THE NSW Government’s $100 million Homelessness Innovation Fund for better responses to homelessness is aimed at providing grants for better emergency accommodation and to move away from reliance on private hotels.<\/p>\n
Tweed-based frontline service provider Agape Outreach founding director and psychologist Theresa Mitchell welcomed the funding but believes it is misguided.<\/p>\n
“It all sounds great, but $100 million would create more housing that is desperately needed right now,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Reducing reliance on hotels would be wonderful, but they are in a hotel because there is just no housing.<\/p>\n
“Crisis accommodation does not solve homelessness, only long-term accommodation will do this.<\/p>\n
“We’ve just had another DV refuge close on the Gold Coast. Money is needed, but preventive and early target approaches will not make a change if there are still no houses to live in.<\/p>\n
“Prevention is also focusing on people as the problem, and while this has a role, it is a very small one. The problem is a lack of affordable housing.”<\/p>\n
Ms Mitchell does not believe the Agape programs would meaningfully benefit from the funding.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, much of this sounds like more hotel-like short-stay accommodation that clocks up numbers but solves nothing,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Also, the language around ‘targeted early intervention and prevention’ sounds like the naive view that all homeless people have an addiction.<\/p>\n
“Most of the homeless these days are seniors or single parents as their fixed payment simply does not stretch far enough.”<\/p>\n
Ms Mitchell said that domestic violence survivors and victims of natural disasters also made up the homeless cohort.<\/p>\n
Last week’s federal announcement that Jobseeker was increasing to $849.50 a fortnight represented an increase of a dollar a day for a single person.<\/p>\n
“This provides $425 per week. The medium rental in this area is $850 per week,” Ms Mitchell said.<\/p>\n
“Sadly, we can’t use the innovation funding to help our area in any practical sense. Temporary accommodations are maxed out, and no money exists to create more housing.<\/p>\n
“I believe true innovation would be to help organisations like ours to become housing providers and help fund permanent accommodation solutions.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE NSW Government’s $100 million Homelessness Innovation Fund for better responses to homelessness is aimed at providing grants for better emergency accommodation and to move away from reliance on private hotels. Tweed-based frontline service provider Agape Outreach founding director and psychologist Theresa Mitchell welcomed the funding but believes it is misguided. “It all sounds great, […]<\/p>\n