http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/rudds-homeless-vow-ambitious/story-e6frg6nf-1111118383030
THE Salvation Army has labelled the Rudd Government’s promise to halve the number of homeless people by 2020 as “overly ambitious”, comparing it to Bob Hawke’s promise that no Australian child would live in poverty by 1990.
The Salvos also attacked Labor for failing to consult widely on its plans to spend more than $1.2 billion to build new housing and increase services to prevent homelessness. A spokesman said the announcement had been rushed and key agencies, including itself, were left out of the loop.
He described the aim to halve homelessness by 2020 as “akin to Bob Hawke’s much-ridiculed claim he would eliminate child poverty in Australia”.
The spokesman said many of the state-based issues contributing to homelessness – including the poor quality of mental health services – had not been addressed.
The funding is the first stage in a plan to halve homelessness and boost accommodation by 2020, and comes on top of the Government’s $6.1 billion affordable housing program.
Kevin Rudd, with Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek, yesterday launched a white paper on homelessness, The Road Home.
Labor will spend more than $1.2billion over the next four years – $800 million for support services for the homeless and $400 million on accommodation.
About 105,000 people are homeless each night in Australia, with 16,000 of them sleeping rough on the streets. Some of the new funding will help 9000 children at risk of homelessness to stay with their families and provide early intervention services for 2250 families. About 2700 additional homes will be built for people at risk of homelessness, and 4200 more will be built in remote indigenous communities.
Many groups however, including Mission Australia, St Vincent de Paul and the Brotherhood of St Laurence, applauded the Government’s emphasis on early prevention and better services.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister mingled with homeless people at the Mission Australia Centre in Sydney before launching the white paper.
The centre is regarded as a state-of-the-art facility for homeless people because of its multi-disciplinary approach, helping people with their mental, medical, dental, drug and alcohol problems at the same time as encouraging them back into the workforce and into settled accommodation.
Mr Rudd then announced his Government’s commitment to increase funding by 55 per cent, including churning $800 million into homelessness services. “I would hate to count the number of reports on homelessness there have been over the years,” he said. “A country like this should not have this problem. It’s time we had a decent solution.”
Many groups dealing with the homeless backed the Government’s plans. John Falzon, chief executive of the St Vincent de Paul Society, said the fact that homelessness had not been tackled seriously in the past was a national scandal: “This announcement is an extremely welcome change of direction.”
The chief executive of Homelessness NSW, Sue Cripps, said the scheme was bold and aspirational: “It is not going to be easy, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a difference.”
Mission Australia called yesterday’s announcement the most significant development in homeless policy in almost 25 years.