Commonwealth Inquiry into Homelessness in –

Northern Housing & Homelessness Collaboration Submission

A submission from not-for-profit community housing providers and homelessness services working partnership across ,

Summary

 In Northern Sydney, not-for-profit community housing providers and homelessness services are working in collaboration to deliver housing assistance and support for people experiencing homelessness and people at risk of homelessness. Our focus is on rapid rehousing, case coordination and wrap-around support as a foundation for long term, sustainable housing outcomes.  The partnership is a first of its kind and emerged when the NSW Government transferred the management of 4,500 public housing properties in the Northern Sydney region of NSW to community housing providers. The transfer of social housing services took place between December 2018 and August 2019.  The NSW community housing sector owns or manages over 46,000 social housing dwellings, representing more than 40% of the community housing sector nationally1. The NSW sector has tripled in size over the last 10 years with the support of State and Commonwealth governments. Combined, SGCH, Link and Bridge Housing and Women’s Housing Company manage approximately 15,000 social and affordable housing properties in NSW.As a sector, community housing providers are experienced in working collaboratively with homelessness and support services to deliver targeted local solutions to homelessness.  From the outset we adopted a multi-agency approach, working with local services providers to ensure we deliver responsive housing and homelessness services to our local community.  The key features of our collaboration model in Northern Sydney are: - Housing and Homelessness Collaboration Meeting – strategic governance structure to manage our collaboration partnerships and set our direction. - Housing and Homelessness Services Action Plan (copy attached) – our three - year plan setting out our priority actions and roles and responsibilities. - Local Case Coordination for Rough Sleepers – local operational meetings held fortnightly to coordinate service responses including outreach engagement with rough sleepers, with additional partners from local councils, police, mental health and local community centres.  Our submission to the inquiry builds on our expertise working directly with people who have experienced homelessness and the positive outcomes we are achieving to resolve homelessness. Based on this experience we believe the key policy and service responses required to systemically address homelessness are:

1 Report on Government Services 2020 Housing and Homelessness https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government- services/2020/housing-and-homelessness/housing

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- More social housing and affordable housing owned and managed by the community housing sector to enable ‘rapid rehousing’ to be the primary model of response - Targeted housing and wrap-around support models as a form of early intervention for those with complex needs - A clear separation between housing and support provision - Long term, sustained support funding allowing for the implementation of a ‘Housing First’ model for rough sleepers based on long term housing linked to flexible wrap-around support services - Collaborative multi-agency partnerships that address homelessness by driving action through planning and coordination of limited resources to best effect - Leveraging local partnerships to deliver innovative services offerings.

Introduction to our collaboration

In Northern Sydney, not-for-profit community housing providers and homelessness services work in collaboration to deliver housing assistance and support for people experiencing homelessness and people at risk of homelessness with a focus on rapid rehousing and support as a foundation for long term, sustainable housing outcomes. This partnership is a first of its kind and emerged when the NSW Government transferred the management of 4,500 public housing properties in Northern Sydney to community housing provider management between December 2018 and August 2019. To ensure responsive housing and homelessness services were delivered in our community, we came together to plan and coordinate our collective response. The partners working together under this collaboration include:  Bridge Housing in partnership with Women’s Housing Company providing over 1,200 social housing homes and delivering private rental assistance in Northern Beaches and Mosman LGAs  CatholicCare providing homelessness support services and accommodation  Dignity providing supported temporary accommodation  Link Housing providing over 3,500 social and affordable housing homes across Northern Sydney and private rental assistance in Ryde, Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai LGAs  Manly Warringah Women’s Resource Centre providing homelessness support services and accommodation for women with children experiencing domestic and family violence  Mission Australia providing homelessness support services and leading rough sleeper outreach services  Phoenix House providing homelessness services, living skills programs, and alternative education pathways for young people

