Brian Burdekin claimed yesterday on AM that youth homelessness leads to an increase in mental breakdown and substance abuse http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s1866069.htm. This assertion was not questioned by the interviewer, and contradicts what I would have thought was the case. Does anyone have any evidence one way or the other?

Burdekin was launching some sort of "independent inquiry" into homelessness, but he already seemed to have some views as to what the inquiry should find. Apparently it's the Federal Government's responsibility to solve the "problem" because the states won't or can't.

Burdekin says that there are 20,000 children living on the streets. This has got to be a gross exaggeration, and gives some pointers as to where this is heading. Last time I checked there was a total of just more than 20,000 Australians _of all ages_ in the ABS category "Improvised dwellings, sleepers out". Of these half were indigenous, mostly in the Northern Territory. There was in fact a total of 12,531 Australians under the age of 25 in this category, and 7, 143 of these were under the age of 18. So, an overstatement by a factor of 200%.

Sounds like another solution in search of a problem, and using large round numbers to try to find it!

It is very difficult for collectors in the ABS to find the homesless. They can list a bus shelter or a footpath as an occupied site, but the discretian is up to the collector. An occupied site by a homeless person is difficult to list during the day when the homeless just wonder the street. Some sleep on their friends couches, and move around to share the burden. Often they don't fill in the Census forms as they don't know where they live, and don't understand that Census night is "where you occupy a space at that nite", not just "where you live". They may camp at one place, or choose various places to sleep.

We have many of them in Kings Cross and Woolloomooloo. The young ones are there for different reasons. I've heard of some even sleeping in the booths at the sex parlours as they can't think of anywhere else to go.

Some of the older ones are there by choice. They all have a different story. They are amazingly territorial, and you would be amazed at their compassion and protection towards each other.

Admitedly there are some abusive homeless drunks that hang around the old Burger King site who bristle people's patience.

Are they insane before they are homeless? The young ones, I would say the majority: no. Are the figures an exaggeration? It is really difficult to say what the figures are. We do know that even the ABS finds difficulty in pin pointing exactly where the dwellers are, at what time, and what their story is.

The Salvation Army and the City City Mission would have a better idea then the Government, particularly the Matthew Talbot and Wesley Mission, as they have their own statistics.

Don't know about mental breakdown, but
I came across a recent study a short time ago- that I cannot remember or quote-
that concluded that drug abuse and its related problems followed homelessness, rather than the common view of the opposite.

The link between substance abuse and mental illness has been long established. Everyone knows of schizophrenic kids who seemed OK until their association with the drug culture. I imagine the strains placed on a family by an amphetamine or marijuana using bi-polar or mentally ill member would be something few families could bear and the friction generated would force the member out. This member is usually unemployable adding further strain.

Sille,
I am not sure if you actually correctly read what I said,
or if you did, and have followed on from what I said.
Basically I said, (in the study) Homelessness was clearly a precursor/cause for drug abuse-
rather than the more common view that drug abuse results in users becoming homeless.
you could have followed on from this that,
naturally, drug abuse arising out of homelessness would be likely to cause mental illness,
thus,
relating directly to the question of this discussion:
in a number of cases, homelessness would lead to mental breakdown (via drug abuse)...

Did you mean this?

I think as in most things it is both. Obviously some people would be mentally ill before they become homeless-
however, IMHO I believe the vice-versa position would be more common. Drugs, Isolation/ostracisation, violence, harsh conditions (sleep deprivation), etc, etc would all contribute to mental breakdown/illness, or at the very least uncover/exacerbate any underlying conditions.

It is a good question how you frame it and both impact on each other.
Neither take place in isolation from society. Or another way of seeing it, in times of boom and plenty both are sharply reduced. The figures for crime are dramatically reduced in times of full employment and relative job security. A large degree of homelessness or mental breakdown today is located within the breakdown of society. The boom went some 30 odd years ago and there has never been a full recovery. For many, included in casual work or full time work is the ever present threat of the sack bringing never ending uncertainty, living precariously, the state of being unsure and unstable. Or sick for a couple of weeks without income is a disaster for most, the landlord throws you out or bank repossession. Life on the edge is strained and the edge breaks. With homelessness and no work comes a stigma and you feel worthless to society. You become removed from working life then homelessness then social life, an outcast. Years of loyal service to a firm then retrenchments can bring with it a devastating effect mentally or even deadly impact. Then you have Bush stoking up war calling for "one war following another" or Howard indicating "indeffinite war in the Pacific." Life itself starts to resemble a madhouse; where the politicians place far higher priorities in bombing people than hospitals or mental homes. Another example, a far higher priority is the big fees obtainable in the childcare centers rather than any universal right to a proper education. Presently the governments are putting the boot into the disabled, 200,000 are going to lose pension entitlements, to be driven into the workforce and offered substandard work, and sub standard wages. Reports say 14,000 will eventually be thrown onto the streets. There are 600 million child laborers worldwide which are seen as a source of labor for exploitation.
The larger problem is economic relations dominate over human relations or considerations.