In support of Homelessness Week 2019 the WA Alliance to End Homelessness in partnership with Shelter WA and Woodside Energy held a breakfast and panel discussion which brought together corporate and community sectors to discuss how a joint approach can end homelessness in Western Australia.
The event started with international guest speaker Bob Jordan the National Director for the Housing First Program in Ireland who provided an overview of the Housing First Model and the Irish Housing First Implementation Plan.
We then heard from John Berger the Chairperson at the Western Australian Alliance to End Homelessness. It’s been a year since the Alliance launched their Strategy to End Homelessness and Mr Berger outlined how the Strategy through its framework will achieve several targets such as “ending all forms of chronic homelessness including chronic rough sleeping”. Read the report here.
Mr Berger outlined the achievements of the Alliance, including a new Outcomes Measurement and Evaluation Framework, which was done in partnership with the UWA Centre for Social Impact. The ground-breaking research is the first complete community-based outcomes measurement framework for homelessness in the world. The Evaluation Framework provides a framework to whether progress is being made towards ending homelessness, and capture the role that agencies are playing in that progress.
Read the evaluation framework, data dictionary and dashboard here.
After this presentation a panel discussion started with questions from the audience. Questions included the impact the low rate of Newstart has on homelessness to the costs to implementing a Housing First approach.
In addition to the panel discussion Woodside’s Chief Financial Officer Sherry Duhe announced a new partnership with Orange Sky Australia. Orange Sky supports people across Perth who are experiencing homelessness by offering a free, mobile shower and laundry service, along with a non-judgemental conversation and linking people into services.
Chief Executive Officer Michelle Mackenzie said international experience shows that we can end homelessness. "This requires alignment of purpose and effort, and partnerships with community and the corporate sector are critical if we are to end homelessness in WA."
