The past few weeks have witnessed a number of significant announcements with the Department of Communities releasing their Homelessness Strategy – All Paths Lead to a Home: Western Australia’s 10-Year Strategy on Homelessness 2020–2030 (the Strategy).
This was backed up with the Premier’s announcement of an injection of new funding for both Social Housing and Homelessness Services totaling $222M. On the back of this the Department of Communities have agreed and provided a further $100K to Shelter WA to allow the WAAEH to continue its work. This will allow the Alliance to move into Phase Two as we collaborate with the both the Government and Sector to develop the implementation and action plans. The second phase will see a number of changes to the work of the Alliance.
The Facilitating Group who have steered and guided the process of the Alliance to date will shift into a newer and expanded group called the Collaborative Lead Group. There is a separate update in the newsletter with a call for Expressions of Interest for joining the Collaborative Lead Group. We urge you to read the update and consider the EOI.
The Alliance will continue to support the Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia with their ground breaking work with the Homelessness Youth Advisory Council and the Youth Homelessness Action Plan. The Alliance will also support the ongoing development of the EndHomelessnessWA Fund with the support of the Fremantle Foundation.
Finally there will be some changes to the staff with Claire and Katie having recently finished their work along with Kai, Kit and Jonathan. We are hugely grateful for their dedication and work they have put in over the past 18 months. Their input has been enormous and has significantly contributed to the success for the Alliance. They continue to remain connected, each developing interests in supporting further learning and work opportunities within the homelessness sector. Royceton will continue to support the media and communications work of the Alliance.
Finally, we welcome John Berger to take on the role of Executive Officer for the next six months.
John Berger was an inaugural member of the Alliance and has been the Chair to date. He has worked in leadership positions in Not for Profits for over the last three decades. It has been noted by many that his leadership and ecosystem thinking have allowed for completely new ways of approaching change in the field of homelessness in the West Australian context. He is passionate in working with community particularly those who are vulnerable and ensuring the voice of lived experience is central to informing change and reform.
He has held many Executive Positions including CEO at St Bart’s and General Manager roles. He was instrumental in supporting the development of Foyer Oxford. Foyer Oxford is the largest Foyer in Australia and key to ending homelessness among young people.
He is extremely keen to support the next phase of the Alliance to ensure that we hold the Vision to #EndHomelessnessWA in WA.
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