WA: Annual Report 2009-10: National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness

Western Australia: Annual Report 2009-10: National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Summary of achievements
  • 2.1 Activities to ensure new programs are meeting NPAH outcomes
  • 2.2 NPAH performance indicators and progress
  • 2.3 Describe and summarise any additional research or proxy data
• 3. Measures
  • 3.1 A Place to Call Home – Social Housing dwellings
  • 3.2 Foyer Model: accommodation for homeless young people
  • 3.3 Street to Home
  • 3.4 Financial Counselling
  • 3.5 Hardship Utilities Grants (HUGS)
  • 3.6 Private Rental Tenancy Support Services
  • 3.7 Public Tenancy Support Services
  • 3.8 Young Women Leaving Child Protection Services
  • 3.9 Housing Support Workers – Mental Health
  • 3.10 Housing Support Workers – Corrective Services
  • 3.11 Housing Support Workers – Drug and Alcohol
  • 3.12 People with exceptionally complex needs
  • 3.13 Safe at Home
  • 3.14 Domestic Violence Outreach
  • 3.15 Perpetrator Response
  • 3.16 Homelessness Accommodation Support Worker
  • 3.17 Remote Rough Sleeper Assertive Outreach
  • 3.18 Support for Children in Homeless Families
  • 3.19 Domestic Violence Child Support Workers
  • 3.20 Coordination Worker: Children in Domestic Violence Accommodation Services
• Maps
  • Map 1: Financial Counselling
  • Map 2: Private Rental Tenancy Support Services
  • Map 3: Public Tenancy Support Services
  • Map 4: Housing Support Workers – Mental Health
  • Map 5: Housing Support Workers – Corrective Services
  • Map 6: Housing Support Workers – Drug and Alcohol
  • Map 7: Safe at Home
  • Map 8: Domestic Violence Outreach
  • Map 9: Homelessness Accommodation Support Worker
  • Map 10: Remote Rough Sleeper Assertive Outreach
• Appendices
  • Appendix 1: Summary of WA NPAH measures
  • Appendix 2: Western Australia: Towards a better integrated service system
  • Appendix 3: Development of service models and service specifications
  • Appendix 4: Evaluation Framework
  • Appendix 5: A Place to Call Home Client Consent Brochure
  • Appendix 6: Tenancy Support Worker promotional poster
  • Appendix 7: Guideline
  • Appendix 8: Common Assessment Form
  • Appendix 9: Referral Forms
  • Appendix 10: Brokerage Guidelines

1. Introduction

In Western Australia, the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH) provides $135 million over four years in new and expanded support services, capital and land. The WA Implementation Plan is well under way and around 110 new full time equivalent workers are in place throughout the state.

The WA Implementation Plan contributes to the National Affordable Housing Agreement objective that people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness achieve sustainable housing and social inclusion.

The Western Australian Implementation Plan is contributing to the NPAH outcomes:

• Fewer people will become homeless and fewer of these will sleep rough;
• Fewer people will become homeless more than once;
• People at risk of or experiencing homelessness will maintain or improve connections with their families and communities, and maintain or improve their education, training or employment participation; and
• People at risk of or experiencing homelessness will be supported by quality services, with improved access to sustainable housing.

All new programs funded under the NPAH are contributing to meeting these outcomes. There are 14 new programs, some of which have more than one component, being delivered throughout the state. The majority of services are provided by non government community service providers. (Appendix 1)

The following new services are specifically targeted at early intervention and prevention:

• Private Rental Tenancy Support
• Public Tenancy Support
• Assistance for young women leaving child protection
• Housing Support Workers – Mental Health
• Housing Support Workers – Corrective Services
• Housing Support Workers – Drug and Alcohol
• Safe at Home
• Domestic Violence Outreach

The WA Implementation Plan includes new services to assist people who are sleeping rough:

• Street to Home
• Outreach for remote rough sleepers

The majority of programs aim to support people to maintain long term stable housing so that fewer people will become homeless more than once. In particular, the following services support people who have been homeless to prevent the continuing cycle of homelessness:

• A Place to Call Home – Social Housing
• Homelessness Accommodation Support Workers
• People with Exceptionally Complex Needs Pilot Project

A fundamental element of all programs is that people who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness will be supported to maintain or improve connections with their families and communities, and maintain or improve their education, training or employment participation.

The NPAH includes the following new programs for accompanying children to ensure they are linked to mainstream education and health services to minimise the impact of their homelessness:

• Domestic Violence Child Support Worker
• Children in Homeless Families
• Coordination Worker – Children in DV Accommodation Services

A target of a minimum of 11% for Indigenous participation in all NPAH programs in Western Australia has been set. This is consistent with Indigenous representation in the Counting the Homeless 2006 Western Australia report.

The majority of NPAH programs have a component of brokerage funding to ensure services are responsive to client needs and to facilitate an integrated approach between specialist homelessness services and mainstream agencies.

The new NPAH programs have been developed in consultation with relevant government agencies and specialist homelessness services to ensure service models are relevant to the needs of people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. The quality of service provision will be monitored through contracting processes and supported through regular forums for sharing best practice.

Department of Housing is a key stakeholder in the roll out of the NPAH in WA and this will contribute to improved access to sustainable housing. Support services provided through the NPAH are lined up with housing provided through the Department of Housing.

The NPAH complements and builds on the existing homeless service system and has been an important mechanism for leveraging reform in the way mainstream and specialist homelessness services respond to the needs of people who are at risk of, or experiencing homelessness. Western Australia is working towards a holistic service system that builds on the strengths of the existing services and moves towards a fully integrated homelessness response in Western Australia. (Appendix 2)

Process for roll out of NPAH

The Western Australian NPAH Implementation Plan was signed on 28 June 2009 and announced on 23 July 2009. Following the announcement, the Department for Child Protection provided information about the NPAH to over 200 representatives from non government and government agencies at a presentation on 31 July 2009 in Perth. This was followed up throughout August with a series of regional presentations in Albany, Bunbury, Kalgoorlie, Geraldton, Port Hedland, Karratha and Broome.

A number of programs were targeted to existing specialist homelessness preferred service providers, identified as the most appropriate services working within a geographical area with a particular target group. The Department entered into direct negotiations with these providers to develop service specifications and contracting arrangements.

The remaining programs were subject to an Expression of Interest process. Non government agencies interested in the development and delivery of the new NPAH services were required to register for an Expression of Interest (EOI) by 31 August 2009 for metropolitan services and 15 September 2009 for country services.

To ensure sector input, workshops were conducted in September 2009 for all services being rolled out in the metropolitan area to seek input from the non government sector. The workshops contributed to fine tuning the service models and service specifications. Revised draft specifications were circulated for final comment by mid-October with applications for funding closing mid to late November.

A similar process was undertaken for rural services throughout Western Australia, with workshops being conducted in all regional areas to ensure service specifications were appropriate for rural and remote locations. Appendix 3 details the participation by mainstream and specialist homelessness services, both government and non government, in the consultation workshops.

More than 86 non government community service organisations participated in the process and feedback regarding the sector engagement and workshop process has been extremely positive.

By 30 June 2010, the Department for Child Protection had entered into Service Agreements with 31 non government organisations to provide 68 new services throughout the state. Four additional services are currently being negotiated in remote areas. Two arrangements were also finalised with Government agencies for provision of services under the NPAH. In July 2010, 11 service agreements were finalised for Safe at Home and Domestic Violence Outreach services.

2. Summary of achievements

2.1 Activities to ensure new programs are meeting NPAH outcomes

2.1.1 Linking housing with support

Six new NPAH programs involve Housing Support Workers whose role is to support people who are homeless to obtain and sustain accommodation. The Department of Housing is a key partner in the delivery of these programs and has made a commitment to allocation targets to ensure dwellings for clients supported under the NPAH. The Department of Housing Regional Offices will be the primary contact point for Housing Support Workers when liaising with the Department regarding allocation of properties. The Department of Housing has appointed four officers to work with housing support workers (HSWs) to ensure smooth transitions between the regional offices, NGO service providers and clients and to drive allocations under the NPAH.

These officers are responsible for ensuring good relationships and understanding across the service providers and across regional staff. They also assist in ensuring appropriate allocations are made.

The properties will be sourced through the Department of Housing's existing stock allocations and through new properties provided through the Social Housing and National Building and Jobs Plan National Partnerships.

The Department of Housing has been conducting a series of information and training sessions for its Regional Office staff to ensure the NPAH allocation framework is well understood.

A workshop on 10 May 2010 provided all Housing Support Workers with information on the process for allocation of Department of Housing properties for NPAH clients. In addition, recognising not all clients will access Public Housing, the forum explored a range of other housing options for clients, including private rental, community housing, and boarding with family and friends. The Department of Housing has also modified its data collection systems to include NPAH codes. This allows for the tracking of rental housing applications and allocations to NPAH clients.

2.1.2 A better integrated service system

A new focus on ensuring better integration between specialist homelessness services and mainstream services underpins the Western Australian Implementation Plan to ensure people are able to access the most appropriate services to sustain their housing long term. In Western Australia a number of mechanisms are in place to enhance integration and collaboration:

Western Australian Council on Homelessness

The Western Australian Council on Homelessness plays an important leadership role and contributes to the development and implementation of state and regional homelessness action plans. The Council also promotes integrated responses with non government, government and mainstream services to ensure a more connected and responsive service system. The Council is made up of community and academic representatives with ex-officio members from key government departments.

NPAH Implementation Senior Officers Group

A Senior Officers Group has been established to oversee the implementation of the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness in Western Australia. The Senior Officers Group is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the WA NPAH Implementation Plan and driving innovation and across program linkages on homelessness between Agencies, mainstream and specialist services to achieve the interim targets to reduce homelessness.

Centrelink Homelessness Reference Group

This group was established in early 2009 with the aim of Centrelink, peak bodies, service providers, local and state government working collaboratively to reduce and prevent homelessness in WA. The goals of the group are to improve Centrelink's service response to people at risk of or experiencing homelessness and to improve interagency service responses to people who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

2.1.3 Value adding through Lotterywest

A key element in all new programs is the intensive support provided to people who have experienced homelessness to effectively link with mainstream services. This is critical to address a range of issues, including employment, health, financial management and social integration, to achieve long term, secure, stable housing. In order to enhance workers capacity to support clients in this way Lotterywest, the official state lottery is committed to supporting the NPAH through the provision of grants to eligible community service providers. Many service providers have received funding from Lotterywest for assistance to purchase vehicles to assist with the transport of clients. Lotterywest has also provided assistance with office set up for new services. It is anticipated Lotterywest will also assist with the fit out of new facilities built as part of the NPAH.

Since the commencement of the NPAH, Lotterywest has provided grants totalling $2.26 million to Western Australian non government service providers to enhance capacity to deliver services to clients who are at risk of, or experiencing homelessness.

2.1.4 Workforce development

The need for competent, trained and qualified staff is recognised and strategies are in place to assist services provide training and development opportunities for staff. The following are examples of current strategies to provide training and professional development across the state.

Learning and Development Centre, Department for Child Protection

The Learning and Development Centre provides free training to non-government community services funded and endorsed by the Department for Child Protection. The Centre is a Registered Training Organisation and offers flexible face-to-face and online training. Training modules cover a range of subjects relevant to NPAH service providers including case management, understanding family and domestic violence and working with clients with drug and alcohol problems.

West Coast Institute of Training and Women's Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services (WA): Recognising skills, knowledge and expertise of family and domestic violence workers in WA.

This unique partnership offers refuge and domestic violence workers the opportunity to gain skills recognition in Community Services Work, Certificate III and IV.

This project:

• recognises the core competencies of a highly skilled, yet often un-credentialed workforce;
• delivers accessible, flexible work placed assessment;
• tailors assessment plans to meet the needs of individuals;
• provides a clear pathway to gain formal qualifications;
• empowers staff by recognising skills they have already gained in the workplace; and
• improves the skills and professional capacity of an important sector which is in high demand.

