St Vincent de Paul Society (SA) Inc
The St Vincent de Paul Society (SA) was one of the member organisations of a consortium that unsuccessfully tendered to operate the City-South Homelessness services, as part of the South Australian Housing Authority (SAHA) reform agenda.
As a result, there has been a significant funding cut to the Society's Vinnies Men's Crisis Centre in Whitmore Square, which houses close to 50 men each night. Without this funding, the Centre will be unable to operate in its current crisis accommodation form and the organisation is currently considering other service models to maintain its commitment to serving people experiencing homelessness.
"While we respect the Government's intention to provide a more joined-up service for people facing homelessness, the fact is the sector already operates under a collaborative model. Most recently this has been demonstrated through the Adelaide Zero Project, which was largely run by contributions and pro bono work from agencies in the sector, many of whom have just been defunded," said Louise Miller Frost, CEO of St Vincent de Paul Society.
"What is really needed, is more social housing. Cutting funding to existing services and bringing new players into the sector will make no difference to the numbers of people experiencing homelessness unless there is more social housing for people to move into. Meanwhile funding cuts to services like the Vinnies Men's Crisis Centre will lead to more rough sleepers on the streets in the short term at least. Leading into winter, nobody wants to see that."
The Vinnies Men's Crisis Centre is one of a suite of services for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness that Vinnies provides across SA, mostly without government funding.
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