Specialist Homelessness Services Collection, 2019–20; Quality Statement
Data Quality Statement Attributes
Identifying and definitional attributes | |
Metadata item type: | Data Quality Statement |
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METEOR identifier: | 734071 |
Registration status: | AIHW Data Quality Statements, Superseded 23/11/2021 |
Data quality | |
Data quality statement summary: | Description The Specialist Homelessness Services Collection (SHSC) collects information on people seeking services from agencies that receive funding under the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA). On 1 July 2018 the NHHA replaced previous funding agreements auspicing this collection, the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) and the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH). Summary
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Institutional environment: | The AIHW is a major national agency set up by the Australian Government under the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Act 1987 to provide reliable, regular and relevant information and statistics on Australia’s health and welfare. It is an independent Commonwealth entity established in 1987, governed by a management board, and accountable to the Australian Parliament through the Health portfolio. The AIHW aims to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians through better health and welfare information and statistics. It collects and reports information on a wide range of topics and issues, ranging from health and welfare expenditure, hospitals, disease and injury, and mental health, to ageing, homelessness, disability and child protection. The Institute also plays a role in developing and maintaining national metadata standards. This work contributes to improving the quality and consistency of national health and welfare statistics. The Institute works closely with governments and non-government organisations to achieve greater adherence to these standards in administrative data collections to promote national consistency and comparability of data and reporting. One of the main functions of the AIHW is to work with the states and territories to improve the quality of administrative data and, where possible, to compile national datasets based on data from each jurisdiction, to analyse these data sets and disseminate information and statistics. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Act 1987, in conjunction with compliance to the Privacy Act 1988 ensures that the data collections managed by the AIHW are kept securely and under the strictest conditions with respect to privacy and confidentiality. For further information see the AIHW website www.aihw.gov.au. The SHSC was developed by the AIHW in conjunction with the states and territories and is administered by the AIHW. SHSC system operations are funded by states and territories. For 2019–20 data holdings, all agencies that receive funding under the NHHA—previously the NAHA or NPAH—to provide specialist homelessness services are in scope for the SHSC, although some agencies are exempted from supplying data. Data are collected monthly from agencies participating in the collection. |
Timeliness: | The SHSC contains data from 1 July 2011 and data are published annually in a range of formats. SHS agencies submit data monthly to the AIHW. Data for 2019–20 use data from July 2019 to June 2020 that were submitted and validated as at 5 August 2020. These data are first published in a dashboard report, released quarterly on the AIHW website, and then in a more comprehensive annual SHS report with accompanying data products in December 2020. |
Accessibility: | Data are reported in the AIHW’s annual Specialist homelessness services reports and the Productivity Commission’s annual Report on government services. Users can request additional disaggregations of data which are not available online or in reports (subject to the AIHW’s confidentiality policy and state and territory approval) via the AIHW’s online customised data request system at https://www.aihw.gov.au/our-services/data-on-request. Depending on the nature of the request, requests for access to unpublished data may also incur costs or require approval from the AIHW Ethics Committee. General enquiries about AIHW publications can be directed to [email protected]. |
Interpretability: | Information on the development of the SHSC, definitions and concepts, and collection materials and processes can be found on Specialist Homelessness Services Collection (SHSC) information site on the AIHW website. Information on definitions, concepts and classifications can also be found in the Specialist homelessness services collection manual. |
Relevance: | Scope and coverage Nationally, a small number of agencies are exempt from supplying data. Reasons include agencies that do not see clients directly but support other SHS agencies (for example, property maintenance), levels of funding are such that reporting is impracticable, or agencies whose method of service delivery does not allow for case management (such as soup kitchens). Of the agencies that were in scope and not exempt (i.e. expected to participate), 100% provided data for each month where they were expected to participate. The SHSC contains information about people who receive assistance, as well as information about people who seek assistance but do not receive any assistance at that time. People of all ages, including children, are included in the collection and are counted as clients. People who are homeless who do not seek assistance from an SHS agency are not in scope. Agencies submit data on the periods of support provided to clients, and support periods for individual clients are joined using a statistical linkage key (SLK). Information from all support periods is included in analyses about clients. In 2019–20, 98.6% of support periods had a valid SLK. For records relating to people who were unassisted, 53% had a valid SLK. |
