138 54.6 Agency inappropriate - wrong target group 5 11.4 235 11.3 Type of accommodation requested not provided 2 4.5 100 4.8 Insufficient staff to provide support 0 0 15 0.7 Facilities for special needs not available 0 0 3 0.1 Person/group inappropriate for agency 0 0 70 3.4 No fee-free accommodation available 0 0 4 0.2 Other 0 0 102 4.9 Not known 0 0 73 3.5 Total 44 100 2,083 100 Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Homeless People in SAAP: SAAP National Data Collection 2008-09. * Column may not add up to 100% due to rounding 14 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
Table 20 provides a list of all the homelessness support services funded by the Department of Communities in the Mackay Statistical Division. Table 20 Homelessness Services located in the Mackay statistical division as at July 2010 Service Name Location Organisation Service Type Clermont Community Housing and Other Services Inc Community Accommodation & Support Agency Inc CASA - Early Intervention Service Clermont Isaac Regional Council Accommodation & Support Service - Generalist Mackay Mackay Community Accommodation & Support Agency Inc Community Accommodation & Support Agency Inc Kalyan Youth Service Inc Mackay Kalyan Youth Service Inc Ozcare Mackay Homeless Men's Hostel Emergency and Long Term Accommodation in Moranbah Accommodation & Support Service - Generalist Early Intervention Accommodation & Support Service - Young People Mackay Ozcare Accommodation & Support Service - Single Men Moranbah Emergency and Long Term Accommodation in Moranbah Inc Accommodation & Support Service - Generalist Note: Accommodation and support services for women and children escaping domestic and family violence are not included for security reasons. There are 4 of these services across the Mackay statistical division. Source: Information provided by the Department of Communities, July 2010 Sources Australian Bureau of Statistics, Basic Community Profile and Extended Community Profile, Census 2006. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, (2009), Homeless People in SAAP: SAAP National Data Collection annual report 2007 08, supplementary table. Chamberlain, C Mackenzie, D., (2009), Counting the Homeless 2006:. Cat No. HOU 205, Canberra, AIHW. Treasury, Regional Profiles: Mackay Statistical Division, profile generated on 7 July 2010. 15 P a g e M a c k a y S t a t i s t i c a l D i v i s i o n
Attachment A: A full map of the North region including Mackay Service, population and DNR Maps courtesy of the Department of Communities Note: Accommodation and support services for families, women and children escaping domestic and family violence are not included for security reasons.