The Australians Dying Young at the Edge of the System

Some 14,000 people accessing specialist homelessness services – agencies that provide services to respond to or prevent homelessness – died in the decade to 2023, according to an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare analysis. 

The annual death toll rose from 914 to 1,459 over the same period – nearly a 60 per cent increase.

Almost half (45 per cent) of those deaths were in people aged 35-54, while about one in eight (1,700 in total) were people aged 25-34 and one in 77 (180 total) were children under 14.

The median age of death in Australia is 82, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. But the AIHW found, among those accessing homelessness services, the median age at death was 55 – 27 years younger...

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Source: CathNews

Image source: Unsplash/Kylie De Guia

The Mercy Foundation is accepting Expressions of Interest for our Grants to End Homelessness program. Further information can be found here