This is the first time a Recognising Prior Learning program has been delivered to the domestic violence sector in WA and it has had a significant and positive impact. Individual workers have gained a formal qualification and accreditation that recognised their skills and experience.

Mentoring in remote regions: information and skill sharing between regional/remote services

The vast size of WA can mean services may be the only one of their kind in a region. In the case on a women's shelter in Fitzroy Crossing, the Department for Child Protection provided funding for experienced workers from Marnja Jarndu women's refuge in Broome to travel to Fitzroy Crossing to provide the new workers with two days of face to face mentoring and support.

The mentoring provided information on client case management, client support, and policies and procedures in remote service delivery.

Child Support Worker Workshop

The Department for Child Protection provided funding for workers from rural and remote domestic violence services to attend a Conference organised by the WA Family Pathways Network on the impact of domestic violence on children. Following the conference, a workshop was held to provide training and support to Child Support workers from domestic violence women's refuges across the State. The Child Support Worker Workshop provided workers with best practise guidelines and an overview of the role of the new Case Management and Coordination Groups.

In addition the Department for Child Protection presented a session on how the Department can work with women's refuges to protect and support women and children. Feedback from participants was very positive and will guide the future work of the Keeping Kids Safe Program.

The Department for Child Protection provides training subsidies to service providers to allow staff to be released for training purposes. The subsidy payment goes towards staff relief costs and travel and accommodation expenses.

2.1.5 Sector Reform - Supporting Quality Services

In Western Australia, a number of service developments are underway within the specialist homelessness system that contribute to meeting the NPAH outcomes. The following examples highlight service reforms that have resulted in innovative and more flexible service responses to homelessness:

Anawim: Improving outcomes for Indigenous women and their children:

Ruah Community Services, a medium-sized non-government organisation in Perth, had identified the need to provide better integrated services to Aboriginal women accessing the Anawim Women's Refuge. The service provides accommodation and support for women who have experienced family violence, mental illness and or problems relating to their drug and alcohol use, and as a result have become homeless. During 2009, Ruah worked in partnership with the Department for Child Protection to review and re-structure the Anawim Women's refuge services to begin this process. As a result of the review a new integrated model has been established that links clients to a range of tailored accommodation options and specialist services to enable a pathway out of homelessness and improve life and safety outcomes.

Ruah Community Services will continue to further develop its model and work with the sector to develop linkages and pathways between services to achieve improved outcomes for Aboriginal women.

UnitingCare West (UCW) Inner City service

UnitingCare West (UCW) reviewed its services in response to the Australian Government white paper The Road Home.

UCW has incorporated the “no wrong door” approach from the White Paper into a newly refurbished built facility, developed to accommodate the well established Tranby Day Centre and a number of UCW's other homelessness services.

In order to meet the needs of those accessing services, UCW has implemented a revised model of service delivery that allows for effective assessment of risk and need and an integrated and coordinated response from a range of on-site services to maximise outcomes for clients.

Additional funding through the WA NPAH implementation plan, for an assertive outreach team, as part of Street to Home, complements the existing services which offer support to homeless individuals and families in Perth.

2.1.6 Broader service developments

Family Support

The Department for Child Protection, in partnership with the community services sector, will facilitate the development of family support hubs across the metropolitan and regional areas. Family support hubs will connect families and individuals at risk or in crisis to specialised services that work with vulnerable children, individuals and families. The family support hubs aim to provide a common entry point to deliver a holistic and networked approach to children, individuals and families at risk or experiencing crisis including those who are homeless.

The “no wrong doors” philosophy will be a key element of the family support hubs and the emphasis will be on supporting clients to access the right services as soon as possible.

Family and Domestic Violence Case Management and Coordination Services

A new approach is being implemented for Family and Domestic Violence Case Management and Coordination across the state to monitor and support the management of domestic violence cases with a focus on case management of high risk cases and integrated responses to family and domestic violence.

The aim of integrated case management and case co-ordination is to ensure consistency in relation to risk assessment and safety planning for victims and their children in cases of family and domestic violence. In addition, integrated case management and case co-ordination aims to ensure risk assessment and accountability processes are consistent for perpetrators in cases of family and domestic violence. Integrated case management and case co-ordination requires agencies to share and develop their collective expertise and information to enable collective planning in identifying, monitoring and responding to risk factors.

Mental health service reform

In March 2010, the Western Australian Mental Health Commission was established with a focus on people living with a mental illness and their ability to recover. A priority is to improve the way individualised care is provided and co-ordinated for people with a mental health illness. The new Mental Health Commission will also actively involve mental health consumers and carers in the planning and delivery of mental health services. This focus on mental health will enable the State to have dedicated and tailored services that will provide the best possible care available to people with a mental illness.

2.2 NPAH performance indicators and progress

The tables on the following pages provide the performance benchmark for each performance indicator under the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness. A number of NPAH programs contribute to achieving more than one performance indicator.

The performance indicator for each program details the number of people to be assisted and sets targets for number of people who have sustained and maintained accommodation for 12 months. The majority of WA programs have had workers in place for approximately three months. The tables provide preliminary data and are an early indication of the number of people assisted within each NPAH program in
2009-10. Please note these figures may be updated in future annual reports.

Data is not currently available for the percentage of Indigenous people supported but will be provided in the status report due in January 2010.

National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness Western Australian Implementation Plan – Performance Indicators and Targets 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Performance Benchmark: Target for Reduction 2009-10	NPAH Program	Number of People Assisted (2009-10)1
			Per Program	Total
Proportion of Australians who are homeless In 2009-10 a decrease of 1% (from the WA baseline of 13,391) in the number of people who are homeless.	134	A Place to Call Home	33	732
		Foyer Model: accommodation for homeless young people	N/A
		Street to Home – Assertive Outreach	29*
		Street to Home – Housing Support Workers	29*
		Private Rental Tenancy Support Services	79
		Public Tenancy Support Services	30
		Young Women Leaving Child Protection Services	19
		Housing Support Workers – Mental Health	55
		Housing Support Workers – Corrective Services	35
		Housing Support Workers – Drug & Alcohol	46
		People with exceptionally complex needs	N/A
		Safe at Home	N/A
		Domestic Violence Outreach	N/A
		Perpetrator Response	N/A
		Homelessness Accommodation Support Workers	212
		Remote Rough Sleeper Assertive Outreach	10
		Support for Children in Homeless Families	155
		Domestic Violence Child Support Worker	N/A
Performance Indicator	Performance Benchmark: Target for Reduction 2009-10	NPAH Program	Number of People Assisted (2009-10)2
			Per Program	Total
Proportion of Australians who are homeless In 2009-10 a decrease of 5% (from the WA baseline of 1496) in the number of Indigenous Australians who are homeless.	75	A target has been set that across all initiatives 11% of people assisted with be Indigenous	Data not currently available
Proportion of Australians who are experiencing primary homelessness (rough sleeping) In 2009-10 a decrease of 5% (from the WA baseline of 2,392) in the number of Australians sleeping rough	120	Foyer Model: accommodation for homeless young people	N/A	361
		Street to Home – Assertive Outreach	29
		Street to Home - Housing Support Workers	29
		Housing Support Workers – Corrective Services	35
		Housing Support Workers – Drug & Alcohol	46
		People with exceptionally complex needs	N/A
		Homelessness Accommodation Support Workers	212
		Remote Rough Sleeper Assertive Outreach	10
The number of families who maintain or secure safe and sustainable housing following family violence	38	Safe at Home	N/A	N/A
		Domestic Violence Outreach	N/A
		Perpetrator Response	N/A
Increase in the number of people exiting care and custodial settings into secure and affordable housing	30	Foyer Model: accommodation for homeless young people	N/A	109
		Young Women Leaving Child Protection Services	19
		Housing Support Workers – Mental Health	55
		Housing Support Workers – Corrective Services	35
Performance Indicator	Performance Benchmark: Target for Reduction 2009-10	NPAH Program	Number of People Assisted (2009-10)3
			Per Program	Total
Reduce the number of people exiting social housing and private rental into homelessness	30	Private Rental Tenancy Support Services	79	109
		Public Tenancy Support Services	30
The proportion of people experiencing repeat periods of homelessness	50	A Place to Call Home	33	359
		Foyer Model: accommodation for homeless young people	n/a
		Street to Home – Assertive Outreach	29
		Street to Home – Housing Support Workers	29
		Homelessness Accommodation Support Workers	212
		Housing Support Workers – Drug & Alcohol	46
		People with exceptionally complex needs	n/a
		Remote Rough Sleeper Assertive Outreach	10
Number of young people (12 to 18 years) who are homeless or at risk of homelessness who are re-engaged with family, school and work		Foyer Model: accommodation for homeless young people	N/A	35
		Housing Support Workers – Corrective Services	35
Number of children (under 12 years) who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness who are provided with additional support to maintain contact with their school		Support for Children in Homeless Families	155	155
Performance Indicator	Performance Benchmark: Target for Reduction 2009-10	NPAH Program	Number of People Assisted (2009-10)4
			Per Program	Total
Number of families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness who receive financial advice, counselling and/or case management	64	Financial Counselling	N/A
		Hardship Utilities Grants	N/A
		Homelessness Accommodation Support Workers	212
Number of people who are homeless or at risk who are provided with legal services	38	Safe at Home	N/A	N/A
		Domestic Violence Outreach	N/A
		Perpetrator Response	N/A
Number of staff of specialist homeless services provided with formal training and development opportunities	20	Domestic Violence Outreach	N/A	N/A
		Perpetrator Response	N/A
		Other Training	20

2.3 Describe and summarise any additional research or proxy data

2.3.1 Service reporting

All new NPAH programs are contractually required to provide 6 monthly progress reports to the Department for Child Protection. These reports will provide data to measure success against the targets set for each program and will provide the basis for reporting against targets in future annual reports.

2.3.2 Independent Evaluation

An external evaluation of the programs of the Homelessness National Partnership Agreement (NPAH) based on evaluation framework will commence in 2010. The Evaluation Framework is attached at Appendix 4.

The purpose of the evaluation is to produce evaluation reports that provide the Department with an independent assessment of the 14 NPAH programs that will inform Departmental policies, processes and future funding. The reporting material will also be used for national reporting and evaluation.

The specific objectives of the evaluation are to:

• describe each of the 14 NPAH programs
• Assess their implementation, effectiveness and efficiency, and
• identify key learnings from the programs including identifying strengths and weaknesses of the programs

The target group for the evaluation are key stakeholders and participants:

• clients of the NPAH programs
• program workers
• program managers
• Western Australian Council on Homelessness

The evaluation project will include the following:

• Developing, pilot testing and conducting surveys (in 2011 and 2012) to gain feedback from stakeholders on the impact of the program and key learnings as they relate to the program outcomes:
  • telephone or face to face surveys (of 315 clients)
  • online or hard copy self completion surveys (of 110 program workers)
  • face to face interviews (with 40 program managers )
• Conducting focus groups (in 2011 and 2012) with program workers, program managers, Western Australian Council on Homelessness (1 metro and 2 country).
• Analysing secondary data provided by the Department for Child Protection from each program (progress reports containing data summaries as well as de-identified unit client records, the Department's Annual Customer Perception Survey, and Specialist Homelessness Services National Minimum Data Set).
• A steering committee will be formed to supervise the evaluation project and the consultants will report to this group. The consultants will be required to produce an activity report by June 2011, an interim report by January 2012 and the final report by January 2012.

It is intended the activity report and interim report will be used in re-shaping or reviewing

+ aspects the program delivery, if the findings highlight more effective ways to deliver the program to produce better outcomes for the clients.

3. Measures

3.1 A Place to Call Home – Social Housing dwellings

Description of activities

Service Description

A Place To Call Home improves outcomes for homeless people through the provision of housing and joined-up services to assist homeless people to achieve stable housing outcomes.

Thirty three individual newly purchased or constructed social housing dwellings will be allocated over a three year period to people on the Department of Housing Priority Wait List due to homelessness. Tenants receive targeted support services for the first year of their tenancy.

