The Department of Communities is supporting Homelessness Week in Western Australia with a campaign titled Everybody Needs a Home.
It is also funding a program, run by Shelter WA, which has a particular focus on Aboriginal homelessness.
In a statement, the Department said it estimated that more than 9,000 Western Australians experienced homelessness every night, a third of whom were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people.
“In December 2019, the Department released the All Paths Lead to a Home: Western Australia’s 10-Year Strategy on Homelessness,” the Department said.
“The strategy is a whole-of-community plan for reducing homelessness and ending rough sleeping in WA.”
It said the first five-year action plan accompanying the 10-year homelessness strategy had been released, targeting four priority areas.
It said one of these was improving Aboriginal wellbeing; the other three were providing safe, secure and stable homes; preventing homelessness, and strengthening and coordinating responses and impact.
“In July 2020, the Department also released a blueprint for a No Wrong Door system, co-designed over six months with the support of the community sector, service providers and people with lived experience. An online portal is a key feature,” the Department said.
“Each year the Department spends approximately $93 million on a range of specialist homelessness services that assist people who are homeless or at risk,” it said.
The 10-year strategy on homelessness and the action plan can be accessed at this PS News link.
