People in NSW find adequate and secure places to live, and individual needs are assessed to ensure socially and culturally appropriate outcomes Creating pathways into housing Access to affordable housing can prevent homelessness and can provide a pathway out of homelessness. The NSW Government is taking action to create pathways into housing, including: ●● delivering Future Directions for Social Housing in NSW which will increase the supply of social and affordable housing in NSW and increase investment in private rental products ●● delivering the Social and Affordable Housing Fund will deliver access to 3,000 additional social and affordable homes over four years. People living in these homes will receive support to become more independent and, where feasible, move out of social housing ●● increasing the number of households successfully transitioning out of social housing - a State Priority ●● reducing youth homelessness by increasing the proportion of young people moving from specialist homelessness services to long term accommodation - a Premier’s Priority ●● increasing housing supply by delivering 50,000 new housing approvals each year - a State Priority ●● investing $25 million over the next four years in the Staying Home Leaving Violence program to ensure women and children experiencing domestic or family violence can stay safely in their family home or a home of their choice ●● investing $22 million in Start Safely to provide short to medium-term financial help for people escaping domestic and family violence. Potential opportunities to create better pathways into housing include: ●● investigating planning opportunities to increase the supply of affordable housing ●● investing in new social and affordable housing through Future Directions (Social and Affordable Housing Fund and Communities Plus) ●● boosting private rental products to support households to access and sustain private rental tenancies ●● increasing access to housing for people who are sleeping rough ●● ‘housing first’ response to tackle chronic homelessness ●● increasing housing options to support women and children experiencing domestic and family violence to transition out of crisis.
●● fee-free scholarships for young people (aged 15-17) in out-of-home care and young people (aged 18-30) who have previously been in care ●● support payments to foster, relative and kinship carers to help young people in out-of-home care complete the HSC or equivalent after they turn 18 ●● expansion of scholarships for students living in social housing ●● implementation of the Wellbeing Framework for Schools across all public schools to improve student engagement and wellbeing ●● Supported Students, Successful Students initiative, which provides additional school counselling services and flexible wellbeing resources to support students and their families ●● Premier’s Priority to create 150,000 new jobs by 2019 ●● increased employment support, particularly for young people through the Smart, Skilled and Hired program ●● identification of youth unemployment as a priority for social impact investment. Potential further opportunities to empower people include: ●● maintaining connections to schools for young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness ●● linking people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness with education, training and employment support ●● improving available supports for building skills in retaining employment, and providing supports to address challenges for new employees in the workplace. Discussion questions ●● How can employment initiatives be linked with other initiatives to support housing and homelessness outcomes? ●● Where are there opportunities to improve how employment, training and education services help prevent homelessness? Putting people at the centre of responding to homelessness People experiencing homelessness highlight the difference it makes in their lives when someone takes the time to understand the problem and is willing to help them. This doesn’t need to be in a homeless service. However, a negative experience can set them back and prevent them from asking for help in the future. Potential opportunities to put people at the centre of responding to homelessness could include: ●● changing perceptions of homelessness across the service system ●● building trust between clients and services ●● increasing skills in the mainstream workforce, especially around practice