Australia has been experiencing high levels of homelessness for more than a decade. Our country has also been experiencing a shortage of affordable housing during this period. There is an obvious connection between the two.
As a nation we attempt to capture the number of homeless people in the Census — not an easy task. In the 2006 Census, the number of homeless exceeded 100,000 for the first time. Then, newly appointed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described this number as a national disgrace and promised to cut the number in half by 2020.
The former Labor Government did have some achievements after 2006 — there was a fall in the number of rough sleepers and there was a welcome reduction in homelessness among Aboriginal people.
Yet by the time of the most recent census in 2011, the homeless numbers had risen again. At the 2011 census there were 105,200 homeless people across Australia and Aboriginal homelessness is still far too high.
It is challenging and disturbing that the most common pathway into adult homelessness is to be homeless as a child or young person. I find it shocking that we should allow this situation to continue.
One of the things I have learnt working in the welfare sector is just how similar we all are — we human beings. We can all be vulnerable to misfortune and suffering and we all have similar wants and needs.
The most common response I hear from disadvantaged people about what they want in life is that they would like what everyone else seems to have.
What we all need is opportunity. To love and be loved, to have meaningful work, somewhere to live and the chance to do well.
Young people who have had a disadvantaged start in life need to dream the dream, get qualified, get a job, get a motor bike or a car, find a partner, get married, have kids, help out at children's sports and so on. That's how you build a strong inclusive community, and that's a justice issue.
People want more from life than to be mere passive recipients of income security. Young people want to achieve their dream as a priority, just like people with disability; just like all of us.
I believe this yearning for 'something more' has seen a growing interest in spirituality over the past two decades in Australia. A spirituality revival appears to have emerged from the grassroots, rather than from organisations, religious