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 SGCH (St George Community Housing) providing around 1,400 social housing homes and private rental assistance in Hunters Hill, , North Sydney and Willoughby LGAs  Taldumande providing homelessness support services and accommodation for children and young people  The Burdekin Association providing homelessness services, living skills programs and alternative education pathways for young people  The Northern Centre providing support services for people at risk of losing their home  Women’s Community Shelters providing homelessness support services and accommodation for women. Under our collaboration approach we drive service coordination and innovation by:  Communicating and sharing information effectively about policy, programs and reforms that impact service delivery  Working together to ensure clarity about roles and responsibilities to drive local collaboration and service provision that delivers better outcomes  Developing effective local structures, tools and initiatives to deliver better outcomes  Resolving strategic issues that are identified by front line staff The key features of our collaboration that guide our strategic and operational actions are:  Housing and Homelessness Collaboration Meeting – strategic governance structure to manage our collaboration partnerships and set our direction.  Housing and Homelessness Services Action Plan (copy attached) – our three-year plan setting out our priority actions and roles and responsibilities.  Local Case Coordination for Rough Sleepers – local operational meetings held fortnightly to coordinate service responses including outreach engagement with rough sleepers, with additional partners from local councils, police, mental health and local community centres. Response to Inquiry Terms of Reference

4. Opportunities for early intervention and prevention of homelessness

More social housing and affordable housing

Fundamental to the prevention of homelessness is an available and growing supply of social housing and affordable housing for people in need. Over the last 30 years the proportion of Australians who own their own home has declined. House prices have risen sharply while wages have remained stagnant. The ratio of average disposable household income to median house price has increased from just over 4 in 1991 to just over 7 in 20152. As a result, a growing number of households are now renting through the private market3. At the

2 Housing affordability in Australia Figure 1: Dwelling Price to Income Ration – Parliament of Australia https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook45p/HousingAffordability 3 Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘More households renting as home ownership falls’, Media Release 17 July 2019

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same time, the total stock of social housing has declined from over 6 percent of the total stock of housing in 1996 to around 4 percent in 20164.

As a result of these structural drivers, there is a major shortage of housing that is affordable to those on lower incomes. This has contributed to the steady increase in homelessness of 30 percent between 2006 to 20165. Both the reduction in social housing and lack of affordable housing is a fundamental issue that needs to be tackled in order to successfully prevent homelessness.

Estimates suggest there is a current shortfall of almost 440,000 social housing dwellings, which is projected to grow to 730,000 over the next 20 years6. Similar estimates highlight a current shortage of 215,000 affordable housing dwellings, increasing to almost 300,000 over the next two decades7.

While supply of market housing has increased in recent years, this has not driven down the cost of housing. Additional supply needs to be targeted social and affordable housing as the private market is not a viable alternative. Fewer than 3 percent of available properties are affordable for households reliant on Centrelink payments8.

Not only is the private market not affordable and increasingly a driver of homelessness for people on low incomes, it is also not an appropriate housing outcome for people managing complex health or mental health issues or who are long term rough sleepers. These groups of people require an intensive and supported tenancy management model and access to support to sustain their housing.

Addressing the shortage of social and affordable housing is critical to long term prevention to stop people cycling through homelessness. It is our view that that delivery of additional social and affordable housing supply should be guided by a National Housing Strategy, which explicitly addresses homelessness. This will ensure that the type, tenure, and location of dwellings corresponds directly with the needs of local communities and vulnerable groups. Rapid rehousing as a primary model of response Our collaboration approach is focused on facilitating an early, long term housing solution for people experiencing homelessness making the best use of the limited resources we have available. Through a combination of case coordination, rough sleeper outreach, supported temporary accommodation, intensive tenancy facilitation and fast-tracked assessment of housing applications, we work together to identify a long-term housing solution that is appropriate to the person’s need.

4 .idcommunity – Australia community profile https://profile.id.com.au/australia/tenure?WebID=100 5 Australian Homelessness Monitor 2018 https://www.launchhousing.org.au/site/wp- content/uploads/2018/05/LaunchHousing_AHM2018_Overview.pdf ABS – Census of Population and Housing: Estimating homelessness, 2016: Table 1.1 Persons by Homeless operational groups, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 (a) https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/2049.0 6 Social housing as infrastructure: an investment pathway 2018 https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/29059/AHURI-Final-Report- 306-Social-housing-as-infrastructure-an-investment-pathway.pdf 7 Estimating the needs and costs of social and affordable housing delivery 2019 http://communityhousing.org.au/wp- content/uploads/2019/03/Modelling_costs_of_housing_provision_FINAL.pdf 8 Rental Affordability Snapshot National Report / April 2020 – Anglicare Australia https://www.anglicare.asn.au/docs/default-source/default- document-library/rental-affordability-snapshot-2020.pdf?sfvrsn=4

