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HOUSING AND COMMUNITY FACILITIES

This article is part of a comprehensive series released as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing: A focus on children and youth.

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Note: In this section 'children' refers to people aged 0–14 years. The terms 'youth' and 'young people' refer to people aged 15–24 years. Data presented are from the ABS National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, 2008 (cat. no. 4714.0).

KEY MESSAGES In 2008: 71% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth were living in homes that were rented, a decrease from 2002 (77%) 20% of youth were living in a home with a mortgage, an increase from 2002 (14%) more than half (56%) of all children and nearly two-thirds (64%) of young people had moved house in the past five years 92,700 or 31% of children and youth lived in overcrowded housing 30% of youth were living in homes with structural problems, a decrease from 41% in 2002 most children and youth had access to community facilities needed for child health and development, such as playing fields (95%) and health care clinics (81%).

For the majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youth, their housing not only provides them with physical accommodation and security, but it is also the place where their family lives, and therefore can be important in building and maintaining a sense of identity, social belonging and wellbeing.

As both children and young people are often reliant on others to provide and maintain housing standards, they may be particularly vulnerable to some forms of housing disadvantage, such as insecure housing, overcrowding and poor housing conditions. Their life stage may also mean that they move house more frequently than other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Framework for Measuring Wellbeing: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, 2010 (cat. no. 4703.0) identifies housing and community facilities as a major domain contributing to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing.

The topics covered in this article include:

• Housing tenure
• Moving house
• Overcrowding
• Housing conditions
• Community facilities
• Other resources.

This section contains the following subsection :

Housing tenure

Moving house

Overcrowding

Housing conditions

Community facilities

Other resources about housing and community facilities

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