This publication presents the first official Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates of the prevalence of homelessness, developed using data from the 2001 and 2006 ABS Censuses of Population and Housing. Homelessness is not just the result of too few houses. Its causes are many and varied. Domestic violence, a shortage of affordable housing, unemployment, mental...

The Australian Community Sector Survey (ACSS) is the only annual national survey collecting data about the non-government, non-profit community services and welfare sector. This sector is a major provider of the community services that most of us rely on at some point in our lives, but which are particularly important to people on low incomes...

Exploring the state of volunteering and how it impacts the prosperity and resilience of communities, this study consulted more than 400 stakeholders throughout the Wimmera region in Western Victoria. To understand the changing dynamics of volunteerism in the Wimmera, Wimmera Volunteers and Net Balance Foundation conducted this study to explore the role and social value...

This presentation looks at the context and history of the FIFO phenomenon, and relates these to neighbourhood, community and family. It argues for the need to build a sociology of communities that fosters healthy individuals and connected and supportive communities.

Disasters are focusing events that can drive immediate policy change. It argues that good recovery institutions provide the adaptive capacity that enables communities to recover from natural disasters. This paper briefly describes recovery processes after three natural disasters in Australia and New Zealand between 2009 and 2011: bushfires in Victoria in 2009, flooding in Queensland...