World Homelessness Day 2024 - Backpack Bed for Homeless Australia (2024)

FAQs

How to donate sleeping bags? ›

Reach out to shelters in your area and inquire about their specific requirements. They often accept clean and gently used blankets, sheets, pillows, and sleeping bags.

Founder Tony and his wife Lisa Clark designed the internationally acclaimed Backpack Bed together in Melbourne, Australia.

Realistically in Australia, most people experiencing homelessness are hidden from sight. They could be sleeping in a car, couch surfing or enduring the night on public buses. They may have shelter but no permanent place to make a home.

Red Cross believes that everyone deserves a home that is safe, secure and affordable. In an average year, Red Cross helps 2,180 people to find housing, supports 1,360 people at risk of becoming homeless, and provides 43,400 meals to people experiencing hardship.

Donate it

Sleeping bags can be like gold dust for people who are dealing with poverty and homelessness and there may be organizations nearby that will take your bag off your hand and distribute it to someone for whom it could be a big difference.

Consider lip balm, toothpaste, toothbrush, comb, razor, shaving cream, and deodorant. variety of services available to homeless men, women and families that they might not know about.

The Backpack Bed provides shelter and a bag for belongings to save lives of homeless on the street. Our Sleeping Bag Hypothermia Packs help homeless people on the streets, in cars and sleeping on couches.

On any given night, 122,494 people in Australia are experiencing homelessness (ABS Census 2021). One in seven people experiencing homelessness are children under 12 (ABS Census 2021). 23 per cent of people experiencing homelessness (almost one in 4) are children and young people between 12 and 24 (ABS Census 2021).

If you're homeless and need help with money, you may be eligible for a payment from Centrelink. Find out more about income support payments and advance payment on the Services Australia website.

Where is homelessness worst in Australia? ›

The largest percentage increase in homelessness was in Tasmania, with a rise of 45 per cent. In Victoria, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing homelessness grew by over 40 per cent.

For those with no safe place to go or in need of emergency shelter, local Salvation Army shelters provide a warm, secure place for homeless men, women, and children to stay. At The Salvation Army, our doors are open every day — and night — of the year.

Food, housing and accommodation

Homelessness Australia can help you if you're homeless, or at risk of being homeless. Mission Australia manages community housing across Australia and can help you look for a home.

The rate of homelessness in Australia has fluctuated between 51 people per 10,000 population in 2001 and 48 in 2021 (ABS 2023). The rate fell between the last 2 Census collections; from 50 people per 10,000 in 2016 to 48 in 2021.

Older Women are the fastest growing group of homeless people in Australia. Whichever definition of homelessness is being used, homeless older women have tended to remain hidden from the official statistics for a long time. In 2019, women over 55 were the fastest growing group of homeless people in Australia.

Its simple: you send us any brand of unwanted outdoor clothing and equipment by dropping it off in store or using our returns process. We'll then give it to someone that needs it through Alpkit Foundation and our network of charitable partners. We guarantee that nothing goes to landfill.

Depending on the material and the type of insulation used, a sleeping bag can last between 4 to 15 years. However, you could likely use a sleeping bag for 20-30 years. Of course, the lifespan of a sleeping bag is significantly tied to how much you use it.