Accuracy: | Data validation Data are validated at two stages: at the point of entry into the client management systems that agencies use to record their data, and upon submission to the AIHW. Non-response bias Minimal non-response bias is anticipated as agency response rate is 100% and the SLK validity rate is very high and exemption rates are very low. Imputation Prior to 2017–18, data were imputed to account for agency non-response and invalid SLKs. Imputation is no longer required for the SHSC due to the high rates of agency response and SLK validity. Incomplete responses and missing information In many support periods, valid responses were not recorded for all questions—invalid responses are recorded, ‘don't know’ can be selected, or no response is recorded. Support periods with invalid/‘don't know’/missing responses were retained in the collection and no attempt is made to deduce or impute the true value of invalid/‘don't know’/ missing responses at the unit level. Where data relate to the total client population, the total includes clients with missing information. This information is attributed in proportion with those clients for whom information is available. Geographical information Information about the geographical location of both agencies and clients is available in the SHSC. Information about the geographical location of clients for 2011–12 to 2013–14 is not published due to concerns about data quality. Caution should be used when comparing geographical information about agencies with geographical information about clients as the location where a client lives may be different to the location of the agency where they present for support, especially for clients who live in remote areas of Australia. Some geographical classifications change over time, for example in 2019–20 Local Government Area boundaries were updated. Changes are generally applied to all years of data in published reports and data products so trend analysis is comparable. This also means that numbers reported by the AIHW for a particular year, using a particular geographical classification, may be updated in subsequent releases. People who did not receive assistance Due to concerns about the reliability of information collected about people who seek assistance from SHS agencies but do not receive any assistance at that time, only limited data on these instances are reported. ADF indicator The ADF indicator was introduced into the SHSC in July 2017. Data on clients aged 18 and older who identify as current or former members of the Australian Defence Force are available in the annual SHSC products from 2017–18 onwards. Variability in the implementation of this item means that coverage is incomplete for 2017–18 and caution should be taken when comparing this first year of data with subsequent years. NDIS indicator On 1 July 2019 a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) indicator was included for new support periods to gain an understanding of the number of clients who were receiving an agreed NDIS package of support at the time of presentation to an SHS agency. Variability in the interpretation and implementation of this item across agencies and jurisdictions means that coverage may be incomplete for 2019–20. Caution should be taken when using this data for 2019–20. Main language spoken at home and proficiency in spoken English On 1 July 2019 a question was added for new support periods to record the client’s main language spoken at home. A follow up question was also added for those who did not speak English as a main language at home. This second question collects information on how proficient the client feels they are at speaking English. Although in 2019–20 the main language spoken at home question was answered for the majority of clients, the question regarding English proficiency has been less well reported, with high proportions of ‘don’t knows’ for the majority of jurisdictions. Therefore, caution should be taken when using this data for 2019–20. The addition of ‘Other’ to the Sex item The inclusion of a Sex = Other category in both the Client and Unassisted persons components of the SHSC for episodes starting from 1 July 2019 has had a minimal impact on the collection with under 0.84% of clients identifying as Sex = Other in 2019–20. However, this change has meant that there has been a break in time series for some clients as their SLK has changed to reflect their change in recorded sex. This change has also been implemented differently across states and territories with much higher numbers of clients identifying as Sex = Other in some states and in the unassisted collection. The Sex = Other option may have also been applied by some agencies to young children where their sex was not obvious or for those who did not want to state their sex. Due to these issues, as well as the confidentiality concerns that accompany small numbers of clients, those clients identifying as Sex = Other have been included in the ‘Female’ category when reporting the data for 2019–20. |
Coherence: | Changes in reported data The SHSC contains data extracted from agency databases. These data change regularly as new periods of support are added and as existing records are updated. As a result, SHSC data can change over time, and the numbers reported by the AIHW for a particular year may be updated in subsequent data releases. Changes over time Changes in SHSC data over time may be influenced by changes in underlying state and territory policies, programs or systems. These changes might affect the service delivery area, the characteristics of priority clients, or how services work together to respond to client needs. Some of these changes will result in coherence problems and may lead to breaks in time series. Breaks in time series Clients subject to care and protection orders: Improvements made in 2015–16 to the method used to identify clients subject to care and protection orders mean that data from 2011–12 to 2014–15 are not comparable with data from 2015–16 onwards. Source of income—DVA pension or payment: In 2017–18, the response options for source of income were updated and the three response options relating to payments or pensions from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (disability pension—DVA, service pension—DVA and war widow(ers) pension—DVA) were replaced with the single response option ‘DVA pension or payment’. As the single ‘DVA pension or payment’ option can include more payment types than the three options previously available, data on the 3 DVA pension or payments from 2011–12 to 2016–17 are not comparable with data on the ‘DVA pension or payment’ from 2017–18 onwards. Data issues that require caution when making comparisons Disability: Data for clients with disability who require assistance may not be comparable across age groups due to differences in the interpretation of the disability questions; this issue relates mainly to young children. Presenting unit type: Data for presenting unit type may not be comparable across age groups due to differences in interpretation of presenting units and how they are recorded. This issue mainly concerns young children and presenting unit type ‘lone person’. Housing crisis, financial difficulties and housing affordability: Improvements made during 2014–15 resulted in changes to the way agencies were required to report ‘main reason’ and ‘reasons for seeking assistance’. In addition, wording providing a specific