Has the coronavirus pandemic proved that homelessness is solvable?

In the days before the coronavirus shutdown took effect, a massive operation was underway in Australia’s capital cities — to get more than 7,000 homeless people off the streets and into rooms in hotels, motels and empty student accommodation.

“I’m not aware of it happening on this scale before,” said Jenny Smith, the chair of Homelessness Australia.

It was an emergency measure.

But it’s also been wildly successful at solving a problem that for years has seemed impossible to crack — getting long-term rough sleepers off the streets, into permanent accommodation and with a chance to rebuild their lives.

“The silver lining in the pandemic is that we’ve got these people in our grasp for the first time,” said Bevan Warner, the CEO of Launch Housing in Melbourne.

“It’s shown that homelessness is solvable. For the first time, we’ve got an opportunity to work with them from rough sleeping into a permanent home and a good life.”

The numbers are remarkable.

In New South Wales, 100 people have been successfully transitioned off the streets into permanent accommodation since April — in a state that usually only manages around 200 in a year.

In South Australia, Neami National is placing around six people a day — well above its usual rate of around 11 a month.

The difference is that for the first time, social workers are not trying to help clients who are constantly on the move.

“If we go back to their sleep site, they may not be there and you may not see them again for months,” said Launch Housing outreach worker Dana McGrory.

“They can be really hard to get your hands on.”

Steven Coard was one of them. At nearly 50, he’s been sleeping rough for most of his adult life.

“What an amazing transformation — from being at rock bottom, to back on the social ladder,” he said.

“I thought we were going to be left out here to deal with it ourselves.

“All of a sudden, we’re all being housed. It’s a very mind-blowing experience.”

But now, as COVID-19 restrictions ease across the country, homelessness agencies are deeply worried about going back to the status quo.

“We’ve got 1,000 people off the streets because we know that was the right thing to do,” said Brownyn Pike, a former Victorian Minister for Housing and current CEO of Uniting Vic-Tas.

“If we can do it, and we can do it effectively, why can’t we make it a permanent state?

“There is plenty of student accommodation that is available.

“And then what we have to do is provide the connected supports — to help people deal with their drug and alcohol issues, mental health and childhood trauma issues. A lot of those reasons why people are on the street in the first place.”

Housing the homeless is cheaper

And that, says Bevan Warner, is why it is a cheaper model than leaving people on the street.

“It costs more in police call-outs, and having doctors and nurses treat people in emergency wards, than it does to provide people with a home,” he said.

“With the 1,000 clients that we have currently in emergency accommodation, we’d be saving $15 million a year.”

Those numbers are backed up by a 2015 University of Queensland study that calculated savings of more than $13,000 a year for each homeless person taken off the street, because they had fewer health problems and less trouble with the law.

They also manage to hang on to their belongings — something 19-year-old Raevyn says is impossible on the street.

He had been sleeping rough for the past four years until he was approached by Dana McGrory outside Melbourne Central in March.

“I definitely was not expecting someone to kind of just pop out of nowhere saying — hey, you can have a hotel,” he said.

“I’ve lost a lot of stuff. A lot of people get robbed by other street people. And with it being winter now, the temperatures are probably going to go below zero. I’ve slept in those sort of climates. It’s not fun.”

A roof over their heads is just the start

Homelessness agencies are now lobbying state governments hard to keep the program going after restrictions are lifted.

“Are we going to turf these 7,000 people out of these hotel rooms and back onto our winter streets?” asked Jenny Smith.

The answer to that is probably not.

While no state government has yet committed to continuing the program, nor have they indicated they plan to wind it up.

Some, like New South Wales and Queensland, are sounding decidedly positive about keeping it going.

“Our intense work since the beginning of April has resulted in many people sleeping rough accepting the offer of temporary accommodation for the first time in their lives,” said NSW Housing Minister Gareth Ward.

“While this is a positive outcome, now that these people have a roof over their head and a safe place to stay, we want to work with them to plan for the future and, where we can, assist them to secure a safe and stable home.”

Queensland Housing Minister Mick de Brenni said supporting Queenslanders “does not end with giving them a roof over their head, in fact, that is just where it starts”.

“Hotel/motel accommodation was used as an immediate response, and ultimately, we will use this as an opportunity to support these Queenslanders into suitable, permanent accommodation,” he said.

Launch Housing CEO Bevan Warner says it is the “right thing to do”.

“It’s cheaper to get people a home. It’ll save money on police call-outs, and treating people on emergency wards,” he said.

“Homeless is not an identity. It’s an experience. And if we can make it a short experience, and one that doesn’t reoccur, we can reduce the human toll and of course, the cost to the taxpayer.”

Source: ABC News