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Under this approach we have achieved positive outcomes in a short period of time. We are sustainably and rapidly rehousing people experiencing homelessness including long term rough sleepers. We take tenancy facilitation seriously as we want to ensure clients exit into an appropriate housing outcome that meets their needs. With links to support services required to assist people to sustain their housing over the long term.

Since our services collaboration approach has commenced in Northern Sydney, collectively we have assisted:  758 clients into temporary accommodation9  275 housed in social housing  171 housed through private rental assistance products Targeted housing and support models as a form of early intervention Ongoing investment in targeted early intervention housing and support models is required to stop people cycling in and out of homelessness over their lifetime. These models represent social and economic value as they avoid or significantly reduce the individual and service- system costs associated with homelessness. While there are many innovative models and programs, systemic investment is required to promote the replication of the most effective models so that they are accessible by those who need them.

Early intervention housing and support models need to be tailored to meet the specific needs of target cohorts and reflect local requirements. This is particularly important in designing programs to support people leaving institutional care settings for example out-of- home-care, custody, and hospitals who are particularly vulnerable to homelessness10. Research and our experience has shown that local partnership models with a practical focus on continuity and case coordination are often the most effective11.

In Northern Sydney, Taldumande, Phoenix House, Mission Australia and the Burdekin Association provide support services for young people experiencing homelessness and at risk of homelessness. Their practice model is focused on working with young people to empower them to live independently and build their confidence to work towards their long-term goals.

However, there is a lack of support and accommodation resources in Northern Sydney to meet the increasing demand from young people driven by family breakdown, domestic and family violence and increasing mental health issues. This limits the capacity to provide an early intervention and prevention response for young people; and over the long term to prevent young people from cycling into long term homelessness12.

9 Temporary accommodation provides low cost short-term accommodation (for example in motels) for clients while permanent housing is secured 10 Specialist homelessness services annual report 2017–18https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/homelessness-services/specialist-homelessness- services-2017-18/contents/client-groups-of-interest/clients-leaving-care 11 Pathways Home: NSW Community Housing’s role in delivering better outcomes for people exiting corrective services 2018 https://www.homelessnessnsw.org.au/sites/homelessnessnsw/files/2018- 04/Pathways%20Home%20NSW%20community%20housing%27s%20role%20delivering%20better%20outcomes%20for%20people%20exiting% 20corrective%20services%5B1%5D.pdf 12 Schutella etc al, 2012, Journeys Home Research Report: Wave 1 findings

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Greater investment is required in targeted housing and support models such as Youth Foyers which focus on housing alongside an education, training and employment pathway as the basis for assisting young people to transition to independent living. There is significant evidence that upfront investment in this model delivers long term social and economic benefits13.

SGCH is currently developing the first purpose built Youth Foyer in the inner city of Sydney NSW in partnership with Uniting, Social Ventures Australia and the NSW Government. The Foyer Central project will deliver in early 2021, 53 student style units of accommodation with wrap around support for young people who have lived in out-of-home care and are at risk of homelessness. Further investment targeted to similar models is required to to provide a truly early intervention approach for young people.

5. Services to support people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, including housing assistance, social housing, and specialist homelessness services

More social housing and affordable housing

Under our collaboration we are doing the best we can to use the resources that we have available but with low levels of social housing vacancies (less than 10% of the portfolio is vacated per year) - there is a limited supply of social housing available to meet increasing demand of over 2,250 households on the waiting list in Northern Sydney14 and increasing demand for housing assistance during COVID-19. While the NSW Government has recently announced some welcome and much needed additional funding for housing for people sleeping rough during COVID-19, this funding is for properties rented in the private market and limited for two years so does not contribute to a long term increase in supply.

