StreetCount research projects commenced in 2008 with annual ‘point-in-time’ counts taking place to record the number of people sleeping rough.
Since 2012, the ‘point-in-time’ count has been undertaken biannually and a qualitative research project is undertaken on the alternate years.
The StreetCount 2015 qualitative research chronicled the daily experience of people who had been sleeping rough and experiencing long term homelessness in the City of Melbourne. Of the 83 participants, six people had been homeless for five to ten years and 24 people (29 per cent) for 10 years or more. The research group included 16 women and 67 males; 62 per cent were aged between 30 and 49 years and 19 per cent identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
People ‘slept rough’ in a range of places including parks, street, squats, under bridges, in train stations and alleyways. Research participants reported that some services were crucial for daily survival including food vans, day centres, showers, laundry, public transport, libraries and health services.
Feeling unsafe was the main reason for people moving around every few days, with 37 per cent of research participants indicating they had not felt safe over the past week.
The research project participants made a number of suggestions for action including better access to showers, laundry facilities, open spaces and recreation facilities. Other suggestions included safe places for women, better weekend food services, access to 24/7 secure storage and improved access to permanent affordable housing and employment programs including casual job pools.
StreetCount 2015 is the second qualitative research project and a snapshot of the findings are available below.
Snapshot report:
Qualitative research report: