News - Homelessness NSW

Better Mental health Services

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -1000

The Commonwealth has announced it will provide an additional $200 million to help address gaps in State and Territory mental health systems, as part of agreements at COAG. In NSW, this will mean $57.6 million for 3 projects. The projects are housing and accommodation support initiative, in reach support boarding house residents with mental health issues and a mental health community support program for mothers with mental illness and their children

Dinesmart

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -1000

Dinesmart 2011, with 212 restaurant partners and their generous customers, has raised over $350,000 which StreetSmart Australia has now allocated to a variety of local projects assisting homeless people and others who are significantly disadvantaged. Some 91 projects have been funded in local communities, taking the total since 2003 when this initiative commenced to 491. A full listing of projects can be found at www.streetsmartaustralia.org

Revised Community Housing Policies

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -1000

The Community Housing Division of Housing, FACS has advised that there are revised policies now in place for community housing providers in relation to rent, access and eligibility. Some changes include the new rent policy referencing the tenant water usage charges under the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 and the access policy clarifying the nature of tenure for each housing product and the requirements around termination of tenancies. It should be noted that the rent policy also requires community housing providers to develop fair and transparent processes for setting crisis accommodation fees and/or fees for those tenants in transitional housing who do not sign residential tenancy agreements or who are unable to afford social housing rents. Each of the revised policies is available at www.housing.nsw.gov.au , click on Community Housing Division and follow the prompts

50 Lives 50 Homes Western Sydney campaign

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -1000

As part of a national campaign that started in Brisbane, the Nepean/Blacktown Regional Taskforce on Homelessness has launched a 50 lives 50 homes campaign to operate through March and April, culminating in the Big Brekkie report back to politicians which will occur on Friday 11 May. Further information is available from Dianne Simek at DianneS@wentworth.org.au.

Slight changes in the distribution of household wealth in Australia

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -1000

The Reserve Bank has published an article that analyses the 2010 Survey of Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA). Its analysis indicates that wealth is more unequally distributed across households than is the case for income. While the growth of wealth over the past few years has slowed, it has been faster for households with lower wealth than for households with higher wealth. The article suggests that wealth inequality has lessened slightly in recent years. More details at www.rba.gov.au

Report from Crime,Statistics Research Bureau

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -1000

An important new report which concludes that policy makers should focus on increasing the risk of arrest &opposed to increasing the severity of punishment as the preferred strategy to reduce crime. Marked increases or decreases in income appear to have a much greater effect on the incidence of both property and violent crime that either the threat of arrest or the severity of punishment.Published in the February 2012 edition of the Crime and Justice bulletin and is available at www.boscar.nsw.gov.au

Media release- Homing in on Women's Homelssness

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -1000

Homelessness Australia Media Release

Inquiry into outsourcing of community service delivery

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -1000

The NSW Legislative Assembly Community Services Committee, a standing committee of the Lower House of State Parliament has announced an inquiry into the outsourcing of community service delivery, with particular reference to housing, disability and home care services. Submissions are being sought up to 27 April 2012. The Inquiry’s terms of reference and other details are available at www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/committee.nsf/0/C6782566488D8117CA2579B90006B615

Grants announced for Research into Preventative Health

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -1000

The Commonwealth Government has announced $4 mill in grants to 13 new projects that will investigate ways to prevent harm caused by obesity tobacco and harmful use of alcohol. One of the grants is for a projects which examine the impact of obesity prevention policy on social inequalities in obesity. Projects are expected to commence in March 2012 and will have a duration of up to 3 years.

AHURI report – Implementing Housing First in Australia

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -1000

The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) has released a report examining the introduction of the Housing First approach in working with homerless people in Australia. The report concludes that a Housing First approach has much to offer. It also suggest that “while much can be learnt from Housing First it is also clear that in the process of transferring Housing First to Australia important findings have been ignored, factors contributing to its success have been over-simplified and claims about its effectiveness over-stretched. The report, no 184 in the AHURI series, can be found at www.ahuri.edu.au