Homelessness is a destructive circumstance that people find themselves in due to causes beyond their control like family and domestic violence, trauma, natural disaster, and poverty. The inner city is seeing a huge increase in the number of asylum seekers and temporary visa holders who are sleeping rough. Their situation is especially dire because they cannot access basic government services like temporary accommodation, homelessness support, domestic violence support or healthcare. Even women and children fleeing domestic violence cannot access government funded refuge accommodation.

During COVID, non-resident rough sleepers were given accommodation and wrap around services which provided pathways out of homelessness from updating visas to gaining employment and more stable accommodation. The program was a big success, but these services are no longer funded. Specialist homelessness services report being overwhelmed with no way to help this cohort exit homelessness.

In Parliament I supported a joint request from specialist homelessness services to fund crisis accommodation for non-residents > HERE