These eight state and territory reports on the homeless are based on information collected from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006 Census. The reports include statistics on accommodation types, age, sex, Indigenous identification and geographical distribution.

Counting the Homeless began as a research project with the Australian Bureau of Statistics, producing one report on the national homeless population in 1996. It has since developed into a cooperatively produced national data collection, involving the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), and RMIT and Swinburne Universities. A national report was published by the ABS in September 2008, and for the first time the state and territory reports are published by the AIHW.