"Homelessness"
- Details
- Category: Uncategorised
- Created: Wednesday, 03 August 2011 23:30
- Written by Alecomm2
Mr JOHN SIDOTI: My question is directed to the Minister for Family and Community Services. What action is the Government taking to find housing for those living rough on the streets of Woolloomooloo?
Ms PRU GOWARD: As many members are aware, this week is Homeless Persons Week. This year's theme is My Address: diversity in homelessness, because homelessness touches the lives of diverse people from diverse areas for diverse reasons. The O'Farrell-Stoner Government is prioritising its focus on prevention and early intervention to stop first-time homelessness from occurring. This is particularly relevant for young people leaving out-of-home care, for people leaving mental health facilities and for women and children escaping domestic violence. The key to creating better outcomes will be this Government's decision to integrate service delivery across the State. The new Department of Family and Community Services will see that homeless people and those who are at risk of becoming homeless will access the various services they need through a one-door approach to the Government.
After 16 years in government, this is just one of the many areas where Labor let the people of New South Wales down. No longer will those at risk have to find their way through a plethora of government agencies to get the services they need. No longer will progress be stunted by constant ministerial reshuffles that saw the last Government go through six housing Ministers in six years. At last count more than 27,000 people in New South Wales were homeless—inexcusable in a State as wealthy as ours. Earlier this week, as the member referred to, I launched the new homelessness project in Woolloomooloo. Platform 70 is a fresh approach to homelessness and involves work with 70 chronically homeless rough sleepers in the Woolloomooloo area. Before making this announcement I spent some time with homeless people in Tom Uren Square, listening to their stories. It was impossible not to be struck by how varied and unique each journey was.
Platform 70 aims to cut homelessness in the inner city area by housing each homeless person and providing them with the support they need to overcome the issues that brought them to the street. The journey to becoming homeless for one man started six years ago. In his forties he suffered a mental breakdown and left his home and family behind. Homeless still, nonetheless he is studying at TAFE and hoping to go to university. Platform 70 certainly will give that man a greater chance of success as it is a platform from which homeless people can begin a new journey from the streets not only into safe and affordable housing but, more significantly, into stable living. Homelessness is a harsh reality, as many members in this place appreciate. People become homeless for many different reasons, including domestic and family violence, loss of income, chronic gambling, drug and alcohol addiction and mental illness.
That is why the New South Wales Government supports a range of targeted initiatives to address specific local homelessness issues. By developing innovative and bold ways to address homelessness, such as the use of private rental housing solutions for chronically homeless people, we are reducing reliance on higher cost options such as crisis and transitional accommodation, and we are enabling clients to take responsibility for their lives. Like Platform 70, the O'Farrell-Stoner Government is about being better and smarter with what we have, working locally, improving services and enabling people to take charge of their own lives. Platform 70 is based on strong evidence from the United States and New South Wales that the housing first or street-to-home approaches work. Housing linked with support services for formerly homeless people is more likely to result in better lives. Certainly, this approach is more effective than the business-as-usual approach of moving people through crisis and then into transitional accommodation from which they often end up back on the streets. In Platform 70 Bridge Housing has been tasked with linking 70 clients with properties under its management or brokering housing from other community housing providers in locations that meet client needs. In partnership with the Way2Home project—a project with the commitment and funding of three levels of government: State, Commonwealth and City of Sydney Council—they also will link these clients with support services that will help them remain in housing. Services such as living skills, health services, financial counselling and drug and alcohol treatment will be provided. We need to acknowledge that although this is a product of the New South Wales Government, this project would not have been possible without funding from the Australian Government.
Question time concluded at 3.12 p.m. (Source : http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LA20110804016?open&refNavID=HA8_1)
