Supported Accommodation Assistance Program
The Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) was established in 1985 to bring homelessness programs funded by individual state and territory governments and the Commonwealth under one nationally coordinated program. SAAP is jointly funded by the Australian and state and territory governments and is Australia's primary response to homelessness. The Australian Government has a policy leadership role and state and territory governments are responsible for the day-to-day management of the Program.
SAAP aims to assist people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless to achieve the maximum possible degree of self-reliance and independence by providing transitional supported accommodation and a range of related support services. The people that receive assistance under SAAP can include young people, families, women and children escaping domestic violence, older homeless men, single women and men and people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent.
The SAAP Coordination and Development Committee (CAD) has responsibility for overseeing the development and implementation of SAAP at a national level. CAD comprises senior officers from each state and territory government and the Australian Government and is chaired by one of the two Australian Government representatives.
The SAAP National Data Collection (NDC) is a continuous collection of information from July 1996 of the services provided to clients of SAAP and of the agencies funded to deliver those services. The NDC aims to continuously improve the quality and usefulness of data collection in order to provide a valuable information resource for service development, management and research into homelessness responses. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is currently contracted to carry out this task.