Our Approach

Why we were formed

Five years ago, leading homelessness organisations in NSW, the NSW Government, the City of Sydney, along with individual philanthropists, came together with the shared mission to end rough sleeping in NSW by establishing the End Street Sleeping Collaboration.  

As a unique, cross-sector partnership, the End Street Sleeping Collaboration was founded in a recognition that no single organisation or strategy, regardless of how large or successful it may be, could solve a complex social challenge, like ending rough sleeping, at scale.  

Since establishment, our role has been, and continues to be, to support the collaborative efforts of the whole of the sector at an individual, local and systems level with the common goal of ending rough sleeping in NSW. 

Our approach is built around assisting communities across NSW to form local or regional campaigns to end rough sleeping by making it rare, brief and non-recurring. Each local or regional campaign is composed of a collaboration of homelessness, housing, health and community organisations. The success of each campaign is underpinned by the adoption of collaborative practices in the support of people rough sleeping. These collaborations are facilitated by the use of a shared register of information, referred to as the By-Name List.

Why this approach is needed

For the first time, this approach provides a pathway to making homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring.

Without these collaborations and the use of the By-Name List, the homelessness, housing and health services supporting rough sleepers are disconnected and people experiencing homelessness are forced to tell their story time and time again to different organisations and to navigate the complex and fragmented systems themselves.

This can lead to people who are rough sleeping making the decision to disengage from services and remain on the streets. It can take five years or more for a person sleeping rough to be provided with stable, permanent housing. Some people remain on the streets for more than twenty years.

Even after being housed, a large percentage of people return to sleeping on the streets. This can be because the person has no connection with the community in their new location or because they do not receive the support and services they need to be able to sustain their housing.

The average life expectancy for a person who has spent any significant time rough sleeping is up to 30 years below that of the average Australian. The majority of people sleeping rough have one or more of the following support needs: Support for complex mental health issues, support for alcohol and other drug dependencies or support for chronic health conditions. It is estimated that less than one-in-five of the people who need these supports receive them. 

In addition to these challenges, an even bigger issue for people sleeping rough can be loneliness and disconnection from society. These can lead to a loss of dignity and self-respect, which can lead to lifelong feelings of trauma.

In the absence of a By-Name List and connected care and support, the homelessness, housing and health systems are confusing and complicated for people to navigate. Many people sleeping rough are left to navigate these systems alone, adding to their feelings of despair.

The length of time it can take to be housed and the need to keep re-telling their story can lead many people experiencing homelessness to “give up” and disengage from the system. That is, they elect to reject assistance and to make their own way in life, remaining on the streets.

The objectives of each community campaign, to make rough sleeping rare, brief and non-recurring, are designed specifically to address and ameliorate all of these negative outcomes for people who fall into rough sleeping.