Counting boarding houses : Reflections on homelessness research in Australia
- Centre for Applied Social Research RMIT University, April 2012.
- 23 pages
In 2011, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released census data showing that the boarding house population had fallen from 23,750 in 2001 to 16,830 in 2006, a decrease of 29 per cent. The ABS uses census collectors to identify boarding houses, but it is known that census collectors often make mistakes. This paper outlines an alternative method for counting boarding houses, using council records. The new approach was tested in metropolitan Melbourne in 2011. There are three main findings. First, the rooming house population in Melbourne increased from between 2,946 and 3,739 in 2006 to 12,568 in 2011. Second, the population has become more diverse, with a range of disadvantaged people now in boarding houses. Third, the national rooming house population is now about 70,000. The paper concludes that the ABS method of counting boarding houses is fundamentally flawed.