Agenda

CONFERENCE DAY ONE
Monday 22 August 2011

Day One | Day Two

8.30 Registration & Coffee

9.00 Opening Remarks from the Chair
Sharon Gudu, Manager, Homelessness Unit, Service Development Strategy, Housing NSW, Family and Community Services

STATE HOMELESSNESS UPDATES

9.10 Improving Outcomes for Homeless People Through Better Service Integration

• Current directions under the NSW Homelessness Action Plan (HAP) regarding service integration
• Regional examples of service integration to reduce and prevent homelessness
• Lessons learned and future directions

Sharon Gudu, Manager, Homelessness Unit, Service Development Strategy, Housing NSW, Family and Community Services

9.50 The Queensland Strategy for Reducing Homelessness

• Overview of the Queensland context
• Queensland's strategy for reducing homelessness: Key reforms and actions
• Challenges and implications
• Next steps

Barbara Shaw, Director, Homelessness Programs, Department of Communities Queensland

10.30 Morning Tea

11.00 The NT Homelessness Implementation Plan
Andrea Martin, Executive Director, Central Australia, Department of Housing, Local Government and Regional Services

11.40 Reducing Homelessness - Future Directions in Victoria

• Implementing the Victorian government’s policy agenda to ensure people get what they need, when they need it
• Joining the dots between housing, skills, health and employment
• Innovation – joined up service delivery
• Tracking so far with existing resources (NPA-H and Nation Building)

Peter Lake, Manager Housing & Homelessness Eastern Metropolitan Region, Victorian Department of Human Services

12.20 Lunch

1.30 The ACT Approach to Reducing Homelessness
David Collett, Acting Executive Director, Housing and Community Services ACT

2.10 Case Study: A Coordinated Response to Complex Needs: Townsville Case Coordination Group (CCG)

> Assessment, engagement and addressing complex needs
> Strategies for intervention
> Indigenous health workers
> Cultural gathering tool – language, culture, identity
> Collecting collateral information to assist moving

Jacki Couani, Manager Rehabilitation Services, Townsville Institute of Mental Health
Craig Brereton, Service Integration Coordinator, North Queensland Region, Department of Communities

2.50 Afternoon Tea

3.20 Case Study: Taking the Freeway Home - Optimising Healthcare to Accelerate a Person’s Path Out of Homelessness

> Significant barriers to mainstream healthcare exist for homeless people
> Mobile GP is an established primary healthcare team focusing on all aspects of healthcare (biological, psychological and social) for homeless people
> Mobile GP aims to break down access barriers by providing a comprehensive health service in collaboration with social welfare agencies to improve the health of homeless people
> Better health helps to break the cycle of homelessness
> Expand the service to provide healthcare for the newly housed
> Preliminary findings will be presented on the SF-8 questionnaire

Dr Andrew P Davies, (MBBS, FRACGP) Director of Medical Services, Mobile GP, Perth, WA

4.00 Housing Ready or Ready to House?

This presentation will explore the systemic barriers which prevent people transitioning successfully from primary homelessness and how these barriers might be overcome.

• What makes successful transitions from primary homelessness?
• Are State Housing authorities (and the other specialist homelessness services and mainstream agencies) positioned to respond in a timely way to people who are assessed as being housing ready
• To do so requires (at a minimum) that these agencies have knowledge about individual people experiencing homelessness; have available accommodation in suitable locations; and can provide the support to resettle - rather than simply relocate - people making a transition from homelessness in the communities where they are housed

Dr Anne Coleman, Senior Lecturer, Social Work, Coordinator, Master of Social Work, School of Sociology and Social Work, University of Tasmania

4.40 Closing Remarks from the Chair

4.50 Networking Drinks

CONFERENCE DAY TWO
Tuesday 23 August 2011

Day One | Day Two

8.30 Morning Coffee

9.00 Opening Remarks from the Chair
Barbara Shaw, Director, Homelessness Programs, Department of Communities Queensland

STATE HOMELESSNESS UPDATES

9.10 Once in a Generation – Grasping the Scale of Opportunity, SA Reframed Homelessness Agenda – Cornerstones of the Reform

• Leading a systemic approach to address homelessness – engaging the whole of government and the wider community
• Building new and innovative community partnerships
• Combining NAHA, nation building resources with the NPAH
• Developing and implementing a sector wide competency based tendering process
• Formalising case management through a fully integrated IT system for all the NGO's
• Allocating resources based on where they needed and regions can provide consistent responses to all population groups
• Building an evidence base and evaluation strategy

Carol Shard, Director of Homelessness Strategy, Department of Families and Communities SA

9.50 Case Study: Innovations in Practice: A New Approach to Housing and Support
The Keys to the Future and Stay programs were established in 2010 as a part of the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness to assist and support people at high risk.

