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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 09 Hansard (Tuesday, 17 August 2004) . . Page.. 3731 ..

often places where drug and alcohol use are widespread and are areas prone to violence and rape, especially when they accommodate men and women together. They are places where the newly homeless mix with the chronically homeless.

In these contexts night shelters seem to contribute to the culture of homelessness. Such a place—a place where people are put at further risk—is not our vision for Canberra’s most vulnerable young people. We are committed to addressing the causes and impacts of homelessness. Under the Canberra plan we have set a target of reducing primary homelessness—that is, people sleeping rough or living on the streets—to be as close as possible to zero by 2013.

The cornerstone of achieving this target is the 82 practical actions contained in Breaking the cycle: the ACT homelessness strategy. Much has already been said of the homelessness strategy. It was developed in an extremely effective collaboration between government and the community. The result is a whole of community response. We also know it was developed through rigorous consultation. Twenty community organisations and 145 people who had experienced homelessness provided feedback on areas for improvement and recommendations for future service responses.

Breaking the cycle has been underpinned by an additional $13.37 million funding allocation over four years. Nine new services were announced in July of this year to enhance the sector. These services will provide supported accommodation for families, sole parent fathers and single men; outreach services for young people, women and men; and a resourcing and development service to support SAAP-funded services in responding to client complexity. Two more services will be announced for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people after further consultation. The strength of the strategy is that it provides informed actions that respond to complex needs.

The government’s primary response to youth homelessness up to this point has been the SAAP sector. The number of young people able to access SAAP services in the ACT is the highest in Australia. The Counting the homeless 2001 report identifies that 46 per cent of the homeless population in the ACT are aged 12 to 25, compared with national figures of 36 per cent. A further report titled Young homeless people in Australia 2001-02 identifies that the ACT, per 10,000 people, has the highest rate of homeless young people aged between 12 and 15 in SAAP services. Fourteen and a half per cent of all people accommodated within the SAAP program in the ACT are young people in this age range. These figures are alarming.

Yet the fact that young people are accessing professional support is encouraging. The ACT has the highest rate of homeless young people in the country who continue with education. We need to consolidate existing, as well as build additional, professional service responses to support young people. We need to work together with these services to ensure they are provided within a quality framework that is outcomes based and able to respond to the complex needs of young people.

The government currently provides $3.64 million to youth SAAP services. These services include crisis, medium and longer term supported accommodation, as well as outreach and pre-vocational education and life skills development programs. There are 92 supported accommodation beds available to young people, 32 of which are crisis

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