A performance audit into how effectively the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) responded to homelessness through its Homelessness Strategy 2018–23 has found the Strategy will have a limited short-term impact on homelessness.
In her report Responses to homelessness, Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford said DCJ’s Strategy was designed to build evidence to inform future State‑wide action rather than to end homelessness.
“The Department also received significantly less funding than it sought, and as a result, the Strategy’s actions have a narrow reach in terms of the locations and the number of people targeted for assistance,” Ms Crawford said.
“The Department directed 95 per cent of the final Strategy funding to concrete actions supporting people at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness,” she said.
“The Department has clearly communicated its aims to intervene early to prevent people from experiencing homelessness; to provide effective supports to people experiencing homelessness; and to create an integrated person‑centred system.”
Ms Crawford said that while DCJ’s objectives were clear, they weren’t being pursued State‑wide.
She said the Department had governance and operational arrangements in place to support implementation and evaluation of the Strategy, and was broadly on track to reach the target number of clients, with more than 4,100 people receiving direct supports under Strategy actions.
“However, the reach of the Strategy remains constrained,” she said.
“Once fully implemented, most Strategy actions will be available in only a quarter of the State’s local Government areas, supporting around 8,200 people ‑ what equates to around 22 per cent of the number of people experiencing homelessness in New South Wales at the last census in 2016.”
Ms Crawford said DCJ effectively implemented a crisis response to assist over 4,350 people sleeping rough into temporary accommodation during the COVID‑19 pandemic, however it would need to do more to ensure a sustainable longer‑term response which prevented people returning to homelessness.
The Auditor-General made six recommendations to the Department to be implemented by July 2022, including that it provide advice to Government on sustainably addressing demand and unmet need for homelessness supports; commence development of a comprehensive strategy to address homelessness; enable input to key decisions on policy from partner Agencies, specialist services and people with lived the experience of homelessness; partner with Aboriginal stakeholders to implement a strategy for early identification; develop protocols to inform actions in future emergencies or disasters; and regularly collect client outcomes data and feedback to drive improvements to responses to homelessness.
The Auditor-General’s 65-page Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
