Homeless help slammed
Govt criticised over plan’s goals, methods
THE state government's homelessness and rough sleeping action plan was poorly planned, lacked goals and was so badly monitored that its success could not be measured, a damning report has found.
Department of Health and Humans Services (DHHS)funded not-for-profit Neami National was late to start work and achieved just 62 per cent of its client outreach target, according to the report.
However the state government said the service did not meet its annual target because it did not start delivering services until May 2019.
The Victorian AuditorGeneral Office (VAGO) report looked at Neami and two other service providers as part of an investigation into whether the action plan reduced the incident and impacts of rough sleeping.
The report found the department’s poor planning and implementation limited the potential of the action plan to curb rough sleeping.
Auditors found DHHS was also unable to meaningfully monitor and drive performance and did not have oversight of how different entities implemented the program.
The report found a scarcity of public and crisis housing, particularly in the Barwon region, was making it difficult for providers like Neami to place clients into accommodation.
As of September 30 last year, 1354 people were on the wait list for one-bedroom social houses in the Barwon region, which had just 899 single room properties.
The report found despite these challenges, providers were assisting rough sleepers into housing through innovative means. Neami placed just 10 clients into homes during the reporting period.
Government-funded modular housing was slow to be built, the report found, and tenants were moved in a month after the units were built because staff had delays accessing keys from DHHS.
The report recognised Neami had a number of favourable programs that could be implemented more widely.
Neami’s Geelong service manager for the Towards
Home Plus program, Susan Taylor, said the service had now exceeded its targets by assisting 224 homeless people.
She said 70 per cent of rough sleepers were men aged 18-50, with many living with addiction or mental illness.
Ms Taylor said data issues led to anomalies in the report and said the outreach program had continued to work tirelessly throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
“There’s been less people on the street because we’ve been placing them in emergency accommodation (including) hotels and boarding houses,” she said. “The assertive outreach teams have continued to work out on the streets throughout the pandemic.”
Ms Taylor said Neami had now housed 140 rough sleepers in Geelong and acknowledged accommodating rough sleepers in the pandemic had been made easier because of the state government’s Homelessness Hotels Emergency Response program.
A government spokeswoman said all 13 VAGO recommendations to the DHHS had been accepted with many already implemented.
DHHS works closely with agencies where performance targets have not been met.