Proposal

It is proposed that there should be changes made in the ‘Closing the Gap’ policy in the field of housing and homelessness. The five-year survey suggests that from 2006 to 2021, the number of homeless people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities was 25,995, 26,718, 23,437, and 24,930 in 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021 (abs, 2023). The increase in the number of homeless people from First Nations in 2021 reflects the issues that are restricting the numbers from going down. This letter focuses on the social issues, which are increasing due to housing and homelessness.

Background and Discussion

The issue of housing and homelessness still persists when it comes to the First Nations people. This policy emphasises numerous social factors like child mortality, early childhood education, school attendance, literacy and numeracy, year 12 attainment, employment, and life expectancy (Australian Government, 2020). However, all of these issues that the government is focusing on by collaborating with the First Nation groups are increasing and will keep on increasing if the issue of house and homelessness is not resolved at the earliest. This policy was designed to close the gap between the First Nation population and the normal Australian population in terms of different social factors as mentioned above. However, the policy will never be able to close this gap until and unless the problem of housing and homelessness is not tackled. This issue works like a fire to fuel all other social problems focused on by this policy (Carson & Kerr, 2020). At present, the government is concentrated on equalising the First Nations people socially, however, the main problem is the catalyst that is increasing those social issues to start with. From the historical point of view, the First Nation people felt excluded from Australia due to the colonisation, the settler law and other bodies in Australia never considered them when creating the law (Chen et al., 2019). In order to change these perspectives, the government is required to make a change in this policy that is more focused on the roots of the issues instead of the issues directly. The social gap can easily be reduced if the First Nation people feel included instead of excluded from such laws. It is relevant to say that they do not participate in most of the social problems and the main reason behind that they do not feel the government is trying to make things better.

The historical perspective of the social policies in Australia always revolved around the general population in which First Nation people never felt included (McClelland, 2021). Closing the gap is the policy to take care of this problem. However, its focal point is on what is happening and not on why it is happening. The proposed change in the policy is the inclusion of the chapter on housing and homelessness for the people from First Nations. There are many factors behind the increased number of homeless people from First Nations. Some of these factors are employment, wages, and domestic violence (Zufferey, 2011). The definition of homelessness from the perspective of the Australian Government does not seem fit as it has been debated for a very long period of time, which is another reason for this change to happen. Every one in five people from the First Nation was homeless as per the census of 2021. Even though the government is prioritising it, the delay is causing detrimental effects on the First Nation people. It is reflected in their financial status, exclusion from the overall population’s participation, and the disadvantages they feel they have in Australia. The financial status of a household living the below poverty line is termed poverty. All over, there were 35% of First Nation households living under the bottom 20% of the distributed household income (indigenoushpf.gov.au, 2021). This type of financial situation restricts those households from providing for their families in a better whether the focus is on education, health, or something else. Most of them live in remote areas which stops them from having proper housing. The next issue at hand is feeling excluded from the overall population, which kept on inclining as time passed. Any delay in focusing on housing and homelessness will make this gap grow more thoughts of inclusivity might remain thoughts forever (Alcock, 2016). The housing in remote areas does not allow them to have proper healthcare even though the policy is focused on closing the gap in this area as well.

This can be considered as a wake-up call for the government to make certain changes in the policy to see the effect of why this policy was actually developed. It is not that this policy is not working well, it is working well, and, it can work extremely well if the focal point is the underlying issues of these social issues. This immediate focus on the improvement in housing and reducing the homelessness percentage for the First Nation people will positively impact many social issues. The first one is stable living will provide them with clarity that the government is actually thinking about them. After settling in a stable house, they will be able to focus on different things like education of a child and family health (Wang et al., 2019). The second one is that stability will also help in decreasing the number of cases of domestic violence, even though it is an underlying cause of homelessness in the First Nations people. This change will help in overcoming social problems focused on closing the gap policy. The focus on homelessness and housing conditions is quite essential to give them prospects of feeling inclusive which requires a whole lot more, however, it will be a big leap towards it (Wolf & Jonker, 2020). Considering all of these impacts, making such a change just by focusing on another social problem which is the root cause of so many other problems looks like a potent solution to make the policy work in a better way.

Recommendations

Some of the recommendations to take care of the issue of housing and homelessness from the First Nations people's perspectives:

Specialist Homeless Services (SHS) are working in Australia to take care of the issue of housing and homelessness, but the issue is that they can provide them based on availability and accessibility (Constantine, 2023). In order to make it better, the government can build housing accommodations for the First Nation people near to the schools and healthcare facilities to implement the policy in a better way.

In order to take care of the homelessness, the government can initiate the Basic Income Plan in order to create financial stability in the low-income households and for the people living on the roads and shelters.

Finally, reducing household violence will also help in reducing the number of homeless people as it is the leading cause of homeless First Nations people.

References

abs. (2023, June 27). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experiencing homelessness | Australian Bureau of Statistics. Www.abs.gov.au. https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples-experiencing-homelessness#:~:text=In%202021%2C%2024%2C930%20Aboriginal%20and

Alcock, P. (2016). Why we need welfare : collective action for the common good. Policy Press. https://ezproxy.uws.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1573481&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Australian Government. (2020). Closing the Gap 2020 . Ctgreport.niaa.gov.au. https://ctgreport.niaa.gov.au/content/closing-gap-2020

Carson, E., & Kerr, L. (2020). Australian social policy and the human services (3rd ed.). Cambridge university press.

Chen, P., Barry, N., Butcher, J. R., Clune, D., Cook, I., Garnier, A., Haigh, Y., Motta, S. C., Marija Taflaga, & Sydney University Press. (2019). Australian politics and policy. Sydney University Press.

Constantine, S. (2023). Ending homelessness in Australia What is the problem? https://lifecoursecentre.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-13-LCC-Working-Paper-Constantine.pdf

indigenoushpf.gov.au.(2021). 2.08 Income . AIHW Indigenous HPF.

McClelland, A. (2021). SOCIAL POLICY IN AUSTRALIA: understanding for action. Oxford University Press.&nbsp

Wang, J. Z., Mott, S., Magwood, O., Mathew, C., Mclellan, A., Kpade, V., Gaba, P., Kozloff, N., Pottie, K., & Andermann, A. (2019). The impact of interventions for youth experiencing homelessness on housing, mental health, substance use, and family cohesion: a systematic review. BMC Public Health, 19 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7856-0

Wolf, J. R. L. M., & Jonker, I. E. (2020). Pathways to Empowerment. The International Journal of Social Quality, 10 (1), 29–56. https://doi.org/10.3167/ijsq.2020.100103

Zufferey, C. (2011). Homelessness, Social Policy, and Social Work: A Way Forward. Australian Social Work , 64 (3), 241–244.

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