The people supported through A Place to Call Home become mainstream public housing tenants with the Department of Housing having responsibility for all property management. The Department for Child Protection funds non government service providers to provide personal and tenancy support to clients, and work with Department of Housing; Housing Services Officers to enable clients to achieve stable tenancies.

Properties are allocated to clients based on architectural and geographical characteristics that are compatible with clients' lifestyles and aspirations. The program also ensures people who have experienced homelessness are effectively linked with mainstream services to address a range of issues including employment, health, financial management and social integration to achieve long term, secure, stable housing.

Clients will be supported for 12 months, and it is anticipated that clients will be able to maintain their tenure in the dwellings once support is no longer required.

Individuals or families are selected on the basis there is a reasonable expectation they will be ready to live independently at the conclusion of twelve months of support. A target has been set for the program that 100% of people assisted will sustain accommodation for at least 12 months.

As the funding for support is targeted to an individual in a Department of Housing property which may be anywhere in the metropolitan area, non government service providers were invited to express interest in delivering the support through a pool selection process. Agencies participated in an expression of interest and successful agencies have been placed in a pool and as a suitable property is identified for a client on the Department of Housing priority waitlist, the Department negotiates with agencies in the pool to determine an appropriate agency to provide support. This may be determined by agency client group, previous relationship with client or other factors. Non government agencies enter into a Grant Agreement to provide support for approximately 12 months, depending on the needs of the client.

Location

Thirty three new public housing dwellings will be provided over a three year period throughout the Perth metropolitan area.

Commencement date

1 July 2009.

Target group

This program is focused toward long–term homeless families, individuals, couples and young people 18-25 years registered on the Department of Housing waitlist. It is anticipated that at least 11% of people assisted will be Indigenous.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10. Includes properties purchased through the 2008-09 funding allocation.

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted5
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	33
The proportion of people experiencing repeat periods of homelessness	50

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

A Place to Call Home	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted6
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	20	17	16	33

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

The Department for Child Protection regularly convenes and attends meetings with the Department of Housing and service providers selected for the pool.

Issues regarding client selection and the allocation process have been addressed and refined at quarterly meetings. The process for notification when matching clients with suitable properties and non government agencies within a catchment area has been refined.

Progress reports demonstrate the success of employing a case management approach, flexibility in service delivery that is responsive to clients' needs, and a high level of communication, cooperation and collaboration between NGOs and Government Organisations to deliver client-centred services.

3.2 Foyer Model: accommodation for homeless young people

Description of activities

The WA Foyer is being developed by an independent consortium of agencies led by Anglicare WA, together with Foundation Housing and the Central Institute of Technology.

The Department for Child Protection and the Department of Housing are actively engaged in the planning process and development of the Foyer model, and Lotterywest have indicated they will assist with substantial funding for elements of the fit out.

Service Description

A Foyer development providing secure housing and on-site support services will provide accommodation for up to 100 young people including 35 young people who are at risk of, or experiencing homelessness. There will also be a floor of the building with 23 rooms to accommodate young parents and the building will incorporate child friendly spaces.

The Foyer model is specifically designed for young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and adopts the housing first principle. The aim of the model is to provide secure, stable, supported housing with a focus on developing life skills, education, training and other opportunities that may lead young people toward meaningful employment. Linking of clients with mainstream services will be a core element of the model.

Location of activity

Inner city Perth, located on the Leederville grounds of the Central Institute of Technology.

Commencement date

July 2011.

Target group

This program meets the needs of young people who are homeless including single young people and young families and it is anticipated that approximately 11% of people assisted will be Indigenous.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

N/A

Target for each measure and result achieved in 2009-10

N/A

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

The model is based on a successful partnership of a consortium of agencies including an educational institution to help to address homelessness. It incorporates involvement of other mainstream agencies and will have multiagency input within the building including offering opportunities for on-site engagement with a range of agencies. The facility will have a café which will provide an opportunity for student involvement and training facilities. Residents will participate in the “Learning Power Award” which gives recognition of their competency in developing life skills.

It is anticipated that the purpose built Foyer will be operational by July 2012. Funding for the support component commences in July 2011 and the Department for Child Protection is working with the Foyer consortium to develop an interim Foyer until the Foyer building is complete. Foundation Housing has identified a suitable property to refurbish to allow for the interim Foyer to accommodate young people in a supported setting. The interim Foyer will allow for the model to be developed and operational a year before the purpose built facility is complete.

The Foyer consortium is a member of the Foyer Foundation Australia and is working closely with the UK Foyer Foundation to develop a best practice model.

3.3 Street to Home

Description of activities

Service Development Phase

Street to Home was jointly developed during 2009 though a series of meetings between the Department for Child Protection, representatives from 8 specialist non government homelessness service providers, and the Mental Health Commission (formerly the Mental Health Division – Department of Health). The Community Housing Coalition of Western Australia has been contracted to assist in the development and coordination of the program in Year 1. The Department of Housing is a key stakeholder and has committed to provision of a proportion of properties for people assisted through Street to Home.

The Mental Health Commission consulted with Government and Non Government health and homelessness service providers to develop the model for the Mental Health Mobile Clinical Outreach Team.

The Department for Child Protection entered into direct negotiations with preferred service providers identified as the most appropriate services working with the target group within the metropolitan area.

Service Description

Street to Home is an innovative and comprehensive response for rough sleepers, providing intensive case management, and accommodation with wrap-around, whole-of-person support.

The Street to Home service delivery model has a strong focus on outreach, taking support to the person, and connecting them to housing, health, mental health and other mainstream services.

The primary goal of Street to Home is to enable and support clients into secure long-term accommodation. Some clients may reside in crisis or transitional accommodation prior to securing long-term accommodation. It is anticipated that as clients are supported to exit crisis and transitional accommodation and enter long term accommodation, the number of crisis beds available to people sleeping rough will increase. This will support a better flow through of clients in the crisis accommodation system.

Street to Home is comprised of three integrated components:

• Assertive Outreach Teams have flexibility to work outside business hours to make initial, direct contact with rough sleepers wherever they may be, address their basic needs, and work toward establishing a relationship built on confidentiality, respect and trust, and also respond to information concerning the whereabouts of rough sleepers from a range of sources
• The Mobile Clinical Outreach Team provides assertive clinical assessment and treatment, within and outside of business hours, for rough sleepers who have serious mental illness and/or co-occurring substance misuse issues. A nurse practitioner and advanced skills mental health nurse, and part-time consultant psychiatrist provide a flexible response to meet clients' needs. MCOT is provided by a mainstream government mental health provider.
• Housing Support Workers accept referrals from Assertive Outreach Teams and crisis accommodation services, and liaise with housing providers, (including public housing, community housing and property managers in the private sector), assist rough sleepers to access and maintain long term stable accommodation. Clients are supported to ensure their accommodation is sustainable and stable. If appropriate clients are supported to return to with family members or friends, as a member of the household.

When the person is part of a family group or couple the worker will provide support to the family, by ensuring they are linked with mainstream services, recognizing the importance of these relationships for the client to achieve long term stable housing.

To ensure service provision is responsive to individual clients' needs, Assertive Outreach Teams (AOTs) and Housing Support Workers (HSW) have access to brokerage funds.

All workers from the three components of Street to Home use a shared database for client case management and information exchange.

Location

Street to Home will initially focus on the Inner City Perth and Fremantle areas, and has flexibility to assist clients throughout the Perth metropolitan area.

Location	Service Provider
Perth Inner City	Ruah Community Services - Ruah Centre UnitingCare West - Tranby Centre
Fremantle	St Patrick's Community Support Centre
Perth Inner City	St Bartholomew's House 55 Central The Salvation Army (WA)
South West Metro	Foundation Housing St Patricks Community Support Centre / The Sisters' Place
Metropolitan	South West Metropolitan Health Service – Mental Health

Commencement date

All non government contracts commenced on 1 January 2010. Non government service providers have filled all positions. Assertive Outreach Teams and Housing Support Workers are in place and working with clients. The Mental Health Mobile Clinical Outreach Team currently has one fulltime advanced skills nurse practitioner working with clients. A mental health nurse with advanced skills is due to commence during September, and part time consultant psychiatrist will commence in November. It is anticipated that an Indigenous mental health worker will also complement the team.

Target group

The target group includes people who are sleeping rough including single adults, families and young clients who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness. A target of a minimum of 11% Indigenous participation in the program has been set.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted 7
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	58*
Proportion of Australians who are experiencing primary homelessness (rough sleeping)	120
The proportion of people experiencing repeat periods of homelessness	50

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

AOT	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted9
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	8	29	0	29
AOT	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted9
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	28	29	0	29

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights:

The Department for Child Protection regularly convenes meetings with service providers from all components of the program to identify and address service delivery issues that have arisen during the early stages of the program. Service providers indicate that the roll out of Street to Home has been highly successful, and outreach workers indicate that potential clients have approached outreach workers for assistance as information about the program spreads at street level.

A number of clients have retuned to live with family or have been housed in Department of Housing accommodation. Issues concerning client pathways to accommodation have been refined and resolved to define three clear pathways and the associated worker's responsibility.

Issues surrounding the correct referral procedure for Department of Housing priority waitlists have been reviewed and refined. The identification and selection process for clients who are assessed as housing ready continues to be refined, and service providers are working collaboratively to develop common assessment tools.

A Care Coordination model of case management for clients is currently being developed. This is aligned with the Council of Australian Governments National Action Plan for Mental Health 2006-2011: Action Area 5. Care coordination planning will ensure continuity of care across services to meet rough sleepers' needs, improve access to a range of clinical and non-clinical services, and ensures the respective roles and responsibilities of each agency are coordinated.

3.4 Financial Counselling

Through the 2008-09 State Budget the Western Australian Government provided additional funding to state funded financial counselling services. The additional funds enhanced the capacity of existing financial counselling services.

The increased funding provided to financial counselling services in 2009-10 under the NPAH has increased the viability of services, enhanced and expanded service provision and ensured a strong and responsive sector.

Description of activities

In order to ensure the role of financial counselling services in prevention of homelessness is recognised, service specifications for the financial counselling services have been amended to reflect the need to provide services for people having difficulty sustaining housing.

Financial Counselling Services assist individuals and families on low incomes experiencing financial difficulties. The service offers information, conducts assessments and provides options and support to assist consumers in addressing identified problems or manage their financial situation more effectively. The work may include resolving financial crises such as the risk of legal action, loss of essential services or eviction.

The service also contributes to referring consumers to other relevant community resources and networks in respect of their personal or social issues such as problem gambling, substance abuse or relationship breakdown. In addition, the service may undertake community education around preventing financial difficulties or empowering community members on financial issues.

Financial Counselling Services have a strong focus on the following key strategies:

• Accessing all relevant financial entitlements;
• Advocacy and negotiation;
• Assessment of financial situations;
• Financial/budgeting management plans;
• Information;
• Referral and linking consumers with other services; and
• Tenancy assistance.

Location

State wide including metropolitan, regional and remote areas.

Of the 62 Financial Counselling Services the Department is funding, 34 are located in the metropolitan area, 14 in regional areas and 14 in remote areas. (See Map 1)

Target group

Individuals and families on low incomes experiencing financial difficulties

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

The Financial Counselling sector has received significant recognition and financial support from the State Government since 2008.

There is significant demand on financial counselling services and this is anticipated to continue. In addition, there is a shortage of qualified financial counsellors in Western Australia and this contributes to difficulties in meeting the demand for services.

Provision of financial counselling services in regional and remote communities remains a challenge.

3.5 Hardship Utilities Grants (HUGS)

Through the 2008-09 State Budget the Western Australian Government established the Hardship Utilities Grants Scheme to assist people in genuine financial hardship to avoid disconnection of essential utilities and avoid homelessness.

Description of activities

The Hardship Utility Grant Scheme (HUGS) aims to provide financial assistance to those people in financial hardship to pay their utility accounts and avoid eviction. HUGS addresses electricity, water and gas service provision.

