Nicola Connolly Date 30 th July 2015 What does Launch Housing do We work with people who are experiencing homelessness to try to assist them through many of our services We help people to sustain their public private or community ID: 438527
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "The Homelessness Service System in Victo..." is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
The Homelessness Service System in Victoria
Nicola Connolly
Date 30
th
July 2015Slide2
What does Launch Housing do?
We work with people who are experiencing homelessness to try to assist them
through many of our services.
We help
people to sustain their public, private or community
housing.
We
work with government systems like
public hospitals, justice and
mental health services to prevent people becoming homeless when they
leave these services.
We
also
undertake
research and advocate for
reform
to ensure that groups at risk of homelessness
are identified
early in mainstream systems like education, health and child protection.
We currently
operate across 14
sites in metropolitan Melbourne.Slide3
Program areas (Collingwood)
Initial Assessment & Planning (crisis)Accommodation Options for Families
HomeGround
Outreach Support Service (HOSS)
Justice Housing Support Program (JHSP)
Mental
Health Support for Secure Tenancies (MHSST)
Housing Mental Health Pathways Program (HMHPP)
Transitional
Housing StockSlide4
IAP
Aim
Initial Assessment and Planning (IAP) is the main access point for clients experiencing or at risk of homelessness throughout Victoria. It helps people prevent and end homelessness by providing accommodation assistance, advice and referrals for additional support
.
Eligibility
Anyone experiencing or at risk of homelessness is eligible for assistance.
Please note that eligibility for specific forms of assistance will vary depending on individual circumstances.Slide5
Initial Assessment & Planning
The IAP service in Collingwood is a drop in service for clients who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness.
We undertake general assessments of an individual or households’ housing and support needs and personal vulnerability. Support options are discussed with clients and, where possible, immediate crisis assistance of a limited nature is provided.
We currently see between 500 & 600 clients per month at Collingwood access point.Slide6
HEF
Housing Establishment Fund
HEF uses:
Emergency accommodation – Rooming houses/Motels,
Private rental- rent in advance/rental arrears,
Rent in advance for public and community housing,
SRS accommodation,
Travel.Slide7
Emergency Accommodation
Emergency accommodation in Victoria is a mix of rooming houses, refuges, motels and supported accommodation.Rooming houses are the most common type of emergency accommodation and many are not registered with their local councils.
IAP
uses many of these types of accommodation for clients, however, we do not use unregistered rooming houses.Slide8
Private Rental
Median rents in metropolitan Melbourne ranged from $300 per week for the western Melbourne region to $425 for the inner Melbourne.Vacancy rates for private rental are around 1.4% Launch Housing assists
clients on low incomes to access affordable private rental and keep it.
Office of Housing also offers a bond loan assistance fund (zero interest & 55% of income).Slide9
Public Housing
83,000 Social Housing dwellings in Victoria, 65,000 of which are public housing and 127,000 tenantsThere are 38,244 currently on the waiting list for public housing.10,544 people on the wait list are identified with support needs.86% of tenants are reliant on Commonwealth Government income support.
Social housing, advocacy and support programs (SHASP) support many of these tenants.Slide10
Community Housing
Community housing is an innovative housing option for any family or individual on a low to moderate income. For those people who cannot afford a home and who pay more than 30% of their income in a private rental property, community housing is managed by not-for-profit housing organizations
who act as landlords to provide long term security of tenure in quality-built homes at an affordable rental rate.
To find your nearest Community housing option go to:
http://www.chfv.org.au/find-housing/Slide11
Transitional Housing
HomeGround manages a pool of approx 320 transitional properties
Access to these properties are through the IAP assessment and opening doors
.
Properties are short term/transitional as a stop gap to permanent
housing
Access for those with support needs/worker onlySlide12
How many people are homeless?
According to the ABS, 105,237 people were homeless on Census night on August 9, 2011, or 0.5 per cent of the Australian population.
17,845 of all people experiencing homelessness were under the age of 12, rising from 15,715 in
2006
In Victoria on Census Night 2011 approximately 22,000 people were homeless.
It important to note that given the difficulty in accurately counting everyone experiencing homelessness, that the ABS and the Homelessness Sector agree that homelessness is in fact
undercounted. Slide13
Key points
The number of people experiencing homelessness on Census night
in 2011
increased by 17% from 89,728 people in 2006 to 105,237 people.
The
rate of homelessness has increased from 45/10,000 to just under 49/10,000 people.
This
means that nearly 1 in every 200 Australians was experiencing homelessness on Census night 2011.
There
has been a significant increase in homelessness in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT with overall levels of homelessness increasing by more than 20% in those jurisdictions over the 5 years to 2011. Slide14
Impacts of homelessness
Poor physical health. Being homeless can make it very difficult to access health care and seek treatment. Homelessness literally makes you sick.Poor mental health – depression, anxiety & other serious MH conditions are often triggered or exacerbated by homelessness.
Social exclusion.
Social isolation.
Stigma.
Premature ageing.Slide15
Duration
We know from research both here and overseas that there is a direct correlation between the length of time spent experiencing homelessness and the subsequent severity of the impacts.Basically the longer a person is homeless the more damage it causes and the longer it takes to recover.Homelessness can have a devastating effect on children making their chances of experiencing homelessness later in life more likely.Slide16
Jack of all Trades
Clients often present with eight to ten (or more) presenting issues.Housing is one of those needs but it’s the fundamental need that everything else hinges on.Good outcomes are very much dependent on service providers knowledge of and ability to navigate multiple service systems to get a variety of needs met – housing, mental health, primary health, specialist health services, family and parenting services, legal, financial, cultural etc.Slide17
Victorian Service System ResponsesSlide18
Opening Doors
Opening Doors is a framework of principles and practices that is intended to guide and improve client assessment, referral, resource allocation and coordination across the Victorian Homelessness Service System. It was introduced in 2008. Its
broad objective is to produce more timely, coordinated and effective access to the service system for clients who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and to provide a more coordinated, client
centered
response from the homelessness service
system. The
Opening Doors Framework incorporates the following features
:
•
A consumer
focused
and strengths based
approach
• Equity of access to the resources of the homelessness service
system
• Support for skilled workers with training, supervision and efficient
tools
• Collaboration and partnerships between agencies and the
DHS
• Reasonable care to address the risks faced by each person who is
homeless
•
Maximizing
the use of available homelessness resources. Slide19
What to do?
People experiencing homelessness can call 1800 825 955 to
talk to an
Initial Assessment and Planning
(IAP)
staff
member about
their situation. When
you call this number you
are automatically connected to the nearest Homelessness Access Point Service.
What does the IAP team at an Access Point service do?
Undertakes an
initial assessment of the housing and support needs, and level of personal vulnerability, of any individual/households seeking
assistance –
assessments can either be in person or on the telephone.
Refers
eligible individuals/households to transitional housing and homelessness support
services.
Provides
limited assistance to those individuals/households awaiting assistance who are assessed as being at greatest risk and for whom there is not an immediate available support
vacancy.
Maintains
Prioritization Lists
of individuals/households awaiting homelessness assistance.Slide20
Access Points Inner Melbourne
Launch Collingwood – Oxford Street 9288-9600Launch St Kilda – Chapel St 9537-7195Haven
HomeSafe
–
Mary St Preston 9479-0700
Yarra
Community Housing - Victoria Street,
Seddon
9689 2777SASHS - 2a Settlement Road, Belmont 5244-9560 Slide21
Q & A