example of housing crisis was removed from the section relating to reason for seeking assistance. Caution should be used when making comparisons over time as the reporting of these items may be inconsistent between agencies. These changes in agency reporting were evident in the data from all states and territories. Children presenting alone: South Australia has a comparatively high number of children reported as presenting alone. This may be due to differences in how presenting units are recorded in South Australia’s client management system. Caution should be used when comparing data for children presenting alone in South Australia with other states and territories. Case management: Some aspects of case management are recorded differently in South Australia’s client management system. Caution should be used when comparing data on case management for South Australia with other states and territories. Services and Assistance—Assertive outreach: In 2017–18, there was a clarification made to the response option used to record clients who needed, or were provided, or referred assertive outreach services. The option was changed to specify that this service was directly targeted at rough sleepers. Due to this change, caution should be taken when comparing the number of clients receiving assertive outreach services before and after 2017–18. COVID-19: From 26 March 2020, SHS agency workers were instructed to add ‘COVID-19’ in the free text section of the ‘Other reason for seeking assistance’ item if the client and/or the agency were affected directly or indirectly by the crisis. This change has been implemented differently across jurisdictions and therefore caution should be taken if making any comparisons between jurisdictions. Funding for COVID related social support was also implemented differently across jurisdictions and SHSC data will only show changes where funding was provided to SHS agencies. Improvement to data items Mandatory data items: Changes made in 2014–15 resulted in a substantial improvement in data quality for mandatory data items and in particular resulted in a decline in the number of non-response or missing values for these data items. Care should be used when comparing results from 2011–12 to 2013–14 with results from 2014–15 onwards. Housing situation: Following improvement in the derivation for housing situation used in the SHSC in 2016–17, clients with a tenure status of ‘life tenure scheme’ are now counted under the housing situation category ‘private or other housing (renter, rent-free or owner)’ if their dwelling status was ‘housing/townhouse/flat’. This change has very little impact on housing situation percentages and hence does not constitute a break in time-series. Age: In 2017–18, age and age-related variables were derived using a more robust calculation method. Caution should be used when comparing results in publications from December 2018 onwards (that include 2017–18 data) with publications released prior to December 2018. Family and domestic violence: In July 2019 the following changes were made to improve the collection of information regarding family and domestic violence (FDV) in the SHSC:
These changes have not resulted in any break in time series as the addition of the new FDV referral item has only increased the number of FDV clients by 0.5%. The change to collect both victim and perpetrator services can also be combined to reflect the general FDV services item used prior to 1 July 2019. The split between victim and perpetrator services has not been widely reported in 2019–20. This is due to the change being implemented differently between agencies causing data quality issues, as well as the small numbers of perpetrator services provided causing confidentiality issues. Imputation and weighting Due to improvements in agency response and SLK validity rates, data for 2017–18 onwards were not weighted. As the aim of the imputation strategy was to account for low rates of agency response and SLK validity in previous years, unweighted data for 2017–18 onwards are directly comparable with weighted data for 2011–12 to 2016–17. The removal of weighting does not constitute a break in time series. The annual SHS report and accompanying products use financial year data, and for 2011–12 to 2016–17 these data are weighted. However, other AIHW publications that analyse the pathways of individual clients over time, including publications using SHS longitudinal data, or data linked with data from other collections, do not use weighted data. Comparisons between years of counts of clients and support periods should use weighted data for 2011–12 to 2016–17 and unweighted data from 2017–18 onwards. These counts can be obtained from the annual report and accompanying data products. Differences between the SHSC and the SAAP NDC On 1 July 2011, the SHSC replaced the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) National Data Collection (NDC), which began in 1996. The SHSC differs from the SAAP NDC in many respects. The major definitional differences between SAAP and SHSC relate to the capture of information about children and support. In the SAAP NDC, children who accompanied a parent or guardian were counted as accompanying children (with only limited information collected); in the SHSC, children are included as clients (in their own right) if they directly receive assistance. In SAAP, support was generally considered to entail 1 hour or more of a worker’s time; in the SHSC no time-related condition exists. Homelessness and service provision There is no single definition of homelessness. The SHSC considers that a person is homeless if they are living in non–conventional accommodation (such as living on the street), or short–term or emergency accommodation (such as living temporarily with friends or relatives). Other data collections describing the nature and scale of homelessness, such as the Census, use alternative definitions. Counts of homelessness in the SHSC are only for those people who access services. State and territory-specific issues: New South Wales
Victoria
Queensland
Tasmania
Australian Capital Territory
Northern Territory
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Source and reference attributes | |
Submitting organisation: | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare |
Steward: | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare |
Relational attributes | |
Related metadata references: | Supersedes Specialist Homelessness Services Collection, 2018–19; Quality Statement AIHW Data Quality Statements, Superseded 12/11/2020 Has been superseded by Specialist Homelessness Services Collection, 2020–21; Quality Statement AIHW Data Quality Statements, Superseded 14/11/2022 |