When people do not have the financial capacity to pay their utility accounts without affecting their ability to meet their individual or family basic living needs, they are considered to be in utility financial hardship.

It is recognised that utility essential services, such as electricity, water and gas, are essential to the living standards of our community. Any deterioration of living standards can have potential direct impact on the health and well being of both individuals and families.

HUGS currently includes the following utility providers:

• Synergy;
• Horizon Power;
• Alinta;
• Water Corporation; and
• Busselton Water.

It is expected that more utility providers will be invited to join HUGS in future as the Scheme further develops.

Location

HUGS grants are available to eligible applicants across the State.

Of the approved grants from the commencement of HUGS in August 2008 to the end of June 2010 (a period of 23 months), approximately two-thirds were for the metropolitan area and one-third for the regional areas.

Commencement date

August 2008

Target group

Low-income individuals and families experiencing utility financial hardship as well as members of community experiencing financial difficulties.

Results achieved from August 2008- June 2010

From the commencement of HUGS in August 2008 to the end of June 2010 (a period of 23 months), HUGS provided 9,388 grants totalling $3.132 million.

Of the grants approved, about 25% were provided to people from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) background.

In line with increases in utility tariffs, HUGS grant limits have increased from $300 in August 2008 to $450 in July 2010 for people living south of S26 in Western Australia and from $500 to $750 for people living in the northern part of Western Australia.

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

HUGS provides an opportunity for applicants to access further financial counselling if required. More than half of grant recipients indicated that they would return for further financial counselling. The scheme is proving to be an effective tool for linking people in financial hardship to financial counselling services.

A pilot project on extending HUGS to remote Aboriginal communities using Pre-Payment Meters (PPM) for electricity supply is in progress at Warmun. The outcomes of this pilot will be used to inform future extension of HUGS to PPM users in remote communities.

There is considerable demand for HUGS services and the Department anticipates this will continue.

3.6 Private Rental Tenancy Support Services

Description of activities

Service Description

Private Rental Support Services work with families and individuals having difficulty maintaining private rental tenancies and provide assistance structured around the needs of each person or family. Services work with families who are at risk of losing their private rental homes and aim to intervene at the earliest opportunity before debts, or other tenancy management issues, become too large.

The services are able, with tenants consent, to liaise with property managers/ landlords. Tenants are offered support to negotiate a plan to stabilise threatened tenancies. Building good working relationships with local real estate property managers is an essential element of this service model, and promotes early referral to the service and facilitates good outcomes for the tenancy.

Where appropriate, services will refer clients to financial counselling services which can also assist them to access the Hardship Utilities Grant Scheme (HUGS).

Services use a case management approach to address identified issues that may lead to eviction and work with families until the tenancy is stabilised. This may include assistance to access new affordable accommodation, if this is the best response.

A key component in assisting people to sustain their tenancy and avoid eviction and possible homelessness is integration with mainstream services. This includes supporting and assisting people to access and participate in education, employment and training opportunities and improve economic and community participation.

Location

The service is an expansion of an existing Private Rental Tenancy Support Program, to provide coverage by four teams of three workers across the metropolitan area, and a dedicated metropolitan - wide multicultural service. There are a total of four Regional services, with two new services in Bunbury and Albany.

Metropolitan

Location	Service Provider
North West Metropolitan	Australian Red Cross
Metropolitan wide	Multicultural Services Centre of Western Australia Inc
South West Metropolitan	Anglicare WA Inc - STAR

Regional

Location	Service Provider
South West	Agencies for South West Accommodation
Great Southern	Anglicare WA

(See Map 2)

Commencement date

All contracts commenced on 1 January 2010.

Target group

Families and individuals in private rental tenancies who are at risk of eviction and homelessness. Targets for Indigenous persons in Western Australia are 11%.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted10
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	79
Reduce the number of people exiting social housing and private rental into homelessness	30

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

Private Rental Tenancy Support Services	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted11
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	101	60	19	79

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

The Department for Child Protection facilitated a number of meetings between existing NAHA funded private rental tenancy support services providers. Existing service providers offered support to new service providers, metropolitan area boundaries were confirmed, and collaborative working arrangements developed.

3.7 Public Tenancy Support Services

Public Tenancy Support Services support Department of Housing tenants experiencing difficulties maintaining a tenancy.

Description of activities

Service Description

The Public Tenancy Support Services are targeted toward Department of Housing tenants experiencing difficulties maintaining a tenancy, and aims to prevent them reaching the point of eviction and possible homelessness. The program has a strong focus on building the capacity of tenants to resolve their tenancy challenges and to enable them to sustain a long term tenancy.

Housing Support Workers visit tenants in their homes on a regular basis to help resolve problems that are placing their tenancies at risk, provide tenancy advice and support, advocacy, practical assistance, and linkage or referral to mainstream services. Tenants are provided with assistance to manage budgets and to develop the skills required to maintain a stable and functioning household, and also receive guidance to ensure external factors do not negatively impact on their tenancies.

Participation in the program is with tenants' consent but sometimes becomes a condition of the tenancy, for instance, where there has been a breach of prior tenancy agreement involving debt, property standards, or anti-social behaviour. Pre-tenancy referrals may also be made where an individual or family is considered at high risk due to previous accommodation or homelessness history. The program may also assist people with limited skills who are not eligible for mental health or disability services support programs.

A key component in assisting people to sustain their tenancy, and avoid eviction and possible homelessness, is integration with mainstream services. This includes supporting and assisting people to access and participate in education, employment and training opportunities that improve their economic and community participation.

Location

Metropolitan

Location	Service Provider
North West Metropolitan	Mission Australia
South East Metropolitan	Centrecare
South West Metropolitan	Anglicare WA Inc

Regional

Location	Service Provider
Pilbara	Pilbara Community Legal Service
Wheatbelt	Avon Youth Community and Family Services Inc
South West	Anglicare WA Inc
Kimberley	TBA
Murchison ( Meekatharra)	Mission Australia
Murchison ( Carnarvon)	Carnarvon Family Support Program

(See Map 3)

Commencement date

The majority of contracts commenced on 1 January 2010.

Target group

Existing Department of Housing tenants whose tenancy is in danger or are at risk of eviction and homelessness, and new Department of Housing tenants identified as “at risk”.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted12
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	30 Out of 9 service providers, 5 commenced the program after 1 July 2010
Reduce the number of people exiting social housing and private rental into homelessness	45

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10;

Public Tenancy Support Services	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted 13
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	45	12	18	30

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

The Department is attempting to establish a service in Kununurra and the process of selecting a service provider is underway. The challenges in providing services in remote locations include shortages of skilled staff and lack of affordable housing for workers and this is a significant issue across rural and remote Western Australia.

3.8 Young Women Leaving Child Protection Services

The program provides independent living options to assist young women leaving child protection services, including young mothers.

Description of activities

Service Description:

The program provides independent living options and the development of living skills to assist young women leaving child protection services, including young mothers. It supports them to live independently long term and to ensure they do not exit care into homelessness.

The program includes education programs, mediation, family support and parenting support programs. Access to specialist services including employment, education and training and counselling to assist the young women and children move into stable long term housing is an essential element of the program.

The service supports 12 clients for an average of 12 months and is operated by Parkerville Children and Youth Care in its newly constructed Variety and Wearne units.

Location

Armadale

Commencement date

1 October 2009.

Target group

This program targets young women leaving child protection services, including young mothers.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted14
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	19
Increase in the number of people exiting care and custodial settings into secure and affordable housing	30

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

Public Tenancy Support Services	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted 15
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	9	10	9	19

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

The program was able to be fully operational and at capacity once it commenced, as the agency had been working with the clients who were able to transfer into the new program. The facilities have been provided by the agency, assisted by a benefactor, and the NPAH program provides the support.

3.9 Housing Support Workers – Mental Health

Description of activities

Service Description

Housing Support Workers assist people with a severe and persistent mental illness who are residing in Specialist Mental Health Inpatient Units to access and maintain long term stable accommodation and avoid homelessness. The workers are integrated with mainstream Mental Health Services in metropolitan and rural locations.

The program supports clients residing in Specialist Mental Health Inpatient Units who require support to maintain their accommodation while admitted or who require support and/or accommodation upon discharge. Clients supported as part of this program are reasonably expected, when the program is no longer required, to be able to live in the community with appropriate mainstream services engaged as required. Workers ensure linkages with mental health service providers are maintained and that the client's mental health issues are managed to prevent them from escalating and causing the tenancy to be at risk.

Clients are supported to access stable accommodation through case-management and individualised transitional support plans. Outreach support is provided to ensure clients are supported with long-term needs and the tenancy is maintained. A continuum of care approach ensures clients can move through service stages but remain with the same support worker until stable housing has been maintained over time. When the client is part of a family group or couple the worker provides support to the family, by ensuring they are linked with mainstream services, recognising the importance of these relationships for the client to achieve long term stable housing.

Support is targeted to meet the needs of the individual and may include:

• Help to decide on and source suitable accommodation
• Help to establish a home – acquire furniture and household effects etc;
• Tenancy specific support to maintain the tenancy
• Resolving financial issues
• Linkage to Centrelink, including accessing employment, education and training where possible
• Establishing/re-establishing social networks;
• Linking children with local school and recreation opportunities; and
• Linking to local health services

Housing Support Workers liaise with housing providers, including community housing, public housing, and property managers in the private sector to source suitable properties for long term housing. If appropriate, Housing Support Workers support clients to return to live in the family home or with other family members or friends as a member of the household.

Location

Metropolitan

Location	Service Provider
Metro-wide	Ruah Community Services
Swan/Joondalup	Hills Community Support Group
Fremantle/Rockingham	St Patrick's Community Support Centre

Regional

Location	Service Provider
Kimberley	Centacare Kimberley Association
Great Southern	Albany Halfway House
South West	Lamp Inc
Goldfields	Australian Red Cross Society

(See Map 4)

Commencement date

The majority of contracts commenced on 1 January 2010. All metropolitan service providers have filled the positions and workers are in place and working with clients. Workers are in place in the regional areas of Albany, Bunbury and Kalgoorlie. The Broome service is yet to commence due to difficulties with recruitment.

Target group

Men, women and young people, experiencing severe and persistent mental illness who are exiting mental health facilities.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted16
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	55
Increase in the number of people exiting care and custodial settings into secure and affordable housing	30

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

Public Tenancy Support Services	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted 17
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	37	50	5	55

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

The Department for Child Protection convened a meeting with service providers to identify any issues with service delivery in the early stages of the program. Workers and managers have indicated the case management target, (each worker to support 10 clients at a time for an average of six months) is ambitious given the complexity of support needs of the target group. In recognition of evidence provided by service providers, the targets for this initiative have been revised. The revised targets are for each worker to support eight clients for an average of nine months. This will be reviewed towards the end of the 2010 -11 financial year.

In regional areas the program can allow referrals for people exiting mental health care which may not necessarily be an inpatient unit. In some country areas there are no dedicated inpatient units, so the program allows for these referrals.

The Broome service has been unable to recruit of a suitably skilled and experienced worker for the housing support worker program. This indicates a shortage of skilled workers in this remote location. The service provider has indicated that availability of affordable housing for a worker is a contributing factor to the difficulty in recruiting staff. Lack of affordable housing is also likely to impact on available housing for clients supported through the program.

3.10 Housing Support Workers – Corrective Services

Description of activities

Service Description

The program provides Housing Support Workers to assist adult men, women and juveniles leaving correctional facilities, Transitional Accommodation Support Services or prisoner Re-entry programs to secure and maintain stable accommodation and avoid homelessness.

The program ensures people exiting custodial facilities are effectively linked with mainstream services to address a range of issues including employment, health, financial management and social integration to achieve long term, secure, stable housing. Clients are reasonably expected when the Housing Support Worker support period is complete, to have developed the necessary skills to live independently in the community with mainstream services engaged as required. When the client is part of a family group or couple the worker provides support to the family, by ensuring they are linked with mainstream services, recognizing the importance of these relationships for the client to achieve long term stable housing.

