Melbourne's Road Home
Melbourne's Road Home is the homelessness initiative of the Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation.
The Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation in 2008 embarked upon its homelessness initiative, Melbourne’s Road Home. Included in this initiative is a commitment of $7 million that will be granted to homelessness programs and projects.
Melbourne’s Road Home – 2011 Major Grants Priority Areas
Major Grants: These grants are each valued at up to $150,000 over one year or up to $300,000 over two years. Expressions of Interest are invited by Monday 31 January 2011 from organisations that have not previously received a Major Grant and which are focused on delivering projects designed to address one or more of the following priority areas:
· Early intervention
· Employment and training opportunities
· Collaborative partnerships with other stakeholders
Melbourne’s Road Home – Forum
Three forums have been held so far, bringing together people from government, business, the community sector, academia, people who have been homeless, and others who are generally interested in the topic.
The first forum discussed ‘partnerships’: the desire for more people to work together across different sectors, departments, industries, etc.
The second forum, in 2009, was titled ‘Their Voices’, and heard from people who had been homeless and were now advocating for others who find themselves without some of life’s necessities.
The 2010 forum, titled ‘What Can We Do To Help’?, brought over 300 people together and heard what canbe done in three areas: ‘youth homelessness’, ‘domestic violence and homelessness’, and ‘elderly people and homelessness’.
The second forum, in 2009, was titled ‘Their Voices’, and heard from people who had been homeless and were now advocating for others who find themselves without some of life’s necessities.
The 2010 forum, titled ‘What Can We Do To Help’?, brought over 300 people together and heard what canbe done in three areas: ‘youth homelessness’, ‘domestic violence and homelessness’, and ‘elderly people and homelessness’.
The 2011 forum, "Appropriate Housing in Australia: What is it and how can we achieve it?" will be held Thursday, 25 August 2011.
Melbourne’s Road Home – Alliance
Within the homelessness initiative, the Foundation has established the Melbourne’s Road Home Alliance. The Alliance is a network of respected community and business leaders, all of whom are concerned about the increasing number of Victorians living without a home. These leaders represent a range of organisations, e.g. Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI), Richies Supermarkets, Metlink Victoria.
The Alliance’s Declaration states:
‘Homelessness affects all of society, and only a society willing to join together will succeed in alleviating homelessness and ultimately ending it’.
The Alliance’s Declaration states:
‘Homelessness affects all of society, and only a society willing to join together will succeed in alleviating homelessness and ultimately ending it’.
Signature Grants
In 2009, as part of the $7 million commitment, the Foundation awarded two Signature Grants. These grants are helping two organisations to reduce homelessness in Melbourne:
Salvation Army Project 614 – ‘Melbourne’s Road Home 24/7’
This is an outreach program that responds to people experiencing homelessness in Melbourne CBD and the surrounding suburbs. The program relies on a Community Response Team – based at Salvation Army’s Project 614 headquarters, 69 Bourke Street, Melbourne.
Although housed at 69 Bourke St, the outreach team are mobile and can respond to the needs of the community at short notice.
Melbourne’s Road Home 24/7 provides for the diverse needs of people who are in the CBD or surrounding suburbs, and who don’t have adequate shelter or support. The program, or ‘24/7’ as it’s called, links people with relevant local services, e.g. Melbourne Citymission’s Frontyard Youth Service and the St Kilda Crisis Centre.
The service can be accessed via a 24 hour telephone number. The number to call, if you are experiencing homelessness yourself, or you are concerned about someone who is on the street, is 1800 COMMUNITY (1800 266 686 489)
Although housed at 69 Bourke St, the outreach team are mobile and can respond to the needs of the community at short notice.
Melbourne’s Road Home 24/7 provides for the diverse needs of people who are in the CBD or surrounding suburbs, and who don’t have adequate shelter or support. The program, or ‘24/7’ as it’s called, links people with relevant local services, e.g. Melbourne Citymission’s Frontyard Youth Service and the St Kilda Crisis Centre.
The service can be accessed via a 24 hour telephone number. The number to call, if you are experiencing homelessness yourself, or you are concerned about someone who is on the street, is 1800 COMMUNITY (1800 266 686 489)
Sacred Heart Mission – ‘Journey to Social Inclusion’
Sacred Heart Missions’ pilot program, ‘Journey to Social Inclusion’ (J2SI), helps people who have been homeless for a considerable amount of time. Chronic homelessness is one of society’s seemingly intractable social blights. The case workers and staff at J2SI focus on the underlying causes of a person’s homelessness: Why has someone been experiencing various forms of homelessness for a long time?
Homelessness can look like many things: rough sleeping, ‘couch-surfing’, unsafe rooming houses, temporary shelters, domestic violence victims sleeping with friends, mothers with their children, teenagers on their own, etc.
Homelessness can look like many things: rough sleeping, ‘couch-surfing’, unsafe rooming houses, temporary shelters, domestic violence victims sleeping with friends, mothers with their children, teenagers on their own, etc.
Taking into account the complexity of homelessness, J2SI works to equip people with the skills they need to build and maintain good relationships. There are 40 people currently assisted by J2SI case workers and support staff and the program will run for three years from September 2009.
J2SI aims to:
1. Demonstrate that a long-term, well-resourced and intensive service model can permanently end a person’s chronic homelessness.
2. Demonstrate the economic benefit of ending a person’s chronic homelessness by analysing the pattern of service usage and economic participation of participants.
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