The government has also followed the Labor governments of Hawke and Keating in abolishing or gutting unemployment benefits and student allowances for youth. This latter measure effectively requires students and unemployed youth to live off their parents. They may be 18 and legally regarded as adults, entitled to vote, drive and drink, but they are denied the right to live independently. For wealthy families and their children these problems do not apply, but they have severe consequences for working class families. The Social Policy Research Centre report cites a number of previous studies linking increased financial dependency to the erosion of family living standards, heightened tensions between family members, homelessness and crime.
Several studies point to a two-fold connection to increased homelessness.
First, increased family tension, and conflicts produced by economic scarcity, drive young people out of their homes. Second, where parents cannot afford to assist, young people lack sufficient income to afford secure accommodation. Recent studies also suggest that much crime is committed by young people, mostly involving stealing and drug dealing, to supplement their incomes and, in some cases, for survival. For working class and middle class youth an historic reversal is taking place. The promise of greater opportunities and independence offered in the post-war period has been replaced by the prospect of prolonged hardship and poverty not experienced by any generation since the 1930s.