Support is targeted to meet the needs of the individual and may include:

• Help to decide on and source suitable accommodation
• Help to establish a home – acquire furniture and household effects etc;
• Tenancy specific support to maintain the tenancy
• Resolving financial issues
• Linkage to Centrelink, including accessing employment, education and training where possible
• Establishing/re-establishing social networks;
• Linking children with local school and recreation opportunities; and
• Linking to local health services

Housing Support Workers liaise with housing providers, including community housing, public housing, and property managers in the private sector to source suitable properties for long term housing. If appropriate, Housing Support Workers support clients to return to live in the family home or with other family members or friends as a member of the household.

Location

Metropolitan

Location	Service Provider
Metro-wide	Centrecare Inc
Metro-wide	Joondalup Youth Support Services
Metro-wide	Ruah Community Services

Regional

Location	Service Provider
Murchison	Geraldton Resource Centre
South West	Agencies for South West Accommodation Inc

(See Map 5)

Commencement date

The majority of contracts commenced on 1 January 2010. All service providers have filled the positions and workers are in place and working with clients. The Geraldton service commenced in July 2010.

Target group

Adult men, women and juveniles leaving correctional facilities, Transitional Accommodation Support Services or prisoner Re-entry programs.

 

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted18
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	35
Proportions of Australians who are experiencing primary homelessness (rough sleeping)	120
Increase in the number of people exiting care and custodial settings into secure and affordable housing	30
Number of young people (12 to 18 years) who are homeless or at risk of homelessness who are re-engaged with family, school and work	12

 

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

Housing Support Workers – Corrective Services	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted 19
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	11	32	3	35

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

The service providers have indicated at a recent program meeting that the complexity of client needs is higher than had been anticipated. The majority of clients have long term drug use as well as their offending history, and many have been incarcerated for violence offences. Worker safety is taken into consideration in case management planning.

In recognition of evidence provided by service providers, the targets for this initiative have been revised. The revised targets are for each worker to support eight clients for an average of six months. This will be reviewed towards the end of the 2010-11 financial year.

There is also the issue of tenancy and lease agreements for the young people who are under 18 years, as the Department of Housing is not generally willing to enter into lease agreements with this age group without appropriate support. However, the agency delivering the program for young people leaving youth justice services and the Department of Housing are now working together on options to resolve this matter.

3.11 Housing Support Workers – Drug and Alcohol

Description of activities

Service Description

This program supports people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, and have problems relating to alcohol and drug use, to secure and maintain stable accommodation. It aims to prevent people with drug and alcohol issues becoming entrenched in homelessness by providing support to access and maintain stable long term accommodation. A key element of the support is a commitment from the client to address drug and alcohol issues through engagement with treatment services.

Referrals are from specialist drug and alcohol services including community drug services teams, residential services and out patient services and from homelessness workers. A case management approach, supporting the client to maintain housing and continue engagement with drug and alcohol treatment and linking to a range of mainstream services including education, employment and training, is an integral element of the program. When the client is part of a family group or couple the worker provides support to the family, by ensuring they are linked with mainstream services, recognising the importance of these relationships for the client to achieve long term stable housing.

Support is targeted to meet the needs of the individual and may include:

• Help to decide on and source suitable accommodation
• Help to establish a home – acquire furniture and household effects etc;
• Tenancy specific support to maintain the tenancy
• Resolving financial issues
• Linkage to Centrelink, including accessing employment, education and training where possible
• Establishing/re-establishing social networks;
• Linking children with local school and recreation opportunities; and
• Linking to local health services

Housing Support Workers liaise with housing providers, including community housing, public housing and property managers in the private sector to source suitable properties for long term housing for clients under this program. If appropriate, Housing Support Workers support clients to return to live in the family home or with other family members or friends as a member of the household.

Location

Metropolitan

Location	Service Provider
North West Metro	Mission Australia
North East Metro	Swan Emergency Accommodation
South West Metro	Anglicare WA / Palmerston Association
South East Metro	Mission Australia

Regional

Location	Service Provider
Peel	Anglicare WA / Palmerston Association
Pilbara	Pilbara Community Legal Centre
South West	Centrecare
Kimberley	Nindilingarri Cultural Health Services

(See Map 6)

Commencement date

The majority of contracts commenced on 1 January 2010. Workers are in place and working with clients in all Metro areas, except South West Metro which only recently appointed staff. The service in Port Hedland was funded from mid 2010 and the Fitzroy Crossing service is still recruiting staff, with the expectation that the service will commence late 2010.

Target group

The Target group includes men, women and young people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, and whose alcohol and/or drug use are a factor in their homelessness. Clients must be currently engaged in treatment or completing treatment in a residential treatment program, although in some non metro areas the program they are undertaking may be non-residential. Clients who have a history of previous engagement with treatment and demonstrate willingness to re-engage are also included in the target group.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted20
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	46
Proportion of Australians who are experiencing primary homelessness (rough sleeping)	120
The proportion of people experiencing repeat periods of homelessness	50

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

Housing Support Workers – Drug and Alcohol	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted 21
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	33	32	14	46

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

The services have generally received appropriate referrals and have filled their allocation for a case load of 10 clients per worker. Some clients have been linked with education and training. Accessing private accommodation has proved to be difficult, with high costs and clients not having rental references, but there have been successes with public housing.

There had been difficulty in recruiting staff for the South West Metro area, however this has now been resolved. The service in Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley region has been unable to recruit staff because of the extreme shortage of housing in the town for staff at the service. Advice has just been received that the service will have a newly constructed unit available in November, so the service is now actively recruiting in the hope that they can start the program as soon as the accommodation for the worker is available.

The availability and extremely high cost of housing for staff in the mining town of Port Hedland is impacting on the recruitment of staff. The service has been unable to employ staff to date because of this issue.

3.12 People with exceptionally complex needs

A pilot project which aims to provide co-ordinated service delivery to improve the well-being and quality of life of individuals with exceptionally complex needs.

Description of activities

People with Exceptionally Complex Needs (PECN) is a whole-of-government pilot project which aims to provide co-ordinated service delivery to improve the well-being and quality of life of individuals with exceptionally complex needs.

In 2005, the Public Advocate raised serious concerns about a small but difficult cohort of people with exceptionally complex and multi-layered needs for whom the existing system was not working. Despite efforts to improve interagency service delivery and significant expenditure of government resources, these individuals generally continued to receive poorly coordinated services with little improvement in their circumstances.

The human services Directors-General endorsed improving the response to these individuals as an across-government priority.

The following agencies are partners in the PECN project

• Disability Services Commission
• Mental Health Commission
• Department of Health, North and South Metropolitan Mental Health Services
• Department of Corrective Services
• Department of Housing
• Office of the Public Advocate
• Drug and Alcohol Office

Senior officers from a number of public sector agencies formed an Interagency Executive Committee (IEC) to discuss client progress and identify and remove service barriers or gaps.

The Department for Child Protection provided $50,000 per year for three years to ensure the housing needs of clients were met.

A Complex Needs Co-ordinator provides inter-agency and community service co-ordination, and is the single point of entry to the project.

Principles of service provision underlying the pilot initiative include:

• A client centred approach;
• Flexibility;
• Interagency collaboration;
• Interagency commitment to the initiative;
• Utilisation of the existing resources of partner agencies; and
• Being the last resort when all else has been tried and failed.

Location

Perth Metropolitan area, with flexibility to provide services State-wide.

Commencement date

April 2009

Target group

Adults (18 years of age and older) who have two or more of the following:

• A mental illness;
• An acquired brain injury;
• An intellectual disability;
• A significant substance use problem.

In addition these individuals:

• Pose a significant risk of harm to self or others; and
• Require intensive support, would benefit from receiving co-ordinated services; and
• Find the existing system is not working as well as it should.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted22
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	N/A
Proportions of Australians who are experiencing primary homelessness (rough sleeping)	120
The proportion of people experiencing repeat periods of homelessness	50

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

People with exceptionally complex needs	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted 17
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	9	9	N/A	9

* PECN has assisted six people into accommodation of whom five have retained this accommodation.  One more has housing currently under construction and another has housing but is awaiting support.  One new person has been taken on and is awaiting housing.

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

Barriers:

Access criteria for services that require the client to be motivated to participate. Motivation is a very difficult thing to achieve for people with so many problems. Services fail to understand at times that you have to offer people something and encourage them to participate and accept that the steps towards this with this group will be incrementally small and will go backwards as well as forwards at times before you hopefully, eventually, achieve a shift in the right direction. 

Challenges:

Trying to align the commencement of services with the availability of accommodation is always a challenge, especially when trying to line it up with the client's release date from prison. 

Opportunities:

Being able to offer a person who has never had a house a home is an incredible opportunity to stabilise the person's situation and enable services to work with someone who had previously just been invisible in the community.

Highlights:

The majority of PECN clients have been provided stable housing within reasonable timeframes

A recent evaluation of the PECN program found that provision of stable housing was a key factor to the success of the program and the outcomes achieved for the clients

The funding from DCP has allowed the PECN program to be flexible and innovative in relation to the housing needs of the PECN clients and provided the IEC with opportunities to generalise the program's successes.

3.13 Safe at Home

Description of activities

Development of Service Model

More than 90 representatives from the State's domestic violence and outreach services gathered on 10 November 2009 to discuss the development of new NPAH domestic violence programs. The Safe at Home Forum, a joint initiative hosted by the Women's Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services WA and the Departments Non Government Policy and Funding Homelessness team, brought together accommodation and support services, Communicare's Breathing Space, Western Australia Police (WA Police), the Department for Child Protection Non Government Policy and Funding Homelessness team, Crisis Care and the Family and Domestic Violence Unit to begin the development phase of the new programs.

The forum included a presentation of National Good Practice by Ms Ludo McFerran and broader discussion and group work with the sector to explore the Safe at Home principals and operational practice in the context of WA.

During 2010, the Women's Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services (WA) has been contracted to work in partnership with the Department to further develop and fine tune the operations of the model and in particular the interface between the three components of Safe at Home.

A number of meetings have been held with Police to develop a Memorandum of Understanding between Police and service providers. In addition following the finalising of contracts, Safe at Home service providers and the Perpetrator Response service are meeting regularly to develop risk assessment and service guidelines.

Other key stakeholders involved in the programs development include the Department of Housing who will provide a specific contact for Safe at Home services when working with clients who reside in Department of Housing properties. These workers will assist with upgrades to home security and changes to tenancy agreements within the limits of the Residential Tenancy Act. The Department of Housing will also review their Domestic and Family Violence policy to highlight remaining Safe at Home as an option for women escaping domestic violence.

Preliminary discussions have occurred with the Disabilities Services Commission as Safe at Home could be a particularly good option for women experiencing violence who also have a disability, especially where homes have been modified.

Service Description

Safe at Home provides specialist workers to assess safety and support needs of women and children to stay in their own home, where it is safe to do so, and provides brokerage funds to stabilise housing and increase security. Linkages to Police through a Memorandum of Understanding and local protocols are critical.

Risk assessment and an upgrade of security to the home and safety planning are also required in order to ensure confidence and safety. Important aspects of the program for women and children include:

• safety planning;
• security upgrades to victim's homes;
• court support;
• liaison with police and other services;
• referrals to legal advice;
• counselling; and
• case management to address financial and other issues.

The program provides an integrated model of service delivery for women and children depending on need and safety, including:

• Providing written and/or telephone information to women – women will be offered support, safety checks, safety planning, welfare/safety/security checks (police) and are linked to a wide range of services to address their needs.
• Comprehensive and consistent risk and safety assessments, safety audits and planning allowing women to make an informed choice in relation to remaining in their home.
• Support, including upgrades of security to the home, to allow women to stay safe at home and access to safe and secure alternative accommodation including refuge accommodation should the situation become unsafe and linkages to mainstream services including legal services.

Safe at Home workers ensure women and children can move seamlessly through components of service delivery and receive the most appropriate support for their needs.

