Traditional approaches to create adequate housing solutions have stalled, so Flinders University’s diverse array of researchers have formed new collaborations to make differences that take effect in local neighbourhoods.
Flinders experts from the Centre for Social Impact have produced “Ending homelessness: a toolkit for local government”, which helps local councils to manage and prevent homelessness in their communities. Developed in consultation with Local Government Association South Australia, councils and stakeholders, the toolkit provides guidance for council responses to disaster-related homelessness, information on culturally safe responses, and ideas on how local government can play a role in ending homelessness.
“While some people sleeping rough are highly visible, others hide away,” says Deputy Director with the Centre for Social Impact, Associate Professor Selina Tually.
“Most people experiencing homelessness in Australia are hidden to some extent, or completely, from public view, but they are there and need support.”
Children and homelessness
An estimated 22 per cent of Australian children live in temporary or precarious living conditions, with many families hit hard by unemployment and other problems created by the COVID-19 pandemic. To help address this at a local level, Flinders led a pilot nurse practitioner program in partnership with United Care Wesley Bowden, to provide early intervention and health support for families living with housing stress and instability.
This valuable part-time program, led by child and adolescent nursing expert, Associate Professor Yvonne Parry, was established at United Care Wesley Bowden’s Marion office. It was also extended to two other sites, thanks to a grant from the Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation. The program found that 24 per cent of children living in housing instability had severe health issues requiring immediate intervention, while 62 per cent of the children suffered from ill-health.
Associate Professor Parry’s expertise has seen her appointed an international advisor on a UK project examining the effects of COVID-19 on children under five living in temporary accommodation. This work has helped develop feasible, culturally-sensitive policy and practice recommendations for the recovery phase and beyond, which Dr Parry says is also applicable to the health of children experiencing homelessness in South Australia.
Pandemic restrictions also shaped important Flinders research into the effects on daily life for people with disabilities who live in NDIS-supported accommodation. This research project will help guide future health policies to better support people with disabilities by informing policymakers about existing challenges in the NDIS framework.
Supporting positive resettlement of refugees
Flinders researchers have focused on the most vulnerable people affected by housing insecurity – including refugees. With more than 130 million people displaced worldwide (having risen from 108 million people in 2022), there is an urgent need to support positive resettlement of refugees. Flinders researchers have tracked the relationship between housing, neighbourhood, and the health and wellbeing of people from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds in South Australia. They found that housing environments play a major role in physical and mental health outcomes, with the stresses of settling into a new country increased by overcrowded, poor quality, costly or unstable housing.
Flinders University Professor, Anna Ziersch, who researches the social aspects of refugee health and wellbeing, points to this research as evidence of the need for more comprehensive strategies to support refugees and asylum-seekers. This includes longer periods of supported housing, greater assistance to access private rental housing, and initiatives to build connections between new arrivals and their neighbours.
It's another important Flinders-led outcome that furthers the fostering of a world where people and communities can grow and thrive, now and into the future.
