The Department of Communities is marking Homelessness Week 2022, the annual campaign held nationally aiming to raise awareness and support for people impacted by homelessness.
The Department has created a dedicated Office of Homelessness to lead stewardship, coordination, strategic planning, and practices connected to homelessness services in Western Australia.
In a statement, the Department said that since 2021, 600 social homes had been created — “critically, 429 of those homes were delivered in the past six months”.
“In addition, more than 860 new social homes are currently under contract or construction,” the Department said.
Minister for Homelessness, John Carey said that as the State’s first dedicated Homelessness Minister he was making use of every lever to deliver more social housing.
“I am fully cognisant of the challenges we face in terms of homelessness as it intersects with many other deep social, health and economic issues — trauma, family and domestic violence, mental health conditions, drug and alcohol dependence, and disruptive life events,” Mr Carey said.
“Without addressing these issues alongside a housing response, we will not be able to fully address the problem of homelessness.”
He said the Government had allocated a record $2.4 billion over four years to improve the quality and accessibility of housing and homelessness services.
“We are starting to see the return on investment that this Government has prioritised, underpinned by a high-quality Homelessness Strategy that was co-designed with sector partners,” Mr Carey said.
“We are under no illusion. We know there is still a lot of hard work required to ensure all Western Australians have a safe place to call home,” he said.
Homelessness Week runs until Sunday (7 August).
