Taking it to the Streets
Every night in the streets of Australia’s cities there are people who are forced to sleep rough -under bridges, in disused buildings, outdoor shelters, cars, toilet blocks, wherever they can find somewhere safe and dry.
These ‘rough sleepers’ represent the epitome of homelessness and include people who range from young to old, poorly educated to university trained and very unwell to otherwise healthy.
The reasons they sleep rough are varied, but their situation is often the most damaging form of homelessness, having a severe impact on their physical and mental well-being.
A Brisbanite named Rusty (right) has experienced the conditions rough sleepers face every day. In 2008 he was one of 58 homeless people living in ‘tent city’, a collection of crude shelters situated along Riverside Drive in South Brisbane.
Two years later, thanks to the Micah Project’s Street to Home program, he is now permanently housed with a good friend, Ross, who he met on the street.
Street to Home is an innovative program which identifies the most vulnerable rough sleepers and helps them into permanent housing while providing long-term support.
The Salvation Army, in partnership with HomeGround Services and The Royal District Nursing Service Homeless Persons Program, has recently received funding from the Victorian Department of Human Services to commence a similar program in Victoria.
‘Street to Home is an innovative approach to ending homelessness for some of the most vulnerable members of our community,’ explains Stephen Nash, CEO of HomeGround Services. ‘Originating in New York, it is relatively new in Australia, but has already recorded major successes overseas.
‘The Federal Government’s White Paper on Homelessness, which delivered a commitment to halve the number of Australians experiencing homelessness by 2020, identified Street to Home as one of its key strategies. It is currently being implemented in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra and is already operating in Adelaide.
‘Street to Home is based on the simple, yet powerful, concept of giving people experiencing long-term homelessness fast access to quality housing together with ongoing support,’ Nash continues. ‘This gets them off the street and into permanent housing without the need to prove they are “housing ready” or move through the crisis accommodation or transitional housing system.’
Glenn James (right), group manager at The Salvation Army’s Adult Services, says The Salvation Army is involved in this project for a number of reasons.
‘It meets the commitment of the Army to work with the most disadvantaged. We have the personnel, infrastructure and passion necessary to make the initiative successful, and The Salvation Army have well-developed and well-regarded expertise in working with homeless people.
‘The Salvation Army’s Adult Services, based in West Melbourne, will manage one of two teams providing outreach and intensive case management to rough sleepers; Crisis Services in St Kilda will host the second team [which will be managed by HomeGround Services] and provide after-hours response and referral to long-term support.’
The Victorian program will initially assist 50 people and aims to work with 100 people per year over the three years (funding has been received).
‘Rough sleepers will be surveyed using a vulnerability index tool, which will allow us to identify and house those who are most vulnerable,’ James says.
‘We aim to havehousing available so that those identified have the opportunity to move straight into secure long-term accommodation with the support necessary to meet their needs and establish themselves into the community.’
Another feature of this program is its strong health focus with The Royal District Nursing Service Homeless Persons Program providing primary health expertise.
The partnership will also work collaboratively with existing organisations that provide services to rough sleepers including day centres, crisis accommodation facilities, mental and general health programs, and housing programs.
The Salvation Army’s 24/7 Road Home Community Response Team will also be a key resource in Melbourne’s Central Business District.
‘Street to Home works because it helps people sleeping rough to move directly into permanent housing,’ Nash says. ‘It identifies and houses those who have been homeless the longest, who have the most disabling conditions and who are least likely to secure housing through existing services and programs.
‘Once established with permanent housing, ongoing support helps people reconnect with their community and social networks while addressing their own personal challenges.’
And it works. In New York, the annual Homeless Census has recorded a 50% reduction in rough sleeping across the city, with a 30% drop occurring between 2008 and 2009, following the introduction of Street to Home.
Here in Australia, Adelaide’s Street to Home program (an initiative of the South Australian Social Inclusion Board) has already housed over 130 vulnerable rough sleepers in the past two years -more than 40 of whom had been living on the streets for more than five years, some for as many as 15.
In Brisbane, 95% of the 58 people living in the ‘tent city’ were helped to find long-term housing and given the support needed to ensure they were able to maintain their tenancies.
The US evidence also shows that Street to Home can save money. The cost of long term housing and ongoing support per person was found to be just two thirds of the cost of maintaining that same person in temporary accommodation. Once housed, the costs to other welfare systems, including health, mental health and justice also decrease. In short, it can be cheaper to end homelessness once and for all rather than sustain people in unhealthy situations.
For people like Rusty and Ross, this program has provided a home and on-going support.
‘It takes a while to get used to living in a house,’ Rusty says. ‘There are things we’re not used to. At first we would forget to turn the lights on in the house when it got dark, because we just weren’t used to having lights at night.
‘Another thing you take for granted is hot water. It was a luxury for us for a while. I used to think the remote controls were games. And when I go to wash my clothes at home I still look for where to put the money in the machine. ‘These blokes are doing a good job. It would be hard for us if anything happened to it [Street to Home] and they couldn’t come.
‘When I was sleeping rough, I fell off a 12 foot brick wall and broke my hip. I have steel plates, nuts and bolts in me. They help take me to my doctor’s appointments.’ The Victorian Street to Home program will be evaluated by university researchers, almost from its inception, and these results will provide the foundations for replication into other regions.
‘Many people believe long-term rough sleepers cannot maintain permanent housing’, said Jane Barnes, general manager of The Salvation Army’s Adult Services, at the launch of the Street to Home program in April. ‘But this service will show just how effective housing can be at ending homelessness when combined with the right support.’
For further information, visit 24/7 Road Home Community Response and www.homeground.org.au
Major Tracey English is the senior chaplain, Adult Services Network
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