Clear connection between homelessness and low Newstart payments
Dear <<First Name>>
Homelessness Australia has revealed that in the past six years, the number of people on Newstart payments seeking assistance from homelessness services has increased by an alarming 75%, easily outpacing the growth in the number of people receiving the payment (which rose by 28% over the same period),
In 2011-12, a total of 30,761 people receiving Newstart asked for help due to homelessness or being at risk of homelessness, which increased to 54,066 people in 2017-18.
The new analysis highlights the inability of Newstart to prevent poverty and homelessness.
Homelessness Australia Chair Ms Smith has said, “There really isn’t any point calling Newstart a ‘safety net’ when it doesn’t do its job – which should be protecting people from poverty and enabling them to have a home.”
Homelessness Australia is calling on the Federal Government to increase Newstart and Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) so people can afford the basic costs of housing in the private rental market.
Read the full media release
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National Housing Conference puts homelessness centre stage
Over 1,000 people attended the National Housing Conference in Darwin last week. It was an eventful four days in which Indigenous housing disadvantage, Federal Government policy and the role of community and social housing were put centre stage. Highlights included:
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke via video link (which you can see in part, thanks to this post from Shelter SA).
- The Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services Luke Howarth MP spoke on the issue of overcrowding and also invited attendees to share their ideas on what could make a real difference to homelessness and overcrowding.
- The Housing NT Aboriginal Corporation was launched; it will be the first peak body giving Indigenous people in the Northern Territory a voice on housing.
- AHURI released new research findings on Indigenous women being forced into homelessness and losing children to child protection because of a lack of housing
- The conference closed with a speech from Jamie Chalker, CEO of the Northern Territory Department of Local Government, Housing and Community Development. Mr Chalker encouraged attendees to speak up about the gross housing inequities faced by the people of the Northern Territory.
Sharing his thoughts on the future directions of Federal Government policy with Inside Story, conference speaker, and author Peter Mares has said, "Even if we don’t invest in social housing, though, we are going to spend a lot more public money on housing anyway. We’re just going to spend it in different, less effective ways: on more rent assistance, more welfare payments, more homelessness services, more visits to emergency departments, more Medicare claims, more police and ambulance call outs, and more people going through the courts and being put in jail. And tax revenue will be lost as a result of lower employment and declining productivity." You can read his full comments in his post-conference article, Plenty of ideas, not much money.
It was also announced that the 2021 National Housing Conference will be held in Brisbane.
Recordings and slides from 2019 conference will be available from the AHURI website shortly.
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Make a submission to the Inquiry into homelessness in Victoria
Submissions to the Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria are now open and will remain open until 1 January 2020. The inquiry is a rare and valuable opportunity for community members and organisations to share their views on how to address homelessness in Victoria, and to shape better, evidence-based responses.
An online submission form has been launched, and people and organisations that have experience with homelessness are invited to put forward suggestions to the Committee.
CHP strongly encourages consumers and homelessness service organisations to make a submission to the Inquiry to highlight the issues you are facing. If you are planning to submit, please email Damien Patterson at damien@chp.org.au.
Under the Inquiry’s terms of reference, the Legislative Council has requested the committee provide an independent analysis of the changing scale and nature of homelessness across Victoria and asked it to "investigate the many social, economic and policy factors that impact on homelessness". It will also "seek to identify policies and practices from all levels of government that have a bearing on delivering services to the homeless". The Government will be required to respond within six months of the report being tabled.
More information can be found on the Legal and Social Issues committee’s website.
Get Inquiry News Alerts
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New housing data dashboard goes live
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) have released their new housing data dashboard.
The dashboard brings together approximately 7 million data points from across 20 key national housing and homelessness datasets, alongside engaging visualisations. It covers a huge range of housing spectrum topics including; homeownership, housing affordability, the rental market, social housing, and homelessness, making it a terrific tool, particularly policymakers, researchers, journalists, and communications professionals.
Explore the new data set here: https://www.housingdata.gov.au/
Read the media release
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Public drunkenness laws to be abolished
The Victorian Government has announced its intention to abolish the crime of public drunkenness. The announcement came just days ahead of an inquest into the death in custody of Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day, and after a period of sustained advocacy by Aboriginal and human rights groups.
The law had been labelled 'archaic' and 'racist' by those campaigning for its decriminalisation. An analysis by the Human Rights Law Centre found that in 2017, Aboriginal women were 10 times more likely to be charged for being drunk in public. People experiencing homelessness are also disproportionately affected by public drunkenness laws.
