STAFF PROFILE
Professor Chris Chamberlain
CS Research Officer
College of Design and Social Context
School of Global, Urban and Social Studies
Melbourne City campus
Research supervision
Chris Chamberlain is an expert on homelessness.
Chris is the joint author/editor of Youth Homelessness (1998), Counting the Homeless 2001 (2003), Counting the Homeless 2006 (2008), and Homelessness in Australia (2014).
Chris developed a methodology with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for counting the homeless population using Census data. Counting the Homeless 2006 found that the number of homeless people had increased from 99,900 in 2001 to 105,000 in 2006. These findings influenced the Commonwealth Government’s white paper on homelessness (The Road Home, 2008) which set the target to halve homelessness by 2020. Chris was invited to attend the 2020 Summit in Parliament House, Canberra because of his expertise on homelessness. Since 2011, the ABS has published official estimates of the homeless population using Census data.
Chris has also undertaken research on homeless school students, pathways into adult homelessness, the number of rough sleepers in Australia, and whether substance abuse normally precedes or follows homelessness. Chris is the author of articles on homelessness in the International Encyclopedia of Social Policy, the International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home, the Journal of Sociology and Australian Social Work.
Emeritus Professor, Centre for Applied Social Research
Chris is a registered research supervisor. His areas of research supervision include:
- Homelessness
- Marginalised youth
- Welfare issues
Research interests
Policy and Administration, Sociology, Human Geography, Criminology, Urban and Regional Planning
- B.Sc., M.Sc. (London), PhD (Monash)
- Director, Centre for Applied Social Research, RMIT University, 2005–2013
- Associate Professor, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, RMIT University, 2002–2005
- Johnson, G.,Chamberlain, C. (2015). Evaluation of the Melbourne street to home program: final report In: Homeground Services, The Salvation Army and the Royal District Nurisng Service Melbourne, Australia
- Chamberlain, C.,Johnson, G. (2015). Melbourne: The stigma of homelessness and the search for community In: Searching for Community: Melbourne to Delhi, Manohar Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi
- Nadarajah, Y.,Mulligan, M.,Singh, S.,Chamberlain, C. (2015). Introduction In: Searching for Community: Melbourne to Delhi, Manohar Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi
- Johnson, G.,Chamberlain, C. (2015). Evaluation of the Melbourne street to home program: Final Report In: HomeGround Services; Salvation Army Crisis Services; Salvation Army Adult Services; Royal District Nursing Service. Melbourne, Australia
- Chamberlain, C.,Johnson, G. (2015). How many Australians have slept rough? In: Australian Journal of Social Issues, 50, 439 - 457
- Johnson, G.,Chamberlain, C. (2014). Young people In: Homelessness in Australia: An Introduction, NewSouth Publishing, Australia
- Chamberlain, C. (2014). Homelessness: re-shaping the policy agenda? In: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), , 1 - 32
- Chamberlain, C.,MacKenzie, D. (2014). Definition and counting: Where to now? In: Homelessness in Australia: an Introduction, NewSouth Publishing, Australia
- Johnson, G.,Chamberlain, C. (2013). Melbourne Street to Home program: Evaluation of the 12 month outcomes In: Australian Government -Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Melbourne, Australia
- Chamberlain, C.,MacKenzie, D. (2013). On the Margins: Permanent Residents of Caravan Parks In: Australian Government: Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigneous Affairs (FaHCSIA) Canberra, Australia
View more outputs from this academic in the RMIT Research Repository
- Homelessness: Re-shaping the policy agenda? Essay (PRO/53017). Funded by: AHURI National Housing Research Program - Research Projects pre-2014 from (2013 to 2013)
- Breaking the cycle: the role of housing and support in resolving chronic homelessness. Funded by: ARC Linkage Project 2010 Round 2 from (2010 to 2014)
- AHURI Top-Up Scholarship - Naomi Bailey. Funded by: AHURI Top-Up Scholarship (part of the National Housing research Program) from (2010 to 2013)
- Ten Thousand Homeless People. Funded by: ARC Linkage Project 2005 Round 1 from (2005 to 2007)
- The Implications of Loss of a Partner for Older Private Renters. Funded by: AHURI Funding from (2005 to 2007)
Note: Supervision projects since 2004
6 PhD Completions