A component of Safe at Home will be a service to the perpetrator of the violence. Safe at Home services will work in collaboration with the perpetrator service in order to maximise the safety for women and children. The perpetrator response is funded through the National Affordable Housing Agreement (NAHA) from 1 July 2010.

Location

Metropolitan

Location	Service Provider
North West Metro	Patricia Giles Centre Inc.
North East Metro	City of Stirling
South West Metro	Lucy Saw Centre Association Inc.
South East Metro	Ruah Community Services

Regional

Location	Service Provider
South West	South West Refuge Inc.
Wheatbelt	Share and Care Community Services Inc.

(See Map 7)

Commencement date

Contracts commenced during July and August 2010.

Target group

This program targets women with or without children experiencing family and domestic violence.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

N/A

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

N/A

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

Working in Partnership with Peak Bodies

The Women's Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services WA Inc has been contracted to provide the development phase for all the new domestic violence programs. Working in partnership has ensured the expertise of the sector has informed the development of the programs and the new programs are integrated with existing services.

Working together

It is vital the three components of the Safe at Home program work together and have clear communication processes. Work has been undertaken to develop strong links and referral pathways that are timely and appropriate between the victim support service, the perpetrator response and the WA Police.

Importance of Violence Restraining Orders

Timely and appropriate Violence Restraining Orders will be a key aspect that contributes to the success of the Safe at Home programs. Women and children's ability to remain safely in their own homes will be conditional on the awarding of a interim violence restraining order that adequately restrains the respondent from being on or around the family home, clearly stating the address.

3.14 Domestic Violence Outreach

Description of activities

This program is an early intervention and prevention strategy aimed at breaking the cycle of family and domestic violence and preventing women and children becoming homeless following domestic violence.

Women are offered support as soon as possible through referrals to a wide range of agencies including Crisis Care, medical practitioners, health services, legal services, mental health agencies, Safe at Home programs, women's refuges, drug counselling, Court Victim Support Services, relationships counselling, domestic violence children's counselling services.

Women will be provided with written and/or telephone information and will be offered support including risk assessment, safety planning, welfare/safety/security checks and will be linked to a wide range of services that address their expressed needs.

Women, and children, are central to the process with the Domestic Violence Outreach Worker providing a wrap around service in collaboration with other relevant service providers.

A component of the Domestic Violence Outreach Program will be a service to the perpetrator of the violence. Domestic Violence Outreach Services will work in collaboration with the perpetrator service in order to maximise the safety for women and children.

Location

Regional

Location	Service Provider
Peel	Pat Thomas Memorial House Inc
Great Southern	Anglicare WA
Goldfields	Goldfields Women's Refuge Association Inc
Murchison	Chrysalis Support Services Inc
Pilbara	Pilbara Community Legal Services

(See Map 8)

Commencement date

Contracts commenced in July 2010.

Target group

This program targets women with or without children experiencing domestic violence.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

N/A

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

N/A

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

The program will build on the successful learning's of the Domestic Violence Pilot Outreach Projects established in four WA Police districts in 2007 and designed to support the operation and effectiveness of the 24 hour and 72 hour Police Orders. Linkages to the WA Police through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and local protocols are critical.

The Department will continue work in partnership with the Women's Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services (WA) to ensure the new services are well integrated with existing services.

3.15 Perpetrator Response

Description of activities

Service Description

During 2009-10 funding was provided through the NPAH for the Partnerships for Family Safety Project. The service provided the initial response for the partners of perpetrators, to ensure they were supported to maximise the safety of women and children. The perpetrator service partnered with a number of victim services to ensure women were referred to the most appropriate specialist service. This project provided the early development work for the perpetrator response model for the Safe at Home and Domestic Violence Outreach Program. The project model is currently being expanded and enhanced to provide a state wide response.

Commencing 2010-11 the Perpetrator Response will be a state-wide service offering telephone and face to face support to the violent perpetrator of clients accessing Safe at Home and Domestic Violence Outreach Programs and will offer crisis counselling and support to address their behaviour. Perpetrators are held accountable for their actions and are actively supported to cease their violent behaviour.

The Perpetrator Response identifies the female family members affected by the actions of the perpetrator and provides crisis assistance, referral and case management appropriate to the needs of the family and their circumstances. The service will have close partnerships with domestic violence services to ensure women are referred to the most appropriate specialist services and to facilitate safety planning and critical incident management when a crisis arises for victims. Domestic violence services and the Perpetrator Response will work together to ensure relevant information and safety considerations are managed in order to provide better outcomes for clients.

This program ensures the partners of perpetrators are supported to maximise the safety of women and children. The program enables a coordinated approach to monitoring the perpetrators behaviour by providing assistance to partners of perpetrators through integration with support services for women.

Consent will be obtained from perpetrators of violence to make a referral to Breathing Space for information and support. Referrals will be made to Breathing Space as soon as possible, the service will then contact the perpetrator and provide information and support via a phone counselling service and endeavour to engage perpetrators in behaviour change programs in their local area.

Location

South West Metropolitan.

Commencement date

The contract is currently being finalised with the service and will commence in August 2010.

Target group

This program targets victims and perpetrators of domestic violence when the victims are clients of the Safe at Home and Domestic Violence Outreach Programs. To maximise the safety of women and children the program will also target victims and perpetrators of domestic violence when victims are not clients of Safe at Home or Domestic Violence Outreach Programs, where an appropriate referral is received and service capacity allows.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted24
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	Service provision will commence in 2010-11
Number of families who maintain or secure safe and sustainable housing following family violence	38
Number of people who are homeless or at risk who are provided with legal services	38

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

Perpetrator Response	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted 25
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	38	N/A	N/A	N/A

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

The new Perpetrator Response program will build on the successful of the Domestic Violence Pilot Outreach Projects established in four WA Police districts in 2007 and designed to support the operation and effectiveness of the 24 hour and 72 hour Police Orders. Linkages to the WA Police through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and local protocols are critical.

Commencing July 2010 this program will be funded through the National Affordable Housing Agreement. The expanded program will target perpetrators of domestic violence including when victims are clients of Safe at Home or Domestic Violence Outreach Programs, where an appropriate referral is received and service capacity allows.

Providing the service state wide will be challenging, however the service is considering a number of strategies including an on-line option and assisting the perpetrator to connect with local regional services.

3.16 Homelessness Accommodation Support Worker

Description of activities

Service Description

This program provides funding for seventeen Homelessness Accommodation Support Workers to assist people exiting NAHA accommodation services to secure and maintain stable accommodation.

Each Homelessness Accommodation Support Worker will work with all NAHA client groups; including families, young people, single adults, couples, and women or women with children escaping domestic violence.

The program ensures people who have experienced homelessness are effectively linked with mainstream services to address a range of issues including employment, health, financial management and social integration to achieve long term, secure, stable housing.

Homelessness Accommodation Workers work in collaboration with existing NAHA accommodation service providers in the provision of support to clients in the transition to their own accommodation. Support is targeted to meet the needs of the individual or family and includes:

• Help to decide on and source suitable accommodation
• Help to establish a home – furniture and household effects;
• Tenancy specific support to maintain the tenancy
• Linkages to Centrelink, including employment, education and training where possible
• Resolving financial issues;
• Establishing/re-establishing social networks;
• Linking children with local school and recreation opportunities; and
• Linking to local health services.

Homelessness Accommodation Support Workers liaise with housing providers, including public housing, community housing and property managers in the private sector to source suitable properties for long term housing. If appropriate, Homelessness Accommodation Support Workers support clients to return to live in the family home or with other family members or friends as a member of the household.

Homelessness Accommodation Support Workers in the metro area accept referrals from NAHA accommodation services in the specific catchment area, across all client groups. Referrals may come from a range of Government and Non-Government agencies including accommodation homelessness services. In non-metro areas, referrals can come from other non NAHA accommodation services, or other support services

Location

Metropolitan

Location	Service Provider
North West Metro	Consortium of Centrecare, Joondalup Youth Support Services and Patricia Giles Centre
North East Metro	Mercy Community Services
North East Metro	Swan Emergency Accommodation
South West Metro	Fremantle Multicultural Centre
South West Metro	Anglicare WA
South East Metro	Mission Australia
South East Metro	Centrecare

Regional

Location	Service Provider
South West	Agencies for South West Accommodation
Pilbara	Pilbara Community Legal Centre
Kimberley	TBA
Goldfields	Australian Red Cross Society
Goldfields	TBA
Peel	WestAus
Wheatbelt	Share and Care
Great Southern	Anglicare WA

(See Map 9)

Commencement date

The majority of the metro contracts were funded from 1 January 2010. Two remote services in the Kimberley and Goldfields are yet to determined, although the Goldfields service will be announced by the end of September 2010.

Target group

The target group comprises people exiting NAHA accommodation services including single adults, young people, families and women with children.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted16
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	212
Proportions of Australians who are experiencing primary homelessness (rough sleeping)	120
The proportion of people experiencing repeat periods of homelessness	50
Number of families who are homeless or at risk who receive financial advice, counselling and/or case management	64
Number of staff provided with training and development opportunities	17

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

Homelessness Accommodation Support Worker	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted 17
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	68	114	98	212

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

Referrals to service providers from NAHA services are frequently from areas outside of the service location. In order to provide a flexible and responsive service, service providers have developed referral processes to ensure clients may be assisted to relocate into the area they wish to reside. Services will continue to work together to ensure that referrals are appropriate and clients can be supported into long term stable housing that is appropriate to their needs and enables them to be reunited with family and other social networks. In country areas referrals can come from a wider range of agencies and are not limited to people exiting NAHA services.

The program is showing successes in accommodating clients in primarily public housing and also in private rentals and other accommodation options. The shortage of public or affordable housing in the more remote areas is a significant issue and will impact on regional service's ability to secure affordable accommodation for clients.

3.17 Remote Rough Sleeper Assertive Outreach

Description of activities

This program provides assertive outreach support for rough sleepers in remote areas of Western Australia. Workers will work in teams of two and provide support to rough sleepers in remote areas and, where appropriate, assist them to secure and maintain stable accommodation. This program will link with mainstream services to address the issues that may impact on rough sleepers' homelessness. The program will indentify when clients may be housing ready and be suitable to link with properties provided through the Remote Indigenous Housing National Partnership Agreement.

Support to rough sleepers is provided based on individual needs and may be long term if required. The program will have a brokerage component to ensure services are responsive to client needs and to facilitate an integrated approach between specialist homelessness services and mainstream agencies.

The program will link with and augment visitor's centres to be constructed in both Broome and Kalgoorlie. The need for these has been identified and the Department of Housing is managing the development and construction of these centres.

Location

Regional

Location	Service Provider
Kimberley	Centacare Kimberley Association Inc.
Goldfields	EOI

(See Map 10)

Commencement date

1 July 2010 for the Broome program and 1 October 2010 for the Kalgoorlie program.

Target group

This program targets rough sleepers in remote locations. It is anticipated the majority of people assisted will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted28
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	10
Proportion of Australians who are experiencing primary homelessness (rough sleeping)	120
The proportion of people experiencing repeat periods of homelessness	50

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

Remote Rough Sleeper Assertive Outreach	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted 29
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	3	10	0	10

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

Community concern with the proposed location of the visitors centre (short stay facility) in Kalgoorlie has meant that the development of the facility has incurred significant delays. This has impacted on the timing for the commencement of the Remote Rough Sleepers Assertive Outreach program. Recently the State announced in-principle agreement had been reached to acquire a site for the facility in Boulder. The plan is now subject to community consultation

Through the Western Australian Royalties for Regions program $13 million has been allocated over three years by the State Government to build community short-stay accommodation in Broome and Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The Commonwealth Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) has also provided $2 million for construction at Kalgoorlie

A local organisation in Kalgoorlie has travelled to Ceduna in South Australia to investigate how the short stay facility works there, and the community together with the Department and the Department of Housing are committed to ensuring the facility is a success.

