Homelessness Indicators 003-06010090

Services Australia has a zero tolerance approach to child abuse.

A staff member must act when they see or hear behaviour that raises concern about a child or young person’s safety. Follow the agency's Risk Identification and Reporting model when identifying and responding to child safety concerns. See Risk identification and management of threats to the safety or welfare of a child.

When a customer is experiencing, or is at risk of homelessness, Service Officers must ensure they are provided with additional support and information to:

• lodge a claim for an income support payment, if they are not on payment
• apply for a formal review of a decision, if they disagree with it

Service Officers should:

• code a Homelessness Indicator on the customer's record, if the customer consents
• consider whether an internal referral to an agency specialist is required
• consider whether an external referral within the community is required, such as emergency accommodation or welfare agency assistance

Where the customer has compulsory participation requirements and a Homelessness Indicator is recorded, information regarding the risk of, or ongoing or temporary homelessness will automatically display under the title of Accommodation Arrangements on the Circumstances Impacting Compliance screen. The circumstance will display as 'Automatically created - yet to assess impact' until a Service Officer is required to assess the impact of this circumstance on compliance. This does not need to be actioned at the time of recording the Homelessness Indicator.

This information is updated when further changes are made to the Homelessness Indicator.

A Homelessness Indicator identifies a customer who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. It is a tool designed to improve staff awareness of a customer's personal situation and alert attention to changing the service offer to a vulnerable group. These customers require additional support and understanding. The homelessness indicator will display under the Complex Servicing section of the Snapshot page in Process Direct.

For Services Australia purposes, homelessness and at risk of becoming homeless are experienced when an individual or family has inadequate access to safe and secure housing which meets community standards.

A Service Officer may become aware of a customer experiencing homelessness or risk of homelessness when the customer:

• claims a Crisis Payment
• claims Unreasonable To Live At Home (UTLAH) rate of Youth Allowance (YA)
• claims an Advance Payment
• requests change in Paycode
• lodges a new claim
• advises a Change of Address
• requests a weekly payment
• advises any change in circumstances
• requests an urgent payment
• during a conversation where the customer self-identifies that they are about to become homeless or are homeless
• requests an explanation or applies for a formal review of a decision

A customer advising any change in circumstances can prompt a Service Officer to make further enquiries and discuss the customer's current circumstances to identify whether they are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

Use of the Homelessness Indicator is not restricted to only job seekers. If appropriate, any customer can have a Homelessness Indicator on their record.

Note: customers must provide consent for the Homeless Indicator to be coded on their record, including when the customer has completed the update online. See Frequently Asked Questions on the Resources page for more information.

The recording of a Homelessness Indicator does not, by itself, exempt a job seeker from mutual obligation requirements. The impact on a jobseeker's capacity to comply with compulsory requirements must be considered when determining if the jobseeker has a reasonable excuse for a non-compliance event. For example, before a decision is made to apply a financial penalty regarding a mutual obligation or work refusal failure.