The Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) has marked Homelessness Week this week (1-7 August) by reinforcing its commitment to preventing and responding to homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services, Alister Henskens said the Week was also an opportunity to share the stories of people who had overcome enormous challenges in their life and were now living in secure housing.
Mr Henskens said the DCJ had helped more than 700 people who were sleeping rough across NSW into temporary accommodation during the current lockdown.
“While providing immediate shelter during the lockdown is important, our focus is always to provide a pathway to secure, long-term housing,” Mr Henskens said.
“We’ve expanded outreach across the State to engage with rough sleepers more often and have built robust pathways for people to secure housing and stay off the streets for good,” he said.
“We’re working hard to increase housing supply and continue to invest in housing solutions for people to maintain or secure tenancies in the private rental market.”
Mr Henskens said the recently announced expansion of the DCJ’s Together Home would support more permanent housing solutions for people currently in temporary accommodation.
The Minister said that, since the program was established last year, more than 460 people had been helped into housing following time in temporary accommodation.
“These people are now receiving support services to address their individual needs and help them rebuild their lives,” he said.
Mr Henskens said the Together Home program involved securing homes from the private rental market and delivered intensive tailored supports to meet the complex needs of its clients.
He said that, during the current COVID-19 outbreak, Government had ramped up services and support, and allocated an additional $10 million to increase rent assistance packages such as Rent Choice Start Safely and Rent Choice Youth.
