Government's inquiry into homelessness legislation (2009)
Government's inquiry into homelessness legislation
The Government's inquiry report was released on 26 November 2009.
On the 26 November the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth released its report of an inquiry into homelessness legislation. The inquiry followed the federal government’s release, on 21 December 2008, of its White Paper, The Road Home: A National Approach to Reducing Homelessness. In the White Paper, the government pledged to ‘enact new legislation to ensure that people who are homeless receive quality services and adequate support.’
The Government's inquiry into homelessness legislation made 15 recommendations regarding new homelessness legislation, including a key recommendation that homelessness legislation should specify the right of all Australians to adequate housing. The report makes a direct link between social inclusion, human rights and homelessness.
Further information on the inquiry and the report can be found at: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/fchy/homelessness/index.htm
The Australian Human Rights Commission made a submission to the inquiry, and we encouraged all stakeholders in Australia to participate.
The Commission considers that any response to homelessness in Australia must adopt a human rights-based approach if it is to be effective.
The focus of the Commission’s submission was on three key human rights principles: the right to adequate housing; the right to substantive equality; and the right to participation. The Commission focused on how these should be incorporated into any new legislation and how they should be taken into account in the law-making process.
Commission submission
- Inquiry into national homelessness legislation (1 September 2009)
Commission materials
- Issues Paper on Homelessness as a Human Rights Issue (February 2008)
- Commission’s Submission to the Green Paper on Homelessness – Which Way Home? (4 July 2008)
- Commissioner Innes's recent Speech to the CEO Sleepout
Other materials – Australian
- White Paper on Homelessness, The Road Home: A National Approach to Reducing Homelessness (December 2008)
- Righting the Wrongs of Homelessness: PILCH Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinic Submission to the National Human Rights Consultation (15 June 2009)
- Counting the Homeless 2006
- Homelessness Australia: http://www.homelessnessaustralia.org.au/
- PILCH (Vic) Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinic