As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread globally, there are increasing health and socio-economic impacts. Australia has not escaped the public health and economic impacts of the pandemic. There is clear evidence that both the public health crisis and the emerging recession are disproportionately affecting people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds, particularly those on insecure visas, and especially for people who have no financial safety net.


Recent research commissioned by the Refugee Council of Australia (https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/covid-19-assessing-the-public-costs/) that assessed the public costs of COVID-19 on people from humanitarian backgrounds on temporary visas found that as a result of the coronavirus recession, homelessness among refugees and asylum seekers on temporary visas is projected to increase to nearly 14,000 people nationwide. This will mean thousands of men, women, and children will be living rough. This will cost state governments an additional $181 million per year.


The Refugee Council of Australia is following up this research with this survey to gather more detailed information from services and community groups supporting people seeking asylum and people from refugee backgrounds who are on temporary visas (bridging visas, Temporary Protection Visas, and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas). We wish to better understand and record the housing situation and the risk of homelessness for people in these groups. From this information and further consultations, we will develop a report to share with all of you and for use in our high-level advocacy efforts. 


Please find the survey below and forward on to people or groups that may wish to contribute. If you have any questions about the survey or about the research, or wish to set up a time to discuss these issues via a phone call, please contact Rebecca Eckard on rebecca.eckard@refugeecouncil.org.au.
Thank you for helping us to gather evidence and to build a strong case for extending support to all people impacted by the pandemic.
A) Contact information (if your organisation has multiple applicable programs, feel free to record answers for one program area or make a note in question 5 about any limitations)

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* 1. Name (not to be cited in the research, just for RCOA to follow up in case of any questions)

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* 2. Organisation or Group (not to be cited in the research, just for RCOA to follow up in case of any questions)

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* 3. Where are you/your service based (LGA, State, National) ?

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* 4. Who is eligible for your services (select all that apply) :

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* 5. Select the type/s of services and supports that your organisation provides (select all that apply):

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* 6. If possible, indicate approximately how many people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds that you support (one-off support or ongoing, as at August 2020, either daily, monthly, or quarterly):

B) Demographic and socioeconomic information

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* 7. How many of your clients are on bridging visas (indicate a number or percentage)?

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* 8. How many of your clients are on temporary humanitarian visas (TPVs and SHEVs) (indicate a number or percentage)?

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* 9. Please rank from greatest (1) to fewest (4) the categories for how long your clients have been in Australia:

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* 10. Please rank the work hours that the majority of your clients have (1 being the most, 4 the fewest):

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* 11. Since March 2020, how many of your clients/people that you have supported have lost their jobs or had hours significantly reduced? (you may indicate a number or percentage)

C) Housing and homelessness

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* 12. How many of your clients are renting their accommodation (number or percentage)?

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* 13. What type of property are they renting? Please indicate the top two categories applicable to the majority of your clients.

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* 14. What is the average weekly rent paid by your clients/the people that you support? (please indicate the top two categories).

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* 15. Please indicate how many of your clients have had difficulty paying rent due to the COVID-19 pandemic?

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i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

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* 16. Approximately what percentage of your clients currently reside in overcrowded living situations (defined as more people than bedrooms in a residence):

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i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

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* 17. Approximately how many of your clients are currently at risk of being evicted from their homes?

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i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

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* 18. Please give an estimate of what percentage of your clients are at risk of becoming homeless?

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i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

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* 19. Please indicate how many of your clients are currently experiencing homelessness (primary: sleeping rough or in improvised dwellings; secondary: emergency accommodation, couch surfing); tertiary: boarding house, etc)? (Indicate a number or percentage)

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* 20. Please include any other information related to housing (including related concerns, e.g. rental arrears/debts, etc)

D) Hardship indicators and access to emergency relief and other support options

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* 21. What percentage of your clients have had to go without meals because of hardship?

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i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

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* 22. How many clients have had difficulty paying their utilities (water, heating, cooling, gas, electricity) because of hardship?

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i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

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* 23. How many clients have had to borrow money to cover basic needs like rent, utilities, food, or medicine (percentage or total numbers)? If possible, please also indicate an average amount borrowed in $.

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* 24. Did you assist or advise your recipients to request early access to their Superannuation? If yes, can you indicate a number or percentage and the average amount they were able to access (in $)?

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* 25. Does the State/Territory where you are currently based have a financial support mechanism in place that is accessible to people seeking asylum? If yes, please indicate how many of your clients have been able to access to it.

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* 26. Has your program/organisation/group seen an increase in expenditure to support people since March 2020?

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* 27. Please let us know any other information, concerns, or observations that you have about people from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds living on insecure visas.

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