> Keys program is provided by Colony 47 and involves property and tenancy management for 100 properties state-wide
> The majority of properties are existing public housing properties, with five new Nation Building – Economic Stimulus Plan properties in the north of the state
> Stay is provided by Centacare Tasmania in partnership with Australian Red Cross and involves the provision of intensive support to Keys tenants
> Clients of the programs include those with high and complex needs, for example those exiting state care
> The Innovations in Practice Awards 2011 announced the Stay and Keys services winner in the Client/Patient Centred Care category

Mary Blackwood, Manager Housing Strategy, Housing Tasmania, Department of Health and Human Services

10.30 Stretch and Bathroom Break

10.40 An Update on the WA Response to Addressing Homelessness - Progress of the WA National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness Initiatives
Julie Waylen, Director - Non Government Policy and Funding, Department of Child Protection WA

11.20 Morning Tea

11.50 Case Study: Project 40 : A Housing First Program Delivered by Wentworth Community Housing and the Regional Service System

> The problem - the homelessness crisis in Western Sydney
> The structure - more than just a consortium:
> How we built a campaign to end homelessness
> Three levels of government support
> Over 80 organisations sit on local Coordination Groups
> Local Council champions
> Cross-sector agency collaboration delivered by a housing provider
> The model - a Housing First program using a harm reduction, consumer empowerment, recovery oriented practice approach
> The risks - the weaknesses so far, potential risks of a change management process
> The future - possibilities and vision, changing how we 'do' housing and homelessness

Stephanie Brennan, Manager - Community Services, Wentworth Community Housing

12.30 Interactive Panel Discussion:
Challenges and Solutions Towards Reducing Homelessness in Australia

Join with your colleagues, peers and summit speakers to share your thoughts on the biggest challenges facing the reduction of homelessness throughout Australia and workshop solutions.

Some suggested discussion points include:

• Accountability expectations of funders
• Transitioning people through from short term accommodation to permanent accommodation
• Successfully providing supported housing for homeless who have alcohol and drug problems
• The role of health and corrective services in reducing homelessness
• Aged care, mental health and domestic violence homelessness support models
• Outreach model of case management-What do governments expect from NGOs?

Facilitated by:
Miriam Segon, Acting Manager, Homelessness, Accommodation & Support Client Services & Programs Branch Housing and Community Building, Victorian Department of Human Services
Barbara Shaw, Director, Homelessness Programs, Department of Communities Queensland

Panelists:
Craig Brereton, Service Integration Coordinator, North Queensland Region, Department of Communities
Karyn Walsh, Coordinator, Micah Projects
Dr Andrew P Davies, MBBS, FRACGP, Director of Medical Services, Mobile GP, Perth, W.A.

1.20 Lunch

2.30 Case Study: Implementing Supportive Housing Across Australia: The Need for a New Government Approach to Working with the Sector
The presentation will focus on:

> The establishment of Common Ground Supportive Housing in Melbourne
> The challenges to innovating within the system
> A proposed new approach for funding and achieving better homelessness outcomes

Stephen Nash, CEO, Homeground Services

3.10 Case Study: Communities Ending Chronic Homelessness: Learnings From 50 Lives 50 Homes

> Leadership, partners, data and coordination - gathering the right people around the table with clear data about the housing, healthcare and service needs of individuals enables coordinated housing allocation
> Change is an essential ingredient - citizen participation, political and community leadership, increasing housing stock, service coordination and partnerships drive change
> Enabling a house to become a home - housing, healthcare and support services need to support individuals to feel at home in themselves, their physical home and within the community
> Where to from here - sustaining tenancies into the future

Karyn Walsh, Coordinator, Micah Projects

3.50 Closing Remarks from the Chair and Close of Conference

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