The service in Broome is operating a breakfast centre in the morning and undertaking outreach in the afternoons. The service identified the need for the provision of healthy breakfasts and has been successful in securing funds to upgrade the present facility and provide showering and clothes washing facilities for the rough sleepers.

3.18 Support for Children in Homeless Families

Description of activities

Service Description

The Support for Children who are Homeless in Families provides support to children and assists them in addressing issues associated with homelessness.

The target group is children aged 4-14 years who are currently living in or being supported by NAHA family accommodation services or Public Tenancy Support Services (PTSS) and Supported Housing Assistance Program (SHAP). Referrals may come from the Department for Child Protection but only for children whose families are NAHA, PTSS or SHAP clients.

An important aspect of the services is to work to ensure children are linked into and regularly attending school and children are provided with additional support to maintain contact with their school.

Emotional and behavioural problems resulting from homelessness will be addressed, and children will be provided with opportunities to take part in “normalised” recreational activities they otherwise may not be able to access. Children who are in need of other support services for issues such as health issues, or disability support will be linked to other agencies.

Counsellors are cognisant of ongoing safety issues for children if issues related to domestic violence, drug use etc. are ongoing in the family.

Services are provided on both an individual basis and within group settings. These services are predominantly provided on an outreach basis. The services strive to be flexible and responsive to the needs of the children, and this may include assisting with transport. The service provider will strive to ensure that families located in outlying metropolitan areas also receive a service.

Services will be offered primarily to those children who are unable to access mainstream services, as assessed by the referring agency. Regular reports, either written or verbal, are submitted to the referring agency.

Additional children (e.g. siblings, or former casework clients) may be assisted with less intensive recreational activities such as group outings, holiday or after school activities.

Location

Metropolitan

Location	Service Provider
Metro-wide	Parkerville Children & Youth Care Inc.
Metro-wide	Centrecare Inc.
Metro-wide	Fremantle Multicultural Centre
Metro-wide	Multicultural Services Centre of Western Australia Inc.
Metro-wide	Women's Health Care Association Inc.

Commencement date

Contracting commenced 1 March 2010.

Target group

Dependent children, aged primarily 4–14 years who are living in, or being supported by, family supported accommodation services.

 

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted30
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	155
Number of children (under 12 years) who are homeless or at risk of homelessness who are provided with additional support to maintain contact with their school	90

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

Public Tenancy Support Services	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted 31
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	34	41	114	155

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

Brokerage Guidelines were developed in consultation with services, to provide children's support services with a guide for the use of brokerage funds. Brokerage funds ensure services are responsive to client needs and facilitate an integrated approach between specialist homelessness services and mainstream agencies. The application of brokerage funding occurs within the context of case management practises and is linked to the achievement of identified goals in the client's case management plan.

3.19 Domestic Violence Child Support Workers

Description of activities

Service Description

The children's support worker role is to work with mothers and children and build linkages between other community services (for example schools, child health, counselling and recreation) to reduce the impact of homelessness and domestic violence on children. This will lead to better client outcomes through providing mothers with appropriate skills and supports to assist the long term development and well being of their accompanying children.

The program strives to improve mothers' and children's safety, general wellbeing and self-esteem and ensure children attend school. Services are provided to improve parenting skills and the bond between mother and child, which is often fractured or disrupted in domestic violence situations.

Location

Regional

Location	Service Provider
Great Southern	Anglicare WA Inc.
Wheatbelt	Share and Care Community Services Inc.

Commencement date

Contracts commence 1 July 2010.

Target group

Women with accompanying children escaping domestic violence.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in 2009-10

Performance Indicator	Target for Reduction 2009-10	Number Assisted32
Proportion of Australians who are homeless	134	N/A
Number of children (under 12 years) who are homeless or at risk of homelessness who are provided with additional support to maintain contact with their school	90

Target for this measure and result achieved in 2009-10

Domestic Violence Child Support Workers	Target 2009-10	Number Assisted 33
		Adults	Accompanying Children	Total
Number of People Assisted	34	N/A	N/A	N/A

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

3.20 Coordination Worker: Children in Domestic Violence Accommodation Services

Description of activities

Contracting Process

In 2009 funding was provided to the Women's Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services WA Inc to build on the work of the Keeping Kids Safe Project.

The program is funded to ensure Child Support workers in domestic violence women's refuges across the State are supported and provided with training to improve outcomes for children.

Service Description

A Coordinator role aims to strengthen responses for children in domestic violence accommodation services and to improve integration with mainstream services including schools, child care and health professionals. The program will have a brokerage component to ensure services are responsive to the child's needs and to facilitate an integrated approach between specialist homelessness services and mainstream agencies.

The program provides training to workers in order to promote child-aware and protective behaviour practices and assist services to implement local protocols to ensure the needs of accompanying children are addressed, in particular by ensuring support to maintain contact with school, child care and/or health professional.

Support to workers will include;

• professional development and training
• best practice guidelines for working with children including case
• management approaches; and
• partnership building with other agencies and mainstream services

Location

State wide

Commencement date

1 October 2009.

Target group

This program targets child support workers in domestic violence services.

Performance Indicators and result achieved in year one

Performance Indicator	Target 2009-10	Number 2009-10
Number of staff of specialist homeless services provided with formal training and development opportunities	20	20

Target for this measure and result achieved in years one

Coordinator - Child Support Workers	Target 2009-10	Actual 2009 -10
Number of staff provided with training and development opportunities	20	20

Barriers, challenges, opportunities and highlights

The program provides staff in women's refuges with an opportunity to learn about the impacts of family and domestic violence on children and how this can be addressed and managed in a refuge situation; in addition the project provides opportunities for networking with staff from other women's refuges, agencies and Departments. This in turn encourages increased understanding of the services available in the community and a closer inter-agency collaboration.

Also significant is the positive feedback received from Child Support and Advocacy staff who report that this project has drawn attention to the importance of their role within women's refuges, an important cultural shift, given that some organisations traditionally view Child Support Workers as ‘child minders' in place to provide respite for mum.

4. Key priorities for 2010-11

An integrated system of existing services, new services with an overlay of mainstream services

The State government and the community services sector have already begun work to bring about reforms in the response to homelessness. Reform across specialist homelessness services, mainstream and allied services, government and the community services sector offers real opportunities for change and significant improvement to alter the lives of people at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

During 2010-11 program forums will be held to provide an opportunity to further develop the program models and monitor progress. The forums will also provide professional development opportunities for staff and will enhance outcomes for clients through a better integrated service system.

A Senior Officers Group (SOG) was established at the commencement of the NPAH to oversee the implementation in Western Australia and to ensure integration between the Homelessness, Social Housing, Remote Indigenous Housing and National Building and Jobs Plan National Partnership Agreements. As the roll out of the NPAH programs across the state is nearing completion, the SOG has reviewed its Terms of Reference. This will enable a stronger focus on ensuring all stakeholders are engaged and working together towards achieving the best possible outcomes for people experiencing homelessness. The revised TOR are as follows:

• overseeing the implementation of the WA NPAH Implementation Plan;
• providing information on the progress of the roll out of the WA initiatives;
• ensuring relevant information from referring agencies is passed on to the Department for Child Protection for resolution if required;
• driving innovation and across program linkages on homelessness between agencies, mainstream and specialist services to achieve the interim targets to reduce homelessness;
• ensuring that any barriers or blockages to the successful implementation of the NPAH initiatives are addressed at the interagency SOG level;
• linking with the Western Australian Council on Homelessness and provide relevant information to the Council

Identified systemic barriers will be referred to the Western Australian Council on Homelessness for consideration and further action.

Homelessness State Plan and Regional Plans

The development of the Homelessness State Plan is almost completed. The State Plan outlines the outcomes and key principals for implementing an improved integrated approach to homelessness and aims to bring all relevant agencies and services to work together to open doors and improve circumstances for people who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness. It also identifies the action areas to support flexible and responsive services for people when they are homeless and to prevent people from slipping back into homelessness.

The Western Australian Council on Homelessness has been instrumental in the development of the Homelessness State Plan and will play a critical role in the development of Regional Plans across the state. Workshops will be held in regional areas to support stakeholders to develop a plan that outlines a local response to homelessness.

Mainstream and allied services, government departments, community services sector agencies and specialist homelessness service will be invited to identify ways their work practice can contribute to a better integrated service system. Workshops will commence in October 2010.

Evaluation

Currently the tendering process is underway and when finalised the evaluation process will occur concurrently with the program delivery. It is envisaged the evaluation will begin in December 2010.

The evaluation will inform future planning and policy directions in homelessness responses in Western Australia.

Continue to work with peak bodies and other government departments

Working in partnership with other key stakeholders has fostered good will and commitment to work together to achieve better outcomes for those at risk of, or experiencing homelessness. The Department for Child Protection will continue to work with the Women's Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services (WA) for the ongoing development and implementation of the new domestic violence programs.

In addition key government agencies such as the Department of Housing, Mental Health Commission, Drug and Alcohol Office, Department of Corrective Services and WA Police will continue to participate in ongoing forums and program development programs.

Development of Foyer

Anglicare WA, Foundation Housing and Central Institute of Technology will continue the development of the Foyer facility during 2010-11.

The development of partnerships with government, community services and the corporate sector will continue, in order to attract a wide range of expertise and broad funding base to contribute to the success of the Foyer model.

Streamlining Contract Management

During the contracting phase of the implementation, many contracts were streamlined where possible to ensure flexible innovative responses are easily implemented, and services were not overburdened by red tape and onerous reporting requirements.

Progress reporting formats have been developed to guide services in reporting current and emerging issues, achievements and case work summaries. In addition reports provide client data and a case study to illustrate a typical client of the service. Streamlining contract management has also allowed services to reshape their model of service delivery and provide more responsive and innovative responses to clients.

Ongoing review of Memorandum of Understanding and Guideline documents

A number of program support documents have been developed in consultation with services and other key stakeholders. Documents include a Memorandum of Understanding, Program Guidelines, Brokerage Guidelines and Risk Assessment Framework. Documents will be reviewed regularly to ensure they are relevant and responsive to the current service practice.

Data Collection

The Commonwealth, States and Territories are working together on a new Specialist Homelessness Services data collection incorporating a new National Minimum Data Set (NMDS) and new Client Management System (CMS) for 1 July 2011 commencement.

It will be a considerable challenge to provide training in the new NMDS and CMS across the state, particularly in regional and remote locations within, the timeframe.

National Quality Framework

The Commonwealth, States and Territories are working together to progress the development of a National Quality Framework to achieve better outcomes for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness by improving the quality and integration of services they receive.

Western Australia will participative in the consultation and development of the National Quality Framework.

Affordable Housing

Availability of affordable housing is a significant challenge, particularly in rural and remote locations. This impacts on non government organisation capacity to recruit and retain staff. It will continue to be a challenge for workers assisting clients to access long term, sustainable housing.

In 2009, the WA State Government released two strategic housing reports - More Than A Roof and Four Walls which was produced by the Social Housing Taskforce and Housing 2020: Future Directions for Affordable Housing which provided an initial blueprint for a State Affordable Housing Strategy. Housing 2020 suggested potential directions for system change including public housing reform, promoting growth through sectors such as community housing, increasing land and housing options and improving support and transition incentives.

These broad reform areas are now being explored through the development of a State Affordable Housing Strategy. The Strategy will detail a range of actions to increase housing options for those on low and moderate incomes. It will also reflect the directions of the NPAH WA Implementation Plan, particularly the need for effective, integrated services to respond to and reduce homelessness.

