NSW: Millions of Australians on edge of homelessness - charity
SYDNEY, April 22 AAP - Millions of Australians are only one step away from being homeless,a leading welfare organisation said today.
Mission Australia said the type of person likely to become homeless was changing, withyounger people more at risk.
The welfare group today launched its national homeless appeal, hoping to raise $1.8million for the country's poorest people.
At the launch in Sydney the organisation warned that more needed to be done if Australiawas to avoid a homelessness epidemic.
Mission Australia chief Patrick McClure said on any given night 300 people were sleepingon the streets of Sydney alone, but thousands more homeless were in shelters, cars, squatsor other temporary accommodation.
Mr McClure also said the one million women who had suffered domestic violence, thealmost two million people in casual work and the 400,000 Australians holding down twoor more jobs could be "on the razor's edge" of homelessness.
He said causes of homelessness included domestic violence, family breakdown, mentalillness and unemployment, which put millions of Australians at risk.
Most people's image of a typical homeless person was wrong, Mr McClure said.
"The stereotype we have of homeless people is of a male in his fifties or sixties witha mental illness," he told reporters.
"That's changed. It's now a young woman who's 28 years old and a young male who's 32 years.
"The key thing is homeless people are much younger (now) and for that reason we needsupport services that enable them where possible to get into rehabilitation, to get intomore stable accommodation and also where possible into training and employment."
Mr McClure also said 16 per cent of homeless people were Aboriginal, although indigenouspeople made up only two per cent of the population.
Mr McClure said a key part of Mission Australia's Missionbeat service would be to gatherinformation on homelessness in order to better address the problem.
The charity has also decked out a Sydney bus with the Missionbeat logo to spread awarenessof the problem.
AAP jh/arb/wjf/bwl
KEYWORD: HOMELESS
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