A long term, capital funding stream is required to provide the level of supply required to meet needs. In the short term, a federally funded stimulus package15 to increase the supply of social and affordable housing would also have the benefit of delivering significant positive social and economic outcomes for both those households experiencing or at risk of homelessness and lasting productivity and value for money for government investment. Analysis of direct public investment in social housing has shown that it is a cost-effective way to boost growth in jobs and incomes. An ACOSS briefing from 2019 states that for every dollar invested it is estimated to boost GDP by $1.3016.

Long term, sustained support funding

While access to housing is the foundation for addressing all forms of homelessness, support is critical for people to permanently sustain their tenancies. This is particularly the case for people who have experienced chronic homelessness or who have complex needs including physical disabilities, mental health conditions, alcohol and substance dependence and

13 Education First Youth Foyers Evaluation 2019 https://www.bsl.org.au/research/projects/education-first-youth-foyers-evaluation/ 14 Expected waiting times for allocation zones CSO4 and CS05 https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/housing/help/applying-assistance/expected-waiting- times 15 E.g. The Social Housing Acceleration Program proposed by the Community Housing Industry Association 16 How to reduce homelessness and boost incomes and jobs: Social housing as infrastructure, August 2019 https://www.acoss.org.au/wp- content/uploads/2019/08/ACOSS-Brief-Social-Housing-Investment-as-Infrastructure.pdf

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domestic and family violence, which can become hurdles making it challenging to sustain a tenancy.

It is critical that effective models are replicated systemically to ensure that all people experiencing homelessness can access appropriate assistance. Homelessness services are systemically underfunded and work hard to stretch their resources to provide services to people in need well above and beyond their contracted service levels. Long term funding certainty is required that allows the flexible application of support to meet individual needs, in particular for people who need ongoing support over the long term. This would align with best practice approaches for preventing and addressing homelessness. 8. Examples of best-practice approaches in Australia and internationally for preventing and addressing homelessness Housing First

The Housing First model – widely regarded as international best practice in working with rough sleepers and those experiencing chronic homelessness – is based on the provision of secure, affordable housing with flexible, wrap-around supports17. The level of support must be flexible in order to respond to the changing needs of clients over time and housing tenure must be permanent in that it is not tied to engagement with support. This is in contrast to the stepped model, where people move from supported crisis and transitional accommodation arrangements before moving into permanent housing without support.

While there have been a number of highly successful individual Housing First initiatives and pilot programs in Australia, our homelessness system is still predominantly crisis-driven with stepped housing. The absence of a capital funding stream to deliver additional social housing in combination with the fragmented and short-term funding cycles for support services have prevented the expansion of Housing First models.

In NSW, community housing providers have a strong track record of partnering with support providers to deliver Housing First responses and would welcome moves to embed the model at a systemic level. Bridge Housing and Neami National partnered on the Platform 70 initiative in 2011 to house and support rough sleepers in inner Sydney18. The program was particularly successful with an 85 percent success rate in sustaining housing tenancies and housed 105 rough sleepers. It is an evidence-based example of a person centred program with housing and support partners working closely to bring about a range of positive outcomes for the clients.

Bridge Housing and Women’s Housing Company are currently partnering with Metro Community Housing and support provider Neami National to deliver the Step to Home program, which is a NSW Government funded partnership based on Housing First principles. The program uses properties leased from the private rental market to provide rapid, permanent re-housing and wrap around support to 90 rough sleepers, with an emphasis on

17 What is the Housing First model and how does it help those experiencing homelessness? 2018 https://www.ahuri.edu.au/policy/ahuri- briefs/what-is-the-housing-first-model 18 Platform 70 Media Release 2014 https://www.bridgehousing.org.au/documents/828-mr-platform70-0508f/file

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case coordination to ensure issues are identified and managed proactively. Step to Home has a 97 percent tenancy sustainment rate.

Internationally the Housing First model has been used particularly successfully in Finland. Finland established the Housing First approach to address homelessness, providing affordable and secure housing to homeless people alongside significant levels of support services as required. Between 2008 and 2015, the number of people in Finland experiencing long-term homelessness dropped by 35 percent. Fundamental to the model is that homelessness is viewed first and foremost as a housing problem rather than a social problem. The availability of appropriate affordable housing is key and would need to be addressed prior to the successful roll out of Housing First across States and Territories in Australia.

