Journeys Home Research Report No. 6: Complete Findings from Waves 1 to 6

Abstract

In late 2010 the Australian Government commissioned the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (at the University of Melbourne) to design and implement a new longitudinal survey, since named Journeys Home (JH). Over roughly a two and a half year period from late 2011 JH has tracked a national sample of individuals exposed to high levels of housing insecurity employing much more rigorous sampling methods than ever used previously. In this report,the sixth and final report in our series, we analyse the full six waves of JH data, with the following research questions in mind: 1. What are the individual risk and protective factors associated with homelessness? 2. What are the characteristics that distinguish those entering homelessness from those who do not? 3. What are the factors that are important in the road out of homelessness? 4. What is the length of time that people experience homelessness? What are the risk factors for persistent homelessness? 5. What role do geographic factors have on pathways into and out of homelessness? 6. What are the service usage patterns of homeless people?