Maps

Map 1: Financial Counselling

Map 2: Private Rental Tenancy Support Services

Map 3: Public Tenancy Support Services

Map 4: Housing Support Workers – Mental Health

Map 5: Housing Support Workers – Corrective Services

Map 6: Housing Support Workers – Drug and Alcohol

Map 7: Safe at Home

Map 8: Domestic Violence Outreach

Map 9: Homelessness Accommodation Support Worker

Map 10: Remote Rough Sleeper Assertive Outreach

Appendices

Please refer to the contents in the downloadable format files. If you have difficulty accessing these annual reports, please email NPAH@fahcsia.gov.au

Appendix 2: Western Australia: Towards a better integrated service system

Appendix 3: Development of service models and service specifications

Summary of consultation locations by program and number of agencies participated

Programs	Metro	Kimberley	Pilbara	Murchison	Goldfields	Wheatbelt	Peel	South West	Great Southern
A Place to Call Home	34
Private Rental Tenancy Support Services	26
Public Tenancy Support Services	26	4	4	9		1		4
Housing Support Workers – Mental Health	35	3			4			6	5
Housing Support Workers – Corrective Services	26							3
Housing Support Workers – Drug and Alcohol	36	2	3				11	1
Safe at Home						2	6
Homelessness Accommodation Support Worker	43	4	4	5	5	2	13	9	8
Remote Rough Sleeper Assertive Outreach					4
Support for Children in Homeless Families	5

Appendix 4: Evaluation Framework

Please refer to the contents in the downloadable format files. If you have difficulty accessing these annual reports, please email NPAH@fahcsia.gov.au

Appendix 5: A Place to Call Home Client Consent Brochure

Please refer to the contents in the downloadable format files. If you have difficulty accessing these annual reports, please email NPAH@fahcsia.gov.au

Appendix 6: Tenancy Support Worker promotional poster

Please refer to the contents in the downloadable format files. If you have difficulty accessing these annual reports, please email NPAH@fahcsia.gov.au

Appendix 7: Guideline

Department for Child Protection

Non Government Policy and Funding

POLICY AND GUIDELINES FOR HOUSING SUPPORT WORKERS

National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness

HOUSING SUPPORT WORKERS – DRUG AND ALCOHOL

June 2010

• DEFINITIONS/EXPLANATIONS
• 1. OVERVIEW
• 2. SERVICE PROVIDERS - HOUSING SUPPORT WORKERS – DRUG AND ALCOHOL
• 3. GUIDING PRINCIPALS
• 4. OBJECTIVES
• 5. TARGET GROUPS
• 6. GOVERNANCE
• 7. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• 8. REFERRALS
• 9. SERVICE PROVISION AND SUPPORT
• 10. MEASURE OF SUCCESS
• 11. RECORD KEEPING
• 12. DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING

DEFINITIONS/EXPLANATIONS

Case – a household being supported to obtain and maintain accommodation. A household may be one person, a couple, single person or couple with children, or extended family

Case load - 20 clients per year, with an active case load of approximately ten clients at any one time, and the remainder on maintenance support.

Independent accommodation – means the client is able to live in the community without the on-going support of the Housing Support Worker

12- Month follow up – to determine if the person is still housed and not homeless. The 12 months starts from the time the person obtains accommodation, or if already in accommodation, the time from when the case was actively opened.

Mainstream Service and Allied Service 1

Mainstream and allied services are organisations that are not restricted to service delivery to people who are homeless, but whose clients might include people who are homeless. Such organisations might deliver services to the general community or to a designated client group. Mainstream and allied services could include Centrelink, hospitals, community health centres, alcohol and drug services, mental health, disability services, children and family services, training and employment and many others.

1. OVERVIEW

A range of Housing Support Workers are funded through the joint Commonwealth/State National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH).

The following NPAH initiatives fund the provision of Housing Support Workers:

• Homelessness Accommodation Support Workers initiative
• Housing Support Workers – Corrective Services initiative
• Housing Support Workers – Mental Health Facilities initiative
• Housing Support Workers – Drug and Alcohol initiative
• Street to Home – Supportive Housing Services initiative

The development of these initiatives has been undertaken as a partnership between the Department for Child Protection, the specialist homelessness sector and mainstream and allied services.

There has been extensive consultation with the non government agencies who will deliver the services, the Department for Child Protection, the Department of Housing, Mental Health Commission, Drug and Alcohol Authority and Department of Corrective Services to develop the service specifications, program guidelines and supporting documentation. The relevant mainstream agencies will continue to be closely involved in the establishment and ongoing operation of these services.

2. SERVICE PROVIDERS - HOUSING SUPPORT WORKERS – DRUG AND ALCOHOL

The Metropolitan area has been divided into four segments: north east; north west; south east; and south west. These segments are each serviced by a Community Drug Service Team and these are a key service group for the NPAH workers. The guidelines state:

Referrals will be from specialist drug and alcohol services including community drug services teams, residential services and out patient services and from homelessness workers.

The areas covered by each of the CDSTs are:

Service Areas	Community Drug Service Team	Districts covered
North East	North East Community Drug Service (Holyoake)	Midland North East corridor
North West	North Metro Community Drug Service (Integrated Next Step and Cyrenian House)	Perth, Warwick and Joondalup Northern Corridor
South East	South East Community Drug Service Mission Australia	Gosnells and Cannington South East corridor
South West	South Metro Community Drug Service (Integrated Next Step and Palmerston)	Fremantle, Rockingham and Mandurah Southern corridor

The guidelines also state:

As a general rule Housing Support Workers will work with clients referred from services in their specified region and also accept referrals of clients moving into their region from other areas.

Whilst working with the Department of Housing is an essential part of the work the Department of Housing office locations/boundaries are not a restricting factor from where services may accept referrals.

It is the Department's expectation that NPAH service providers will generally work within the area outlined above, however, it is also expected that services will adopt a flexible approach around the needs of the client. The Department considers the areas outlined above are a guide only and where it is not clear which is the most appropriate service, this should be resolved by negotiation between service providers to ensure appropriate referrals are made.

3. GUIDING PRINCIPALS

The delivery of the program is to be client focused and be respectful of the needs and requirements of the individual client. Agencies will be sensitive to the cultural and linguistic characteristics of the client and client involvement in decision-making is to be encouraged and respected.

It is recognised that clients will have different accommodation needs across all the options available and accommodation type may vary with a clients immediate to long term needs.

Clients supported as part of this program would be reasonably expected, when the support period is complete, to have developed the necessary skills to live independently in the community with mainstream and other appropriate services engaged as required. When the client is part of a family group or couple, support should be provided to the family to ensure they are linked with mainstream services in recognition of the importance of these relationships for the client to achieve long term stable housing.

The case load will be in part determined by the family/household composition, so that family members can be counted as individual cases if their needs are complex and require intensive case management. Some cases will be regarded as active and intensive and some, after the initial intervention and stabilisation, will be regarded as maintenance cases.

4. OBJECTIVES

This program supports people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness to secure and maintain long term stable accommodation. Housing Support Workers liaise with housing providers, including community housing, public housing, and property managers in the private sector to source suitable properties for long term housing. If appropriate, Housing Support Workers support clients to return to live in the family home, or with other family members or friends, as a member of the household.

A flexible approach provides intense support at the beginning of the program, which is decreased over time as needs impacting on homelessness are addressed. Contact continues throughout the support period to ensure that clients are not at risk of homelessness. Support is increased if the need arises to resolve issues which may impact on the clients’ ability to maintain accommodation.

The program ensures people who have experienced homelessness, effectively link with mainstream services to address a range of issues including employment, health, financial management and social integration, to achieve long term, secure, stable housing.

A target has been set for the initiative that 75% of people assisted will obtain and sustain accommodation for at least 12 months.

5. TARGET GROUPS

The target group will include men, women, families and young people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, and whose alcohol and/or drug use are a factor in their homelessness. Clients must be currently engaged in treatment or completing treatment in a residential treatment program or through a non-residential treatment program. Clients who have a history of previous engagement with treatment and demonstrate willingness to re-engage are also included in the target group.

Clients should be identified as having sufficient skills and motivation to progress to independent and stable long-term accommodation through the support provided by the program.

A target of a minimum of 11% Indigenous participation in the program has been set.

6. GOVERNANCE

The Department for Child Protection provides funding to not for profit organisations to support its mission to provide for the protection of and care for children and young people and to support at-risk individuals and families in resolving crises.

7. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

There are roles and responsibilities for both the referring service and the NPAH funded Housing Support Worker service.

7.1 Drug and Alcohol Service

The drug and alcohol treatment service is to identify suitable clients for the program, prepare them for exit, complete a referral, and exchange information, through written records and meetings with the housing support worker.

7.2 Housing Support Workers

The Housing Support Worker in the NPAH service will;

• receive an initial contact from the referring agency
• liaise with the referral source re client intake
• meet with the applicant and referring agency for information and introduction
• develop an accommodation support plan
• link the client over time with mainstream and allied services
• work with referred clients up to as early as possible prior to discharge to source suitable accommodation
• work with a case load of 20 clients per year, with an active case load of approximately ten clients at any one time, and the remainder on maintenance support
• maintain accurate records and data collection
• manage the active open cases and the completed maintenance cases

It is expected that wherever possible the Housing Support Worker will conduct a client follow-up 12 months after the client has moved to independent accommodation.

7.3 Department for Child Protection

The Department for Child Protection will convene regular forums to monitor the implementation of the program and further develop the operational guidelines of Housing Support Workers teams. The forums will inform good practise and identify any barriers or issues.

7.4 Department of Housing

The Department of Housing will make an allocation of properties for a percentage of clients supported under the NPAH. The Department of Housing Regional Offices will be the primary contact point for Housing Support Workers when liaising with the Department regarding allocation of properties.

7.5 Department of Health - Drug and Alcohol Office

The Drug and Alcohol Office will provide training and information for agencies working in the drug and alcohol treatment field.

8. REFERRALS

Referrals will be from specialist drug and alcohol services including community drug services teams, residential services and out patient services and from homelessness workers. A case management approach, supporting the client to maintain housing and continue engagement with drug and alcohol treatment and linking to a range of mainstream services including education, employment and training, will be an integral element of the program. When the client is part of a family group or couple the worker will provide support to the family, by ensuring they are linked with mainstream services, recognizing the importance of these relationships for the client to achieve long term stable housing.

Housing Support Workers will use the "Notification to Department of Housing Form" when referring a NPAH client to the Department of Housing. A consent to share information must also be completed at the point of referral.

If a HSW accepts referral from a client moving into their Region, and the client is listed for priority housing assistance they will notify the Department of Housing.

As a general rule Housing Support Workers will work with clients referred from services in their specified region and also accept referrals of clients moving into their region from other areas.

9. SERVICE PROVISION AND SUPPORT

Support will be targeted to meet the needs of the individual and may include:

• Help to decide on and source available suitable accommodation;
• Active support to access and continuation of engagement with relevant mental health services if required;
• Active support to access and support continuation of treatment in drug and alcohol treatment programs if required;
• Help to establish a home – acquire furniture and household effects etc;
• Tenancy specific support to maintain the tenancy, including independent living skills;
• Resolving financial issues including referral to a Financial Counselling Service if appropriate;
• Referral and links to mainstream services including local health services;
• Linking with Centrelink, including accessing employment, education and training where possible;
• Supporting clients in enrolling children in local schools and recreational opportunities;
• Establishing social networks;
• The scheduling of regular meetings with the client

Housing Support Workers may use the common “Housing Support Worker Assessment Form” provided at Attachment 2.

Brokerage funds have been made available to assist service with client support needs. Separate Brokerage Guidelines are provided at Attachment 3.

10. MEASURE OF SUCCESS

The measure of success will be that 75% of people assisted have been able to maintain stable and independent accommodation for 12 months since the date the accommodation commenced, or if they were already accommodated, 12 months from the time when the support commenced.

Data from Centrelink will be used to determine if the client has been able to sustain stable and independent accommodation for 12 months

11. RECORD KEEPING

The Housing Support Worker service will be required to keep accurate records of client contact, case management and outcomes.

12. DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING

A data collection tool will be provided by the Department for Child Protection for services to enable accurate data to be collected in a consistent and statistically appropriate format. This collection tool will link with the Data Summary Sheets to be provided each six months by the service.

Services will be required to participate in Commonwealth Government data collection.

Appendix 8: Common Assessment Form

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Appendix 9: Referral Forms

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Appendix 10: Brokerage Guidelines

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1. *Note: An Individual may be assisted by both services Preliminary data for 2009-10
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