Homeless shelters turning away people

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http://news.theage.com.au/national/homeless-shelters-turning-away-people-20081010-4xoj.html

October 9, 2008 - 11:53PM

More than 350 people a day were turned away from homeless shelters during a 12 month period, a report shows.

Family groups were the most likely to be denied a place to sleep, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report.

The paper looks at the state and federal Supported Accommodation Assistance (SAAP) program for homeless people and victims of domestic violence.

It found that although 14,000 people with housing needs were accommodated each night between 2006 and last year, 368 were not.

This number represented less than half of the 644 requests for immediate accommodation made each day during the time the data was collected.

More than half of the people turned away were under the age of 20.

And some groups, like couples with children, had more difficulty accessing accommodation than singles, the report found.