Commissioner for Children and Young People (Tas)’s Post

🏡 Unison is at the frontline of the housing crisis in Melbourne’s West. Our dedicated service team supports people from all walks of life experiencing housing stress and homelessness. A few alarming facts about the housing crisis in Melbourne’s West (Source: Western Homelessness Network) 👉40% - increase in the number of people who identified as being homeless in Melbourne’s West in 10 years. 👉1M nights of support – each year homelessness services across Melbourne’s West support approximately 15,000 people in 11,000 households. This equates to over 1million nights of support 👉65% - of people presenting to homelessness services who are completely without a home has increased 65% in four years. 🙏 Thank you for sharing our #HW2024 posts and joining us in amplifying the housing and homelessness crisis. You can read more about our homelessness crisis on our web blog https://bit.ly/3SsYYNW

Today Homelessness Australia launched the No One Turned Away campaign in response to the surging rates of homelessness and increasing demand for crisis accommodation. Over 3 million Australian's are currently at risk of homelessness, an increase of 63% from 2016 to 2022. WAGEC were surveyed, alongside 22 other Specialist Homelessness Services, about the demands and challenges our staff face on the front-lines of the housing crisis. The results demonstrate that 39% of services were forced to close their doors to people seeking help at least once during the two-week survey. Families with no accommodation were not assisted on 1 in 5 of the days surveyed. As the housing crisis persists and the cost of living continues to rise, Specialist Homelessness Services are continuing to operate at capacity. We join Homelessness Australia in calling for increased funding for homelessness services to ensure no one seeking help gets turned away. Support Specialist Homelessness Services like WAGEC by joining the No One Turned Away campaign here: https://lnkd.in/gifGwXEu #NoOneTurnedAway

'In 2022-23, more than 76,000 children under the age of 18 sought help from homelessness services in Australia. Of these children, almost 16,000 approached homelessness services alone, unaccompanied by a parent or caregiver, with many fleeing violence or neglect at home. Approximately 60,000 children sought help as part of a family group. Australia’s dire lack of affordable housing, especially for young people, and the chronic underfunding of homelessness support services means an increasing number of children are remaining homeless even after seeking help.' 📢 The lack of accessible and affordable housing is one the main drivers of the nation’s homelessness crisis. Housing is a human right. The Society is calling on all governments to build more social and community housing and incentivise the use of residential property and land that has been left vacant. Don’t be a passerby! Share this information to support our call for more social and community housing. 💡 2024 Child Homelessness Snapshot Homelessness Australia (HA)

Is a cross-departmental approach to tackling homelessness the way to finally tackle the increasing numbers of homelessness ❓ ️ In recent weeks we have read about homelessness charity Crisis calling for a cross-departmental unit to tackle all homelessness, similar to the one the previous #Labour government had in place for #roughsleeping. The last report was published in 2017, six months before the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 came into force. The report recommend that HM Treasury should review and seek to simplify cross-departmental funding for homelessness and consider ways to incentivise government departments to support #homelessness prevention, to deliver better outcomes and improved value for money. It also called on the government to bring forward a cross-departmental strategy to reduce homelessness. What could a joined-up National approach mean ❓ ️ Having a joined-up national approach to both housing and homelessness may mean that councils can learn how to partner with housing associations to better use existing local housing supply to get families out of #temporaryaccommodation. On the flip side, we desperately need to build more #socialhousing to provide a long-term, sustainable solution to the housing and homelessness crisis facing the nation. What are your thoughts on the cross-departmental approach ❓ ️ Leave your thoughts in the comments 

'In 2022-23, more than 76,000 children under the age of 18 sought help from homelessness services in Australia. Of these children, almost 16,000 approached homelessness services alone, unaccompanied by a parent or caregiver, with many fleeing violence or neglect at home. Approximately 60,000 children sought help as part of a family group. Australia’s dire lack of affordable housing, especially for young people, and the chronic underfunding of homelessness support services means an increasing number of children are remaining homeless even after seeking help.' The lack of accessible and affordable housing is one the main drivers of the nation’s homelessness crisis. Housing is a human right. The Society is calling on all governments to build more social and community housing and incentivise the use of residential property and land that has been left vacant. Don’t be a passerby! Share this information to support our call for more social and community housing. 2024 Child Homelessness Snapshot Homelessness Australia (HA)