Collaborative multi-agency partnerships to address homelessness

Multi-agency partnerships between community housing providers, support services, health agencies and other local partners are at the heart of best practice approaches for addressing homelessness. Under our collaborative partnership approach, we leverage the strengths of each organisation to meet the individual needs of people experiencing homelessness and at risk of homelessness to drive long term sustainable outcomes.

Driving action through planning and coordination

In Northern Sydney, we have developed the Northern Sydney Housing & Homelessness Services Action Plan 2018-2021 to provide a framework for coordinating our collective housing and support services to address homelessness. The plan focuses on actions to coordinate outreach to rough sleepers and case coordination to prevent and address homelessness.

Under this plan we implemented a case coordination model in 2019 to support people sleeping rough to exit homelessness, access ongoing health care and access long-term housing with support. In this model we bring together homelessness services, local councils and community centres, local police command, NSW Health and mental health services for a focused fortnightly meeting to coordinate our individual responses to assisting identified rough sleepers and develop a targeted response for any new cases. In each case coordination area, the lead housing provider acts as the ‘backbone organisation’ administering and organising the case coordination meeting, with the homelessness services leading outreach tailored to the rough sleeping response required in the local area. Outreach is undertaken on a regular basis by the lead homelessness service, supported by the housing provider. We also offer outreach services to local health and community services to assist shared clients with temporary accommodation and their housing applications. The benefits of this approach:  Person centred – engagement in accordance with best practice with a focus on working to meet individual needs and protect privacy through a consent model.  A clear, common approach – all agencies have a shared commitment to long term outcomes and develop a joint approach based on agreed actions.

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 All partners use common progress measures – all agencies contribute to the collection of data and measure results consistently to ensure shared measurement.  Promotes a culture of communication – open and continuous communication across partners to build trust, assure mutual objectives, and create common motivation. Leveraging partnerships to deliver innovative services to address homelessness Collaborative partnerships also drive flexible and innovative service delivery responses. In response to increasing homelessness among older women and women experiencing domestic and family violence, Link Housing and Women’s Community Shelters are currently delivering a ‘Meanwhile Use’ project to deliver safe and secure transitional housing to women over 55 years old.

Under a Meanwhile Use model, a community housing provider and support service, partner with the owner of an unused asset (such as a developer waiting on a development approval) to deliver temporary accommodation and support. The Link Housing and Women’s Community Shelters’ Beecroft House project provides a targeted solution for older women and those experiencing domestic and family violence.

The project makes use of a currently unused asset in the Beecroft area of Sydney to provide stable accommodation for up to 20 independent women who have experienced financial insecurity, or a crisis event in their lives. These are women who have contributed to their communities, raised families and who, due to wider issues of housing affordability have found themselves in an insecure housing position later in life. The project provides a housing pathway, by connecting women to the network of community housing providers in Northern Sydney at the end of their stay at Beecroft House, which will help them to make the next step towards their longer-term home.

The aim is to drive effective service responses across the housing and homelessness sectors because we believe there is a significant opportunity for us to reduce duplication, maximise resources and utilise our respective areas of expertise to deliver better outcomes for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness in Northern Sydney.

Conclusion

We are firmly of the view that through collaboration, innovation and partnership we can end homelessness. Leadership at the Commonwealth level, including a clear National Housing Strategy to guide the development of affordable housing supply is required. To be truly effective we must link housing provision with support services to ensure people can sustain their tenancies and avoid the cycle of homelessness. Clear and dedicated funding for wrap- around and flexible support provision for people in their homes is required. We have a significant evidence base regarding the early intervention and housing first models that support people to exit homelessness. With appropriate funding and support, local collaboration models such as ours in Northern Sydney, NSW will flourish and together we will end homelessness for good.

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This submission was prepared by Rebecca Pinkstone as Chair, Northern Sydney Housing & Homelessness Collaboration, and is endorsed by the following member organisations:  Bridge Housing  The Burdekin Association  Link Housing  Mission Australia  The Northern Centre  Phoenix House Youth Services  SGCH  Taldumande Youth Services  Women’s Community Shelters  Women’s Housing Company

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