Many will be sleeping rough; others will be in their cars or relying on the goodwill of family and friends for a couch or spare bed. For others the place they sleep will come at a high price or will not be safe.

 

Each of these people has travelled a different path. What connects them all is their story and as soon as you hear them you realise two things. First, that the person before you has hopes and dreams like everyone else. Then you realise that homelessness can happen to anyone.

 

Homelessness could easily happen to you, your sister, your uncle or your grandmother. It might be a series of small events that slowly lead to homelessness. It may reflect violence and neglect in the family home that acts as an immediate trigger for a long history of homelessness. It could equally be one single stroke of fate—a lost job, family problems, a car accident or ill health—which combined with low income and high rents that leads to homelessness.

 

What is common is that no one ever thinks it will happen to them.

 

We live in a state that is rich in resources and talent. We have everything we need to address homelessness; however, our capacity for richness and talent is made less because homelessness still exists.

 

The fact is, it costs Australia more, on average, to leave someone homeless than to house and support them.

 

As a group of committed CEO’S, executives and community leaders we have come together to say enough! We don’t think managing homelessness is the right way to go. 

 

We know that we will need the whole community to drive this forward. Across the world, many communities, cities and states have committed to ending homelessness. And they are winning. We need to do the same here in Western Australia.

 

Let's rally behind to drive the change we want to see, to #EndHomelessnessWA.