Going Home Staying Home Reform Plan
On 8 February 2013, the Minister for Family and Community Services, the Hon Pru Goward MP, released the Going Home Staying Home Reform Plan (PDF, 1MB). This is one of the FACS cluster priorities that will contribute to a more effective service system for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in NSW.
The Plan outlines the strategies for reforming specialist homelessness services in NSW to increase the focus on prevention and early intervention and make services easier for clients to access. The reform will also review the allocation of resources to ensure they are based on need rather than history and will develop the sector and its workforce to strengthen the quality of services.
Please see the Going Home Staying Home Reform Plan – Frequently asked questions (PDF, 235KB) and media release (PDF, 86KB) for more information.
Regional Forums were conducted in February and March 2013 to communicate the key messages of the Reform Plan (PDF, 905KB).
Innovation and Industry Development Funds
Expressions of Interest have opened providing Specialist Homelessness Services with the opportunity to apply for funding to assist them to meet the goals of the Going Home Staying Home (GHSH) Reform Plan.
A GHSH Reform Innovation Fund of $2 million is available to help SHS providers to transition to the revised service delivery framework. An application form and Innovation Fund Guidelines are available as part of the EOI package on the ‘current’ section of www.tenders.nsw.gov.au. For more guidance on preferred service approaches, please see the Service Design Guidelines (PDF, 284KB). Please also see a summary of information (PDF, 172KB) about the evaluation of projects funded under the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness.
An Industry Development Fund of $900,000 is also available to assist SHS providers with organisational change. The EOI process is being administered by an Industry Partnership comprising Homelessness NSW, NSW Women’s Refuge Movement and Yfoundations. An application form and supporting documents are available on www.homelessnessnsw.org.au.
Expressions of Interest close on 19 April 2013 for the Innovation Fund and 26 April 2013 for the Industry Development Fund.
Please go to Tenders NSW and Homelessness NSW websites for more detailed information.
Governance and Consultative Structures
A range of governance and consultative mechanisms have been established to inform and advise on the different components of the reforms.
Central to consultation has been the formation of a Sector Reference Group to provide a perspective on reform. The Group is comprised of the six main peak representative bodies involved in homelessness. This Group has been meeting monthly since August 2012.
The Chief Executive, Housing NSW, has also invited experts in the field of homelessness to participate as part of a panel of experts to provide advice and guidance as required on reform directions.
Consultation Paper and Ongoing Communication
At the announcement of Going Home Staying Home, Minister for Family and Community Services Pru Goward, released a consultation paper (PDF, 702KB) which put forward the case for reform and provided a platform to initiate stakeholder engagement and focus stakeholder input towards the reform directions.
Peak bodies, service providers, homeless people, consumers of specialist homelessness services and other stakeholders were invited to comment on the strategic direction for homelessness service reform and provide feedback on the consultation questions presented in the consultation paper before 31 August 2012.
A total of 75 written submissions were received from a wide variety of organisations, including the six homelessness bodies represented on the Sector Reference Group which includes Homelessness NSW, NSW Women's Refuge Movement, YFoundations, Shelter NSW, the NSW Federation of Housing Associations and the Council on Social Services NSW (NCOSS). For more information please see their submissions below.
A Consultation Summary Report (PDF, 111KB) collating feedback from the consultations and written submissions has been prepared.
Going Home Staying Home - Submissions
If you would like your submission posted on the webpage please contact Narelle.Stow@facs.nsw.gov.au.
Further Information
Newsletters
Fact Sheet
Governance
Frequently Asked Questions
Evidence Base
The evidence base that is being used to inform the reform direction is being compiled. This will be updated on a regular basis as the information becomes available.
Streamlined Access
Resource allocation (assessing cost effectiveness)
Consultation
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