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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-07-02 Daily Xml
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Homelessness

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:47): My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding homelessness in South Australia. Can the minister please provide an update to the council about the progress of the Marshall Liberal government's reforms to the homelessness sector?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:47): I thank the honourable member for her ongoing interest in this area. I think I might have been asked a question earlier this year in relation to the tenders for new homelessness services and some of the recommissioning, which we are very keen on, as is the sector, particularly in terms of those people with lived experience, the customers, ensuring that we are providing a much better service going forward.

I am very pleased that the South Australian Housing Authority has undertaken and completed a tender for one of the first reforms for this sector, which is a new partnership to provide better access to homelessness services and information. A new partnership between Uniting Communities (which has provided the Homelessness Gateway) and Service to Youth Council (formerly the Youth Gateway) commenced on 1 July to help South Australians who are homeless or at risk of homelessness more easily access services and information.

The new partnership will enable a new homelessness access point service model to be codesigned over the coming months to better streamline access for customers to ensure that vital services and information are available to those people who need them most. This new service model will be an integral part of the broader homelessness system and is in response to feedback received from people with lived experience during development of Our Housing Future 2020-2030, who said that the homelessness support system could be difficult to navigate and it is often hard to find information.

Under the new arrangements, the current Homelessness Gateway and the Youth Gateway will continue to operate as usual for clients. While referral processes will remain the same, there will be a new agency listed on the H2H database to represent the new merged service, and this will be communicated to all providers via the usual communications channels.

Over the coming months, the homelessness access point service model will be designed to ensure it achieves the best possible outcomes and aligns with broader sector reform. These improvements will be based on evidence, including outcomes data. The codesign will include service users and stakeholders from specialist homelessness services and other key organisations.

It will provide the community with a clear and accessible point of contact to seek information and gain access to homelessness and related services. It will strengthen relationships and align closely with other specialist access points, including the Domestic Violence and Aboriginal Family Violence Gateway service and the national sexual assault and domestic and family violence counselling service 1800RESPECT.

I would like to join with the Office for Homelessness Sector Integration in congratulating Uniting Communities and Service to Youth for their commitment to this partnership approach to developing a new service model, which will deliver better services for people experiencing homelessness.

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