The way homelessness services in the ACT are designed and funded is to be reformed under a new plan that places co-design, trust and respect at its heart.
Welcoming the Community Services Directorate’s new Strategic Investment Plan for Homelessness Sector, the Minister for Homelessness, Rebecca Vassarotti said the Plan marked a milestone in a new approach to designing and funding homelessness services in the ACT.
“This new approach places co-design, trust and respect at its heart,” Ms Vassarotti said.
“Through this process, the ACT Government is working to ensure that trusted sector partners and people with lived experience are central in the planning, design and delivery of services for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness,” she said.
“The plan outlines the future commissioning approach to co-design and invest in homelessness services that will ensure that the right services are available for those who need them, when they need them.”
Ms Vassarotti said the investment phase of commissioning would now begin, with community support services to be funded with long-term agreements that took an outcomes-focused approach to end homelessness.
She said the new approach would create a response system that was more flexible, responsive, and culturally appropriate to new and emerging needs.
“This plan places trust back into the sector and community to tell us what needs to happen to make homelessness in Canberra rare, brief and non-recurring,” the Minister said.
“It builds on our learnings and successes that came out of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Yvette Berry said reducing homelessness was about more than putting a roof over someone’s head.
“This investment plan will provide the opportunity to work closely with the sector and develop solutions that support the most vulnerable in our community to transition into stable, permanent accommodation,” Ms Berry said.
The Directorate’s 19-page Plan can be accessed at this PS News link.
