People experiencing either homelessness or situations placing them at risk of homelessness seek assistance through specialist homelessness services (SHS). The SHS Collection (SHSC) began in 2011–12 and includes data on specific key client groups, housing outcomes, and service provision.

The pathway towards stable housing for some clients can involve a number of steps along the way. Outcomes presented here describe the change in clients' housing situation between the start and end of support. Data is limited to clients who ceased receiving support during the financial year – meaning that their support periods had closed and they did not have ongoing support at the end of the year. Around three-quarters (196,200 clients or 72%) clients had support periods in 2021–22 that were both opened and closed and were non-ongoing at the end of the 2021–22 financial year. Many clients had long periods of support or even multiple support periods during 2021–22. They may have had a number of changes in their housing situation over the course of their support. These changes within the year are not reflected in the data presented here, rather the client situation at the start of their first period of support during 2021–22 is compared with the end of their last period of support in 2021–22.

Clients starting in one of six housing situations may end up in any of six housing end situations, or their housing situation at the end of support may be unknown. Hover over the start/end or transition line in the visualisation to see the number of clients as their housing situation transitions. For example, nationally, 17,167 clients (10%) were rough sleeping at the start of support in 2021–22; 11,395 clients (6.8%) were rough sleeping at the end of support, of which 7,831 clients ended support in the same housing situation they started in (rough sleeping). Data is limited to those clients with a closed support period during the financial year, that is, they were not in ongoing support at the end of the financial period.

SHSC data are also used in the following dashboard menu option: Homelessness services - client characteristics.

See AIHW Specialist homelessness services annual report 2021–22 (https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/homelessness-services/shs-annual-report/contents/about) for in-depth commentary and analysis, and important data quality information. Source reference Specialist homelessness services 2021–22 data tables, table CLIENTS.31; Specialist homelessness services collection data cubes 2011–12 to 2021–22, SHSC housing situation.