A year since the Western Australian Alliance to End Homelessness (WAAEH) launched their 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness participants packed the room to hear what had been done in implementing the Strategy and to hear about current and future initiatives in both the housing and homelessness sectors.
The event started with international guest speaker Bob Jordan the National Director for the Housing First Program in Ireland who enlightened the room about the Housing First Model and the implementation of the National Housing First Implementation Plan across Ireland.
The next speaker, Professor Paul Flatau, Director of the UWA Centre for Social Impact (CSI UWA) launched a suite of documents relating to the Strategy including:
• WAAEH Outcomes Measurement and Evaluation Framework.
• WAAEH Outcomes Measurement and Evaluation Framework: Data Dictionary
• WAAEH Outcomes Measurement and Evaluation Framework: Dashboard
• Ending Homelessness in Western Australia 2019 Report
The Framework with its accompanying documents tools is ground-breaking. It is the first complete community-based outcomes measurement framework of its kind for homelessness.
The Ending Homelessness report gives a current guide to the state of homelessness in Western Australia and the important programs and initiatives aimed at ending homelessness in Western Australia.
John Berger, the Chair of the WA Alliance to End Homelessness, followed up on Professor Flatau’s presentation with an overview of other initiatives being carried out by the WAAEH since the launch of the 10-Year Plan.
One initiative has been the design of a Youth Cohort Action Plan which has been hosted by the Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia (YACWA).
Ross Wortham the Chief Executive Officer of YACWA, and Adriana Sowah, outlined the work being done by the members of the Homelessness Youth Advisory Council (HYAC). The Council comprises of a diverse group of young people with lived experience of homelessness.
This team has come together for several workshops where through a co-design process they have developed a youth-specific homelessness action plan. The group has used various design tools like ‘system maps,’ ‘journey maps,’ and ‘future narratives’ to empathise, discover, analyse and gain new insights together.
In concluding the event a panel discussion was held with:
• Bob Jordan – National Director, Housing First Republic of Ireland • Mark Glasson – Chief Executive Officer, Anglicare WA and Chair of Shelter WA • Debra Zanella – Chief Executive Officer, Ruah • Taryn Harvey – Chief Executive Officer, WA Association for Mental Health • Emma Colombera – Policy Manager, Department of Communities • Allan Connelly – Lived Experience Advisor
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