South Coast NSW

an update on the Illawarra End Street Sleeping Collaboration

Kim Spinks, Senior Project Officer Homelessness, Illawarra, Shoalhaven and Southern NSW

Department Communities and Justice

Kim.Spinks@facs.nsw.gov.au

Homelessness in the Illawarra is both preventable and solvable. This is the premise that the Illawarra End Street Sleeping Collaboration is based on.

Drawing from the expertise of services from the broader homelessness support system including NSW Health, SHS (Specialist Homelessness Services) providers, other support services and DCJ (Department of Communities and Justice) (Department of Communities and Justice), the Illawarra Collaboration is committed to the vision that future incidents of sleeping rough are brief, quickly resolved and not repeated.

To achieve this, the By Name List app is being used as an effective platform to share consented information and coordinate collaborative case management. The approach places the person at the centre and a system of support is built around their needs. This collaborative approach applies flexibility, individualises and tailors the support to the person, and is the alternative to the assumption that all people ‘fit’ the current service system.

The Illawarra Collaboration is action and outcomes focused and supported by a three-tier governance structure that begins with case coordination and provides an escalation pathway to address individual and system barriers. It is overseen by a leadership group who can apply higher level systemic flexibility and achieve on-going change.

Consent and privacy are treated very seriously, and the individual always has a say in who can see their information. A confidentiality deed governs access to the By Name List and, under the direction of the individual, restrictions to access can occur at any time.

The Illawarra Collaboration is taking ownership of homelessness, driving system and process change, and actively removing the known barriers for an individual to access support and housing. It is an exciting new way of working- congratulations to all those involved.

Local Community and Government organisations have launched the collaboration to end street sleeping in illawarra

The Illawarra Region has joined the End Street Sleeping Collaboration (EESC) in our goal to reach 50% reduction in street sleeping by 2025. 

Over the past three years Illawarra has seen a steady increase in the number of people sleeping rough. These numbers, based on Street Count figures, have increased from 11 in 2020 to 57 in 2022.  With cost of living and housing affordability and scarcity driving more uncertainty in the area, these figures are expected to continue to climb steeply without immediate intervention. 

The EESC exists to support communities that commit to ending street sleeping in their community, by working with local organisations and government agencies to collect person by person information to better inform people’s support needs and facilitate collaborative case management. 

What is the End Street Sleeping in Illawarra Collaboration?  

The End Street Sleeping in Illawarra Collaboration, launching on 05th August 2022, is a group of local community and government organisations who believe street sleeping is solvable in the region and everyone has the right to access safe and sustainable housing. 

To do this, finding the right information about who is sleeping rough and why is vital to delivering effective supports.  In Illawarra this information will be collected during Connections Week (05th September in Wollongong / 12th September in Kiama/Shoalhaven).  

During Connections Week, trained volunteers and community sector workers connect with people sleeping rough to conduct surveys and understand their housing and support needs, including their health care needs.     It is a week to focus on the stories and needs of people sleeping rough in our community and help them begin their journey out of homelessness.      

From the information and personal stories collected a ‘By-Name List’ (BNL) for the region is created. This is a real-time database of all people experiencing homelessness in the community.  The data collected helps to coordinate support services, inform policy innovation, and create systems change.    

The BNL is based on the principle that every person sleeping rough has a story to tell. A story that allows them to be assisted out of homelessness, and a story that can help us understand what leads people into homelessness. A story that can help us identify strategies that can prevent homelessness.    

What information is being gathered and how it is used?   

The information gathered from people sleeping rough uses a survey tool – the VI-SPDAT. This survey combines a Vulnerability Index (VI) which assesses a person’s immediate risk of harm or death with a Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool (SPDAT) to help guide longer-term case planning.       

Participation is voluntary and all participants will be asked to sign a consent form which specifies how their information can be used to support them. ESSC used a privacy by design approach to collecting, using and managing the information we hold. This ensures that people’s information is strictly protected.    

In accordance with privacy principles an individual may request to have their information removed at any time.   

For further information on our South Coast NSW community collaboration

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