On any given night 1 in 200 people in Australia are homeless with over 105,000 people without permanent accommodation each year. From those, 2 out of 3 people who look for crisis housing are turned away due to a lack of vacancies.
The road to homelessness is different for each individual. Women make up 44% of the homeless population with 50% of the total number being under the age of 24 years old. 10,000 children live on the streets, in cars, boarding houses and friends’ couches, many escaping from domestic family violence situations.
Other contributing factors include poor mental health, debt, addiction, leaving state care or poverty, and without a safe environment to rest at night, it becomes extremely difficult to take care of the underlying issues.
Each year St Vincent de Paul Society organises a CEO Sleepout where CEO’s brave the winter chill to experience what over 105,000 Australian’s battle with each night.
The event aims to raise money to continue the operation of crucial Vinnies homeless services around the country. The Sleepout, which took place on Thursday, 23 June, saw 1,475 CEO’s take part to raise over $5.8M from over 40,000 supporters.
Last year with the support of donations from the event, Vinnies were able to provide almost 500,000 bed nights, over 1.4 million meals, and assistance on over 1.1 million occasions to people who experienced disadvantages and homelessness.
It’s not too late to donate to this year’s CEO’s Sleepout!
Click here to show your support.
Want to nominate your CEO for 2017’s Sleepout? Click here.