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Although the Commonwealth Government, through the National Cabinet, has announced a moratorium on rental evictions due to the coronavirus for six months,  residential tenancy laws are the responsibility of the states and territories, and as such vary across the country.

Children, adolescents and young adults are one of the largest user groups of homelessness services. In 2017–18, there were 81,193 young parents and accompanying children and 43,200 adolescents and young adults presenting alone to Specialist Homelessness Services.

For people with a safe and secure home to self-isolate in, reducing the impact from the coronavirus is stressful enough, but for Australian residents and visitors, such as stranded backpackers,  who are experiencing homelessness, the situation is very acute. In particular, people who are sleeping rough, that is living a place not designed for habitation such as a park, derelict building or car, are vulnerable to respiratory infections during normal times.

The key response across the world to the COVID-19 pandemic is for people to ‘stay at home’ with social distancing the most important factor in reducing the spread of the infection. When people can isolate themselves at home, they reduce their chance of coming into contact with anybody who may have the virus (as it appears probable people may be infected but not yet show symptoms), however the health and social benefits of safe, secure and affordable housing are not available to all Australians.

In the coming months, most organisations will face significant disruptions, including restrictions on meetings and events. We are pleased to update you on our continuing research publishing and engagement program for the foreseeable future.