Australian families’ economic difficulties are best evidenced by the condition of housing stress and homelessness. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (2023) defines homelessness as not just lacking a roof but also lacking a secure dwelling from which one can control and have access to social spaces. This particularity is important for early childhood educators as it includes cases of those living on couches, overcrowded and temporary housing, which are difficult to see but have a major impact on the safety feeling of a young child.
Homelessness and poverty are caused by a combination of individual and structural factors. Individual factors include poor education, unemployment, violence in families, sickness, and psychological trauma, whereas structural factors include lack of income and restricted access to affordable housing (Fitzpatrick et al., 2013; Johnson et al., 2015). The bioecological systems theory, proposed by Urie Bronfenbrenner, supports this point because according to this theory, the process of development of a child depends on the interaction of individual, family, and macrosystem factors, economic hardship is rarely a result of a single factor (Lee et al., 2010).
This context is still changing. Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, poverty has increased because of the countrywide rental crisis, whereby investor exit from the rental sector has resulted in an increase in rental prices in Australia, especially in metropolitan and regional Australia, with an adverse effect on poor families (Australian Government, 2020). Poverty in Australia is not fixed and limited to a particular group of people; it varies depending on housing conditions, employment situation, and government policy.
Children experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity are among the most vulnerable in the community.
(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2024)
Instability of this kind disrupts a child's routines, attachment and sense of safety. For early childhood services, the flow-on effects are real: attendance can become irregular as families move between temporary housing, and children may arrive without essentials — nappies, seasonal clothing, a packed lunch — simply because money is tight. Yet services can be a steadying force. A predictable routine and a non-judgmental environment matter enormously, if staff can recognise the signs of housing and financial insecurity in the first place.
The current centrepiece of Australia's response is the National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness (NASHH), which replaced the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement on 1 July 2024 (Australian Government Treasury, 2024).
Alongside NASHH, a ten-year National Housing and Homelessness Plan is taking shape. For early childhood practice, the effect is indirect but meaningful: more funding for homelessness and social housing services means more families can get help finding somewhere to live, and a stronger Rent Assistance payment makes it easier for families to keep affording childcare.
Build discretion into everyday practice — a shared uniform pool, quiet flexibility on excursion fees, morning tea offered to everyone rather than singled-out families. Small, strengths-based, trauma-informed choices that never make a child's circumstances visible to their peers.
Build relationships with support organisations before a family needs them. Rather than waiting for hardship to surface, educators can connect families to emergency relief and financial counselling early, so help is already in place when it's needed.
Runs early-learning support including the Let's Read program, after-school learning clubs, and mentoring for disadvantaged children. Services can refer families directly and draw on its early-literacy tools in the classroom (The Smith Family, n.d.).
Offers emergency assistance, financial counselling and family services through local organisations across the country. Educators can make warm referrals for families in urgent financial difficulty and use its community education tools on financial hardship.