Specialist Homelessness Services
Responsible government
- New South Wales
Fourth Action Plan actions
- Improve support and service system responses
- 20 Improve access to suitable and safe accommodation within their communities for women who have experienced domestic, family and sexual violence.
What are we doing?
Through the Specialist Homelessness Services program, the NSW Government funds non-government organisations to deliver a range of services and supports for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless across NSW. The services are available to young people, families, single men and women with or without children, including those escaping domestic and family violence.
What have we achieved so far?
The number of people assisted by Specialist Homelessness Services increased by 42 per cent from 51,786 in 2013–14 to 73,549 in 2018-19 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018-19).
The NSW Homelessness Strategy 2018–2023 sets out the NSW Government’s plan for a comprehensive approach to prevent and improve the way we respond to homelessness. The NSW Homelessness Strategy 2018–2023 includes initiatives to address particular groups of vulnerable people who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, including women and children escaping domestic and family violence.
What is next?
From July 2021, the NSW Government will progressively implement a commissioning for outcomes approach, shifting the emphasis from the services a provider offers to the outcomes they achieve for their clients.
The NSW Government is signatory to a global agreement to halve street homelessness across the state by 2025.
What difference will we make?
The intended outcomes of Specialist Homelessness Services are:
- people at imminent risk of homelessness are identified and supported to remain safely in their existing homes or to secure stable housing;
- people who experience homelessness are rapidly and safely re-housed;
- people in crisis are provided with safe and secure accommodation and supported to access stable housing; and,
- people re-housed after becoming homeless are supported to stay housed.