'National Homelessness Week raises awareness of homelessness in Australia and the importance of social housing as a long-term solution. During National Homelessness Week, people are encouraged to get involved by helping raise awareness and hosting events' ...depending on where you are living, they may need to be virtual or at the very least COVID safe events.
Everyone should be OFFENDED by homelessness - not people experiencing homelessness, and poverty in general.
And while I usually insist we advocate and agitate for change ALL the time, National Homelessness Week is an excellent opportunity to get active in this space.
Every Year the Hutt St Centre offers a 'Walk a Mile in my Boots' fundraiser;
'Walk a Mile or more to help end homelessness and help reach our collective goal of 60,000 miles – ten miles for every person experiencing homelessness in South Australia.
Walk 1 mile, 6 miles, or go the extra mile and challenge yourself to walk 10 miles during National Homelessness Week (the first week of August).
You can go solo, but the best way to walk a mile is with your friends, family or colleagues. Create a team and share the challenge.'
This year I have signed up to run 100 miles over homelessness week - 160 kilometers, as it fits nicely with my training for the great BIG run from Perth to Adelaide in #2023, but any mile or more completed in support of people experiencing homelessness is FABULOUS...you can sign up here:
BUT here is a list of other activities and opportunities...
Homelessness Australia:
'Everyone needs a home' online event - Monday 2nd August
Launched by Minister Sukkar, Minister for Housing and Homelessness and hosted by the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas, Dr Angela Jackson, Lead Economist, Equity Economics will talk about her report commissioned by the Everybody’s Home campaign: Nowhere to go: the benefits of providing long term social housing to women who have experienced domestic and family violence. Angela will outline the impact of lack of access to social housing on women fleeing violence, and the economic benefits to women and the community of providing safe affordable homes, so women can rebuild their lives
This will be followed by a panel discussion including including Jason Clare, Shadow Housing and Homelessness Minister, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Greens spokesperson on housing and homelessness and Angela Jackson.
Register here:
Sacred Heart Mission:
Sign the petition
We know there is a solution to the homelessness crisis: programs such as our Journey to Social Inclusion (J2SI) and the GreenLight initiative show rapid housing and intensive support are key for people to break the cycle of homelessness.
Our approach is different - and it’s effective because it gets people housed quickly and provides long-term, intensive support to improve all areas of people’s lives, including health and wellbeing, building skills, increasing connection with community and contributing to society through economic and social activity.
But our proven programs won’t work, if we can’t get people housed because there is not enough affordable, safe and stable housing in Australia.
Unison:
Launch of Report - Sustaining Social Housing, online event Tuesday 3rd August
This Homelessness Week, you are invited to the launch of the Unison Housing Research Lab's latest report Sustaining Social Housing by Dr Sarah Taylor and Prof Guy Johnson from RMIT University, followed by an interactive panel discussion.
Tenancy sustainment is fundamental to resolving homelessness and addressing chronic housing instability. This is why improving tenancy sustainment rates is one of the key goals of social housing providers.
Drawing on administrative data from Unison Housing, Dr Sarah Taylor and Prof Guy Johnson investigated whether there are any associations between household characteristics, or housing location and the length of time tenancies are sustained.
At this event, Dr Sarah Taylor and Prof Guy Johnson will present the key findings from their research.
The presentation will be followed by a Q&A-style panel moderated by our CEO James King, and featuring some of Victoria’s leading thinkers on homelessness prevention.
CISVic:
Origami House Building
CISVic is launching a three-month housing campaign asking the community and homelessness sector to host origami house building activities, to build origami houses and write messages about what housing means on them. See some example here.
The campaign aims to influence the Victorian Government’s Ten-Year Strategy for Social and Affordable Housing. CISVic is asking the state government to commit to increasing social and public housing stock by 7,000 houses or units per year in Victoria for the next 10 years.
You are encouraged to get involved during homelessness week and share your messages with your networks, colleagues, and friends.
...more ideas can be found here:
INCLUDING RESOURCES to host / plan your own activity or event
Get on social media.
Use the hashtags #HomelessnessWeek21 and #EverybodyNeedsAHome to promote your events and share what you think Australia needs to prevent homelessness and increase housing....and go mad; saturate your socials, let EVERYONE know !
...and here is a short SBS bite... Solving Homelessness
(infuriatingly no CC options for this clip - I had to use an app, apologies!)