The ACT Government will spend $18 million over the next four years to address homelessness, according to Rebecca Vassarotti, Minister for Homelessness and Housing Services.
Homelessness, she said in her inaugural speech, is an issue she is passionate about. Before entering politics, as head of YWCA Canberra and deputy CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service, she worked with homelessness and community housing organisations.
Through the ACT Housing Strategy, $160 million is being spent between 2019 and 2025 to renew 1,000 public houses and build 400 new ones – which the ACT Government calls the largest investment in public housing per capita in Australia.
In the 2020–21 budget, the ACT Government spent $2.6 million expanding the Early Morning Centre to seven days a week; increasing emergency support and accommodation to OneLink ($450,000 over two years); and providing more funding to ACT Shelter for advocacy ($700,000 over four years) and to MacKillop House, Axial Housing, and Winter Lodge.
“The support and funding provided by the ACT Government has been fantastic and essential,” says Anne Kirwan, Group CEO of Marymead CatholicCare Canberra & Goulburn, which runs MacKillop House and Axial Housing.
Opened 12 months ago, MacKillop House is a former convent converted into housing for homeless women; it has provided housing to 56 women and 13 accompanying children over the last year.
Axial Housing, a Housing First pilot in the ACT, rehouses long-term rough sleepers; since opening at the start of 2020, it has found new homes for 34 people who slept on Canberra streets for years. ACT Government, through Housing ACT, provided those properties, Ms Kirwan said.
Winter Lodge (run by Argyle Housing) provides temporary accommodation for homeless men during winter; last year, it was a refuge for 121 homeless men, 44 of whom went into longer-term housing. As of 30 June this year, it had accommodated 28 more men.
OneLink (run by Woden Community Service) connects people in need to support services; it had helped 140 individuals and their families up to 30 June.
The ACT Government and the community sector were collaborating to better support the needs of at-risk people, address systemic issues, and implement frameworks like the ACT Housing Strategy, Ms Vassarotti said.
“Homelessness is not an issue that can be solved immediately, but by working together we will get there, and ensure that our community in need is supported into a home.”
Other support agencies
“Vinnies (St Vincent de Paul) is at the forefront of providing compassion and care to people experiencing homelessness in the ACT,” CEO Barnie van Wyk said.
“Vinnies is committed to addressing the systemic issues of homelessness and providing practical support to anyone in this vulnerable situation.”
Samaritan House, their crisis accommodation program for men, can accommodate up to 13 men at a time; it sheltered 103 men in the past financial year.
They run two Night Patrol vans, giving warm drinks, light refreshments, and material aid (warm items, clothing, and hygiene essentials, donated by the public) to people with no safe place to sleep. On any one night, they will serve 30 to 40 people, almost 15,500 in the last financial year.
Their ‘Conference’ outreach and assistance model is often the first point of contact for people facing disadvantage or at risk of homelessness, Mr van Wyk said.
The Street to Home program supports people sleeping rough or facing long-term homelessness; in 2020–21, they helped 204 outreach clients and case-managed 41 more.
ACT Shelter is the peak housing body in the ACT. Other Canberra-based specialist homelessness services include:
- Joint Pathways, a forum for all ACT Government-funded specialist homelessness service providers
- Red Cross Roadhouse
- YWCA Canberra
- Toora Women Inc.
- Beryl Women Inc.
- Karinya House for Mothers and Babies
- Youth Coalition of the ACT
Volunteering ACT lists frontline organisations providing free meals, emergency relief and accommodation.
This week, 1-7 August, is Homelessness Week in Australia; visit homelessnessaustralia.org.au for more information
