A new report by Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and Western Sydney University’s Translational Health Research Institute has found that years after arriving in Australia, people seeking asylum face chronic homelessness and housing exclusion in the community. The Mercy Foundation provided funding for the report through its Grants to End Homelessness program.
The report, entitled A Place to Call Home: A Report on the Experiences of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion among People Seeking Asylum in Greater Sydney, presents findings from detailed interviews with fourteen women and men seeking asylum, exploring their experiences housing and homelessness, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Detailing participants’ housing trajectories, living arrangements and conditions, and challenges with finding and maintaining safe, secure, and adequate housing, A Place to Call Home shows how restrictions on economic and social rights associated with visa status, barriers to employment in competitive labour markets, and Sydney’s high rental prices generate conditions under which homelessness and housing exclusion become a feature of the lives of people seeking asylum.
