For 20102 Homeless Persons Week in Australia runs from 6 August to 12 August. To mark the occasion, Homelessness Australia put emphasis on the different causes of homelessness in Australia. Illness got a mention. In particular, mental problems are more common among the homeless population. However, mental illness tends not to result in homelessness if a patient has a good network of support, such as caring family and friends or adherence to a religion. It is also less common among higher income earners.

From this I deduced poor health isn’t the reason why fathers who are coping with illness become homeless. Rather other factors impact on the life of these ill dads. Unemployment remains a major cause of homelessness.

I know this because I received no income between July and December 2010 because I wasn’t well enough to work. My wife did work during this period, but her income was too much for me to get financial support from the government, and too little to pay our mortgage and utility bills. To make ends meet I had to arrange for the bank to freeze our home loan repayments and I got assistance on two occasions from The Salvation Army while I waited for a salary continuance insurance claim to be approved.

The lesson to be learned here is:

  1. Make sure your social bonds are good – After all, if I didn’t have a good wife as well as knowledge of the welfare system, then homelessness was a very real possibility.