HOMELESSNESS
1163. Hon STEVE MARTIN to the Leader of the House
representing the Minister for Homelessness:
I refer to the Office of
Homelessness established earlier this year.
(1) Does the
Office of Homelessness know how many people were experiencing homelessness in Western
Australia as at 31 October 2022?
(2) How is the
office measuring homelessness in Western Australia?
(3) Does the
office have a strategy to fund the by-name list on an ongoing basis?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question. I provide the following answer on behalf of the
Leader of the House representing the Minister for Homelessness.
(1)–(3) Capturing
accurate data on the number, location and demographics of people experiencing
homelessness is difficult due to the hidden and highly transient nature of the
homeless population. No one single data source is reliable in its own right and
therefore each must be interpreted with caution. The Department of Communities uses a range of data sources to
understand homelessness across Western Australia, including from the
Centre for Social Impact at the University of Western Australia, census data,
the by-name list and other sources that informed the All paths lead to a home:
Western Australia's 10-year strategy on homelessness 2020–2030.
The Department of Communities continues to work with the homelessness sector to
support coordinated data collection.