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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-03-13 Daily Xml
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LADDER ST VINCENT STREET

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide) (15:53): I rise today to inform the chamber about the Ladder St Vincent Street project in the heart of Port Adelaide. I recently had the privilege of visiting the centre with the Minister for Social Housing (Hon. Ian Hunter MLC).

The Ladder project, as it is locally known, is located in a refurbished central building on Black Diamond Corner, on the intersection of St Vincent Street and Commercial Road, Port Adelaide. The building has been beautifully restored and upgraded to allow over 20 young people who were either homeless or at risk of homelessness to live for at least a year in an environment that will encourage their steps towards a self-sufficient life.

The project is an informal partnership between Housing SA, St John's Youth Services and the Ladder organisation. Housing SA is responsible for managing the partnership as a whole, and also the residential tenancies. St John's Youth Services provides case management and 24/7 on-site support for the residents. Ladder itself is a not-for-profit organisation that is supported in large part by the Australian Football League funds and provides mentoring and living skills training to the residents through volunteer AFL players and also elite female athletes acting as volunteer mentors.

I met several residents when I visited the centre and heard from them what a difference the project is making to their lives. What they told me was that the overriding factor improving their lives was having secure accommodation—security of tenure—but right alongside that was the range of support for them which, for a variety of reasons, they have not had from their families.

They have adults in their lives now, through the Ladder project, who are able to open up a range of ambitions for these young people to reach for in their lives. They are offered training in life management skills and are encouraged to address the needs and issues that contributed to their homelessness. Building the residents' confidence and resilience is an essential element of the training and support provided to the residents.

Homelessness is a result of a breakdown in a number of support structures in individual lives that most people are able to take for granted. When someone, particularly a young person, finds themselves without anywhere secure to live, so much else has gone wrong in their lives that the path out of that situation is not easily found without assistance.

Treating people in this situation as individuals and spending time addressing their needs and their ambitions is hard and long work but is ultimately highly successful. I was delighted to have gone around the Ladder project in Port Adelaide and I am honoured to have met some of the residents and to see how they are taking control of their futures.

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