Homelessness NSW welcomes the state government's decision to expand access to emergency temporary accommodation for people in crisis by increasing the minimum number of days covered from two to seven.
We also endorse the decision to scrap bank account caps for people experiencing family and domestic violence and increase the asset limit to $5,000 for everyone else. This is in line with key recommendations from a Homelessness NSW survey of more than 200 service providers calling for a broad shakeup of temporary accommodation.
Before July, the NSW Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) rules required people experiencing family and domestic violence to have less than $1,000 in their bank account to be eligible for two nights' paid accommodation.
Homelessness NSW Manager of Policy and Research, Dr Kate Davies, said: "The decision to increase the minimum number of temporary accommodation days from two to seven, and up to nine if it falls over a weekend, is a welcome step in the right direction to provide people experiencing homelessness some stability in a crisis.
"Two days' temporary accommodation is completely inadequate for anyone experiencing homelessness. At the moment, people are packing up their bags every two days not knowing if they have somewhere to go.
"Homelessness NSW welcomes the removal of financial caps for people experiencing domestic and family violence, so they can access emergency accommodation, as well as the scrapping of the financial eligibility cap for everyone else.
"Having $1,000 dollars in a bank account does not get you very far if you are fleeing domestic and family violence. The threshold also does not account for instances of financial abuse that means someone may not be able to access the funds in the first place.
"These sensible changes are the right thing to do, prioritising people, not processes, and their pathway out of homelessness. Emergency accommodation is critical in a crisis, but we must see investment in frontline support services and social housing to give people a safe home and the support to keep it."
Homelessness NSW makes 12 interim recommendations to the NSW government following a survey of more than 200 respondents across SHS, temporary accommodation providers and allied services:
- Increase the number of temporary accommodation days provided from two to seven, and nine if it falls over a weekend
- Remove the annual 28 day cap on the provision of temporary accommodation, and instead make it available for people based on need
- Remove the eligibility requirement for people experiencing domestic and family violence to have less than $1000 in their bank account, and increase this limit for applicants across the board
- Provide temporary accommodation, based on an initial assessment by an approved service provider, even when an applicant cannot produce evidence and identification immediately
- Streamline the process to access temporary accommodation by consulting with service providers and people with lived experience
- Conduct an analysis of local temporary accommodation availability, as well as regular audits and reviews to ensure safety, accessibility and quality
- Ensure culture safety is embedded in the temporary accommodation system, including workforce development for Indigenous staff and training for Link2Home and DCJ staff
- Ensure people using temporary accommodation have adequate access to trauma-informed and person-centred support
- Allow SHS to assess someone's request for additional temporary accommodation days by phone or email, without the applicant having to attend a DCJ housing office
- Permanently scrapping the requirement for temporary accommodation recipients to provide a diary of rental property applications
- Employ local temporary accommodation triage and outreach support teams to improve coordination across agencies to facilitate access for people coming out of hospital or prison and reduce the risk of homelessness
- Increase the availability of social and supported housing, as well as wraparound support, to get people into safe and stable accommodation
