A whole-of-government 10-year strategy to address homelessness has been released today by the NSW Government.
The NSW Homelessness Strategy 2025-2035 strategy, led by Homes NSW, is the first of its kind for NSW and will shift the state’s system to focus on early intervention, local coordination and long-term housing outcomes.
Developed in collaboration with homelessness and housing services, people with lived experiences of homelessness and Aboriginal organisations the Strategy outlines a coordinated approach to homelessness reform across government, the homelessness and housing sectors, local services and communities, said Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Rose Jackson.
“We are formalising and embedding the Housing First approach as the official government policy to end homelessness in NSW. This approach ensures that people have stable housing first, backed in by the support they need to rebuild their lives,” said Ms Jackson.
“You simply cannot take on a complicated challenge like homelessness without a strategy. Without a plan, your interventions are random and uncoordinated, and you can’t make or measure progress. We are changing that.
“The establishment of the NSW Street Sleeping Registry will revolutionise how we coordinate services for people experiencing homelessness. No one will have to tell their story repeatedly. We’ll connect them to housing and support faster and more effectively.”
Key reforms in the first stage of implementation include:
- replacing hotel and motel stays with more appropriate homelessness accommodation delivered with supports that are tailored to the person or family’s needs;
- developing local housing and homelessness collaboration networks in partnership with local homelessness services, housing providers, councils, to identify and address service gaps, reduce duplication and target resources where they will have the most impact;
- establishing a NSW Street Sleeping Registry to improve service coordination for people sleeping rough by ensuring people don’t have to keep retelling their story and better coordinating access to housing and support;
- developing new targeted responses for young people and Aboriginal people who face particular challenges in the service system;
- designing a system-wide Housing First approach for NSW with the homelessness and housing sector, so people can access stable housing as quickly as possible, with the supports they need;
- reducing exits from government services into homelessness, through new cross agency governance, referral pathways and better service system responses.
“The cost of living crisis our communities are facing sees more people living in their cars, couch surfing between friend’s places and worst of all sleeping rough on our streets, said Homelessness NSW CEO, Dom Rowe.
“Our sector has been calling for a whole of government response to this crisis, that acknowledges a need to respond now but also sets a reform agenda for the future.
“This Homelessness Strategy answers that call and sets a path to a better future for people at risk of homelessness and the services that support them.”
The Government says it will continue to work with the sector as these reforms are developed and implemented.
For more information, visit the NSW Homelessness Strategy 2025-2035 web page.
