A project to research and promote suitable housing options for those people seeking to exit chronic homelessness including ‘rough sleepers’.
Expression of Interest
The WA Alliance to End Homelessness, in partnership with Shelter WA, are calling for Expressions of Interest from contractors to undertake a project to research and promote suitable housing options for those people seeking to exit chronic homelessness including ‘rough sleepers’. The project will include the development of an evidence base to be available online through a clearinghouse and to promote its use among key entities who may seek to develop such housing.
This is a targeted project to support the Housing First initiative of ending chronic homelessness by promoting the development of appropriate housing options within the model. The contractor must have extensive knowledge of the social and affordable housing options and an understanding of the WA housing market as well as a robust understanding of the principles and research of Housing First.
The scope of works details four components of work which must be addressed in the EOI. The total contract value is up to $30K and must be completed by Wednesday, 30 June 2021.
Expressions of interest must be submitted to shelterwa@shelterwa.org.au by close of business Wednesday, 27 January 2021. For further information on this project please contact John Berger, Executive Officer of the WA Alliance to End Homelessness via email john@endhomelessnesswa.com.
Scope of Works
Ending homelessness requires a whole of community response, including government, private industry and the community sector. Each have a role to play. The WA Alliance to End Homelessness has received funding from Lotterywest, auspiced by Shelter WA, to produce information to support the development of housing options to meet the needs of those exiting chronic homelessness.
COVID-19 showed the importance of having a home to keep safe and well and reduce the risk of community transmission. It had an impact on the homelessness sector with an increase in people sleeping rough and increased demand for services. Anecdotally, it increased the community’s compassion towards people who experience homelessness as the pandemic highlighted the importance of home and the scale of housing insecurity.
Sound evidence-based approaches are needed if we are to end homelessness. This includes understanding the different housing models in place or those that could be developed that best respond to and end homelessness for the different drivers and cohorts of people who have experienced homelessness – i.e. rough sleepers, single older women on low incomes, young people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
Both the WA Alliance and the Department of Communities through the WA Homelessness Strategy have agreed that priority needs to be focused on those people who are experiencing chronic homelessness and often ‘rough sleeping’. The focus of this project will be concentrated on developing housing options for the range of cohorts who fit within this priority criteria and can include, adults, young people, single older women etc.
The Project
The outcome of this project will be ready access for peak industry bodies, developers, the community sector and government on evidence-based housing solutions to end homelessness. This information will be used to inform the development of suitable housing options. In delivering this outcome it is anticipated that the following activities will occur:
⚫ Housing Research
Identify international, national and local evidence-based models already in practice or that have been developed for people who have experienced homelessness within the Housing First approach. This will include all aspects of the models including: – land options & built form where relevant; economic modelling and finance options; design principles and to include how lived experience were engaged and informed the models. This information will be held on a new web-based clearinghouse of good practice. Information will be gathered with a view to what is needed on a website – for eg photographs, reports or diagrams. All information needs to be supplied in an agreed format. The contractor must demonstrate that they have established links with researchers who already hold the existing relevant Housing First,
- Research including reviews of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the Housing First model and who can supply that material with minimal effort.
- Development of a charter, principles and guidelines for each model to ensure that there is fidelity to the model if were to progress in Western Australia. The information of the models needs to be clearly understood and are targeted to the cohort for which we are seeking to house.
- Develop a template that can be used to capture the seminal information needed by the audience and could be used by the Alliance and Shelter WA to continue capturing models after the life of this contract. This template needs to be in an agreed format (eg Word).
⚫ Establishment of a web-based clearinghouse
Work with the Shelter WA and Alliance team to;
- Establish a web-based clearinghouse where information is located for people to access and inform their projects.
- Establish a process to enable an up-to-date date register of projects that are occurring in WA to be captured.
- During the life of this contract to populate this register and be available for enquiries from individuals and groups for information, referral (to similar projects) and co-ordination (to minimise duplication).
- To get a sense of the interest, scale and need for this register beyond the life of this contract.
⚫ Coordination/Promotion of the Clearinghouse
- Work with the Shelter WA/Alliance team to develop a stakeholder and communications plan which outlines how this clearinghouse will be promoted and delivered to key stakeholders so that they understand its purpose and would feel confident to adopt any one of the approaches/models. This includes but is not limited to – State Government (ie Infrastructure WA, Development WA, Department of Communities, Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage), Federal Government (Infrastructure WA, NHFIC, IBA), peak property industry bodies (ie Australian Institute of Architects, Property Council, UDIA, MBA), CHO’s, philanthropists and the community sector.
- Initial presentation of the clearing housing and the models and information with identified stakeholders.
- Identification of individuals and consortiums who may be interested in progressing some of the models and hosting a follow up workshop with these groups to support their progress and inform and update our clearinghouse information.
⚫ Recommendations for management of the clearing house
- Brief report outlining the activities that occurred and the outcomes found in undertaking this project.
- This report must include recommendations for the need and the scale of any information, and a referral and co-ordination function to support the clearinghouse beyond the life of this contract. This should include recommendations for:
- The best way to keep information on the clearing house contemporary;
- The Alliance / Shelter WA to utilise the clearinghouse to continue the ongoing brokering of projects; and
- Identifying what support functions may be needed to enable the effective use of this information by key stakeholders.
⚫ Project Timeframe
- This project must be completed by Wednesday, 30 June 2021.
⚫ Total Fee for Service
- The total fee for service is up to $30,000.
- This includes all administrative, travel costs etc.
Please note that the cost of the development of the web-based clearing house is not included in this budget and will be funded separately.
⚫ Your Expression of Interest
Your EOI for this work must include:
- A copy of your resume
- A breakdown of the proposed work program including notional hours and timeframes against project components
- A budget and total price to complete this project.
⚫ Submission
Please submit your EOI by Wednesday, 27 January to shelterwa@shelterwa.org.au.
For further information on this project please contact John Berger, Executive Officer of the WA Alliance to End Homelessness via email john@endhomelessnesswa.com.