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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-09-24 Daily Xml
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Homelessness

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:08): My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding the state government's work to address homelessness in South Australia. Can the minister please provide an update to the council about the appointment of the new head of Homelessness Sector Integration in the South Australian Housing Authority?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:08): I thank the honourable member for her question. It gives me great pleasure to advise that Mr Ian Cox, who is the CEO of the Hutt St Centre, is being appointed to a new role from 21 October in the Office of Homelessness Sector Integration, which will work closely with the non-government sector to implement homelessness reforms.

Mr Cox is well known to many South Australians. I acknowledge that there are members of this chamber and the other who attend the annual Walk a Mile in My Boots fundraising event to raise vital funds for the Hutt St Centre. He has worked at that centre for some 16 years and in the homelessness sector for 25 years. He has had a very key role in driving for reform in South Australia in terms of the Adelaide Zero Project, which is focused on the CBD and North Adelaide, where the goal is for functional zero homelessness by 2020.

In that, he was instrumental in bringing Dame Louise Casey from the Institute of Global Homelessness to South Australia, which really started the kick-off for the Zero Project, the rather incredible partnership that exists between the non-government sector providers and the South Australian government. He has also been responsible for the Aspire project, which is the first social impact bond in South Australia, which focuses on a 'housing first' intervention model, which gives them stable accommodation as well as access to education and training to help them get a job and maintain employment. It is in its second year of operation and it has seen 297 participants enrolled.

What we know through our engagement in terms of the development of our Housing and Homelessness Strategy is that, while there are resources in the system, we think that there can be much better coordination. There hasn't been a reform of the homelessness sector for what I understand is over 10 years. There are improved ways of looking at homelessness. I recently attended the Institute of Global Homelessness conference in Glasgow with stakeholders from South Australia, including Louise Miller Frost from Catherine House, Mr Cox, staff of the Zero Project, and some Housing Authority staff, and I also spoke to providers in the City of London.

The institute's experience is that people have capacity. We are interested in looking at rapid rehousing for people, ensuring that those who have vulnerabilities have access to appropriate wraparound services, but acknowledging that people can use their capacity in many ways. A number can be employed, and I have certainly met people, young people particularly, who are going to school and in university.

We need to work on people's strengths. I am very pleased that Mr Cox is talking about engaging people with lived experience to guide our services forward because they understand what works and what doesn't and will be very useful in shaping services as they go forward.

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