Today marks #WorldHomelessDay, an international day to advocate for solutions to ending homelessness. It's clear that more needs to be done to address the escalating homelessness crisis. English councils supported a staggering 358,370 homeless households in 2023/2024 - a rise of nearly 15% on the previous year - 324,990 of whom were owed a prevention or relief duty. Meanwhile, the number of people living in temporary accommodation in England is at an all-time high; in March 2024, the figure reached 117,450 households, including 151,630 children. As a founding member of the Homes for Cathy group, we're committed to maintaining a strong culture of homelessness prevention within the association and to fostering a better understanding of the needs of homeless people and their barriers to housing, together with a strong appetite to work internally and with external partners to offer solutions. Our work in the meeting the Homes for Cathy homelessness pledges touches on all areas of our operations, from building homes to care and supported housing and housing management. Read our 2023/24 Homes for Cathy report to find out about the policies, practices and services we are delivering to meet the needs of people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. https://lnkd.in/eDPgN6TX

Mission Australia is proud to be a lead supporter of Homelessness Australia’s new No-one turned away campaign and Call Unanswered report. The report highlights the reality services like ours are facing during Australia’s housing and homelessness emergency, with more than 3 million people at risk of homelessness. ☎ It found 83% of services can’t answer calls, and 40% are forced to close doors due to overwhelming demand.   🆘 Every hour, 3,000 Australians ask for help from services like those provided by Mission Australia (AIHW 2023). 📈 Our frontline staff say the housing situation is the worst they’ve seen, leading to a 26% increase in demand for our services in just three years.  We’re committed to supporting many people as possible and helping them find safe, secure and affordable homes. Our approach works, with most people at risk of homelessness staying safely housed when they seek our help. However, the need for social and affordable housing still outstrips supply, leaving too many people without a home and reaching out to homelessness services for help.   Despite these challenges, we want to help everyone. We don’t want to turn anyone away. With Homelessness Australia and our sector colleagues, we call on Federal and State governments to help #endhomelessness by:  🤝 Providing the support people need to avoid or quickly escape homelessness  🏡 Providing rapid access to safe affordable homes  💰 Increasing income support so people can afford their rent Join the campaign: https://lnkd.in/gV6NEenC #NoOneTurnedAway #MissionAustralia 

This report from Homelessness Australia is sobering. It is unacceptable that we have such high rates and spikes in homelessness in a country like Australia!! At the same time homelessness services are so stretched and poorly funded. We need better solutions and to increase the supply of social and affordable housing to 10%.

Our new survey report: What are housing associations doing to help prevent homelessness? Some key takeaways: 👉 Homelessness is a priority for general needs providers and specialists alike. 👉 Housing associations are committed to preventing their residents from becoming homeless, and to relieving homelessness. 👉 The number one barrier to housing homeless households remains a lack of homes. To improve homelessness prevention we need investment for building new social homes, and ringfenced and increased revenue funding for support services. We need a long-term #PlanForHousing

Today marks World Homeless Day. World Homeless Day began in 2010, after discussions online about how to respond to homelessness across the world. We believe it is crucial to keep an open conversation about homelessness - last year, homelessness rose by 27%. There are growing concerns that if this number keeps rising, 2024 will experience another peak in homelessness, similar to the one seen in 2017. This day is a chance to recognise those without a safe and suitable place to sleep at night, as well as raising awareness of the support available to alleviate homelessness in our town and beyond. Our amazing Outreach team (pictured) work each and every day to support those without a home and carry out an open conversation about the dire need to continually support the homeless in Bedford. They care deeply, provide practical help to a range of complex needs and situations and bring hope to some of the most marginalised people in society. Homelessness is a very real societal issue and needs as much financial support as possible. Unfortunately, nearly £1bn is set to leave the homeless sector in April 2025, putting vital services at risk. On #WorldHomelessDay we’ve joined 75 other organisations in signing @HomelessLink's letter to @RachelReevesMP calling for action in the AutumnBudget. Stand with us today and everyday as we advocate for justice in the homelessness sector and for those without a safe place they can call home. #worldhomelessday #homelessness #homelessnesssupport #homelesssupport #homelesscharity #bedfordcharity #bedfordshirecharity #lovebedford #bedfordbuisness