By Nicole Katipunan

THE ACT has seen a drop in the rate of people turned away from homelessness support but there’s still more to do, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Last year the rate for people seeking crisis accommodation in the ACT but who did not receive it was 70.1 per cent – this year that figure dropped dramatically to 51.7 per cent. Last year the ACT was 11.8 per cent above the national average in turn-away figures, whereas now its 7.7 per cent below the national average.

“While this is good, it means that there are still more than half of the people seeking emergency accommodation being turned away,” said executive officer of ACT Shelter, Leigh Watson.

“The ACT Government is to be commended for recent positive initiatives – such as the refurbishment and building of new stock through stimulus package money; implementation of a new supported housing model that encourages longer term accommodation options for those at risk of homelessness; and establishment of First Point, a centralised access point for those seeking crisis accommodation.

“But the figures indicate there is still a demand for homelessness support – most of these people who seek support do receive it but it may not be immediately.”

The ACT has the highest percentage of crisis accommodation of all Australian capital cities, however Ms Watson says the issue is that the ACT doesn’t have “exit points” for people leaving crisis accommodation to move onto.

“Rents in the private rental market in the ACT are amongst the highest in Australia, so therefore this is generally not an option for these people,” she said.
“This in turn increases demand on social housing.

“Although we have a high proportion of social housing in the ACT, there is a bottleneck effect happening with those leaving the crisis accommodation being put on long waiting lists.

“In our recent submission to the ACT Government’s Provision of Social Housing Inquiry we strongly recommended an increasing in social housing stock as a major way of alleviating this housing problem.”