The announcement of the decriminalisation and a new, health-based response, was welcomed by advocates. The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS), which ran a petition to abolish the offence, has stated that it, "looks forward to working with the Victorian Government as part of the Expert Reference Group, to ensure that the offence of public drunkenness is repealed and replaced with an effective and culturally safe health-based response as soon as possible."
In its media release, VALS also recognised the contribution of the family of Tanya Day in having the law abolished.
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Launch Housing and City of Melbourne partner to bring social workers to libraries
In an Australian first, Launch Housing has partnered with the City of Melbourne to employ a social worker at the Melbourne City Library, a place of refuge and respite for many people experiencing homelessness or marginalisation
Libraries are often a frequent port of call for vulnerable people who need them to access free wifi, essential information, or a just quiet, safe place to rest and read.
An on-site social worker will be in a unique position to offer outreach and support to people who may need specialised assistance.
Read more about the program in The Age
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Update: Mental Health Royal Commission
The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System is continuing to upload the submissions they received to their website.
Last week the submissions from a large number of homelessness organisations were uploaded.
While we still expect many more to be uploaded over the coming weeks and months, you can view those already uploaded at the Royal Commission’s website. |
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SHS Transition Plan update
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Have your say on Newstart
The Senate Community Affairs References Committee is conducting an Inquiry into the Adequacy of Newstart and related payments.
Individuals and organisations can provide a submission to the Senate Inquiry by 13 September 2019. To find out how to do this, click here.
You can find a lot of useful materials to inform your submission on the ACOSS website, and also join the Raise the Rate campaign.
The Victorian Public Tenants Association (VPTA) has also opened a survey to capture the views and experiences of public housing tenants or people on the waitlist for either public or community housing about life on Newstart or Youth Allowance.
The survey will feed into the VPTA's submission into the Inquiry.
The survey is short, and all answers will remain anonymous.
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J2SI helps nearly 60 into stable housing
Last week, the Victorian Treasury released a statement congratulating Sacred Heart Mission’s Journey to Social Inclusion Program (J2SI) which so far, has helped nearly 60 Victorians experiencing chronic homelessness to move into stable housing,
The J2S1 provides long-term support to help people sustain their housing.
Sacred Heart Mission General Manager Catherine Harris has said: “We need innovative approaches to financing social programs, if we’re going to have any chance of breaking the cycle of homelessness once and for all.”
Read the Media Release
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New #VHC2019 youth stream sessions announced
October 14-15
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Southbank
Register
We're very excited to announce several new concurrent sessions, including:
Towards independence – Accommodation for young people
Many young people experiencing homelessness cannot return to live with family and need medium-term accommodation. This session will explore the evidence about what works for young people exiting homelessness crisis, examine the models we have now in Victoria and ask what are the gaps.
Presenters include:
- Molly O’Shaunessy, Melbourne City Mission
- Rob Ellis, Salvation Army
- Speaker, Brotherhood of St Laurence
- Young service user to be confirmed
So you’ve done the training, now what?
While we all now know that many young people experiencing homelessness have also experienced trauma, it is still challenging to take the step from being trauma aware to trauma-informed. Drawing on their experiences in service delivery, expert practitioners Hayley Wilson from Council to Homeless Persons and Simone Bursey from Melbourne City Mission will share their tips about how to go from good to great in everyday practice.
Young, queer and homeless – delivering best practice homelessness services
LGBTIQ young people, who are strongly overrepresented among homeless service users. This session will explore the most recent developments in good practice homelessness responses to LGBTIQ young people, and consider the question – should we develop LGBTIQ specialist services?
Facilitator: Jordi Kerr, LGBTIQ Project Worker, Family Access Network
Panellists:
- LGBTIQ homelessness and housing projects, University of Melbourne
- Ashleigh Shanahan, LGBTIQ Homelessness and Family Violence Project Worker, Wombat Housing
- Service user to be confirmed
- Fiona Pole, youth LGBTIQ+ case manager, VincentCare
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Vacancy: Senior Media Advisor, Council to Homeless Persons
Do you have a great track record generating media stories and providing strategic media advice?
If this sounds like you then please apply to be CHP's new senior media adviser.
Applications close 9am Monday 9 September 2019 and should be emailed to lynette@chp.org.au
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Get full access to Parity - become a subscriber
For complete access to every new addition of Parity, and to a 13-year back-catalogue, simply register as a New User on the CHP Member Portal and choose your subscription type.
If you work for a CHP member organisation you can access Parity free online once you activate your staff login to the Portal. Your CEO can send a link to your staff that enables you to log in.
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