A temporary end to homelessness across the New England implemented during the COVID-19 crisis could become permanent due to a new project announced this week, according to a local housing provider.
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Street-sleeping was virtually eliminated in the New England during the coronavirus lockdown as a public health measure, with government concerned rough-sleepers could become a vector for COVID-19.
Homes North CEO Maree McKenzie said the new $36 million Together Home shows the state government is committed to keeping it that way.
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"This is an opportunity we've got through COVID-19, which has really forced us to fast-track any initiative to house homeless people.
"What we're all saying is while we have people housed in temporary accommodation let's not lose this opportunity and let's have other programs that support people getting into long-term accommodation.
"Government has listened."
Ms McKenzie said that work was a "springboard" to getting Armidale's most vulnerable into a real home for good.
The new project will move them into more permanent accommodation, likely private rental units, she said.
Most of the project's funding will go to sorting out metropolitan homelessness, where the problem is biggest.
But Ms McKenzie said she's "confident" the new initiative will allow Homes North and other providers to keep all of those people off the streets in the long run.
Half of the funding will go to paying rent, the other half will pay for 'wraparound services' like mental health and drug and alcohol treatment.
"I'd say that adding the wraparound is essential and if we just provide the housing without support it's going to be a short-term fix. The wraparound is a huge tick and it's eminently sensible and will get the longer-term outcomes."
Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services Gareth Ward said the project would change the lives of hundreds of people for the better.
"This is the largest single investment made to tackle rough sleeping in NSW," he said.
"The response will be intensive and pack many months' of work into just weeks, as we strive to transition people from temporary accommodation into secure housing."
In the long run, the solution to preventing new people getting stuck in a cycle of homelessness is to reduce the number of people living in 'housing stress', Ms McKenzie said.
She said government ought to start a program of constructing social and public housing to achieve that.
Andrew Messenger
Politics, environment and energy journalist at the Northern Daily Leader. I also write about health, bushfires and occasionally music. I'm a Brisbane boy by way of Charleville and Hobart who now lives in in beautiful New England. Get me at andrew.messenger@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Politics, environment and energy journalist at the Northern Daily Leader. I also write about health, bushfires and occasionally music. I'm a Brisbane boy by way of Charleville and Hobart who now lives in in beautiful New England. Get me at andrew.messenger@austcommunitymedia.com.au
