1. Introduction

With the rapid development of urbanization and increase of urban population, the “impoverished, homeless and displaced people” has increased and become a nightmare for urban decision-makers (Kriel, 2017, p.399). Homelessness is usually regarded as a “social and spatial problem” and raises “public policy concerns” in the recent trend (Amster, 2018, p.1). The problem is increasing significantly in developed countries, including Australia (Kriel, 2017, p.399). It is reported by ABS (2011, as cited in Healey, 2014, p.2) that “the homelessness rate rose by 20% or more in New South Wales”, and this number is increasing annually. According to ABS (2016a), homelessness groups are socio-economic disadvantaged people who are homeless and living in marginalized housing conditions. It is estimated that there are 58173 people in the homelessness category in the Greater Sydney region by 2016, which occupies approximately 1.2% of Greater Sydney’s total population.

It is revealed by Amster 2018 (p. 7-8) that homeless people are not passive victims. They make a lot of alternatives in domains as a fundamental of survival, which includes hygiene, food and shelter respectively. This statement is further supported by Kriel (2017, p.399) that those people are looking for a place to make money and stay safe. By studying Maslow’s hierarchical pyramid of needs (refer to figure 1), Socio-economic disadvantaged groups, like homelessness, are identified to aspire to higher goals when their basic needs (physiological and safety needs) are met. The needs of homelessness people can relate to Maslow’s theory of human motivation. It provides a hierarchy of needs and often can be used as an assessment tool to reveal social issues (Poston, 2009, p.347).

Figure 1. Maslow’s hierarchical pyramid. Source: Bob Poston (2009)

During the rapid urban development process, the needs of the homelessness groups are likely to be ignored. Therefore, this report aims to particularly focus on the marginalized homelessnes group and understands the relative spatial distribution of facilities in Greater Sydney that would support their upliftment. The basic needs index would provide the policymakers with insights into infrastructure gaps for this targeted group. This report illustrates the Basic Needs Index through the visualized table, graph, and maps. In addition, this report also ranks the best and worst-performing areas in Sydney, which will further suggest a potential policy for improving the current situation.