Draft Homelessness Strategy
Acknowledgement of Country
City of Coffs Harbour acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land, the Gumbaynggirr people, who have cared for this land since time immemorial. We pay our respects to their elder’s past, present and emerging, and commit ourselves to a future with reconciliation and renewal at its heart.
Garlambirla-gundi-yu City Junyirrigam-bu junga-ngarraynggi yaanga gungangulam wajaarrgundi yilangandi ngiyaa gawbarri: yaam Gumbaynggirr girrwaa yaamangandi yaam wajaarr jalumbawnyarr ngarraynggang.
Ngiyalagay garla-ngarraynggi yanggidamgundi Guuyunga, Jurruya jalumbawnyarr, giili, waybunyjigam. Baya ngiyalagay yilaana minggiiya gunganbuwa ngayinggirra Girrwaanbiya; garra-buugili.
Translation provided by Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture
Artwork: Reece Flanders, ‘Beach Camps’
Case Study (Nic, Front Cover)
Nicholas (Nic) was born in Great Britain in 1947 and arrived in Australia 1974. He loves walking and has worked and travelled extensively across Australia. He combined his love for walking with a solo charity walk, raising funds for children with disabilities. In 1985 he sold a block of land in Perth to begin his charity walk from Perth, coast to coast, and travelled more than 1600 kms in 2 months before losing his beloved Border Collie Shep in South Australia. In Port Lincoln, Channel 7 interviewed him about his charity walk and losing his dog. A Collie breeder gifted him with a new companion, Russel, and he continued his charity walks through Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, and eventually to Townsville and Cairns.
Nic states you should try to always think on the positive side, and being out in the middle of nowhere by yourself can help your mental health. “If you are friendly enough it opens doors, especially for work.”
Nic became homeless later in life when forced to leave shared accommodation. He was unable to secure another place to stay and was living in
his car at the jetty for 8 days as he knew some ‘good blokes’ there sleeping rough and felt safer in numbers.
During this period, his health declined, and he had lost a lot of weight. He experiences Osteoarthritis, Atrial fibrillation, Type 2 Diabetes (NIDDM). Nic experiences significant pain in his back and hips from the osteoarthritis and has managed this with medication since receiving support.
“I heard that Pete’s Place is the place to get help.”
Nic was supported by Pete’s Place and New Horizons in March 2022 to apply for priority social housing due to his medical conditions. He secured a cabin at a caravan park for the interim at $220pw in 2022. He was able to get into a transitional property in Woolgoolga a year later.
In early 2024 he received a property offer by Mission Australia in Coffs Harbour and is hoping to transfer to a ground level apartment.
New Horizons assists Nic with Volunteer work at RSPCA, Aged Care, GPs, and his pension.
Nic is known as ‘Have a Chat” around the community and is always available for a chat. “I believe that humour is good for the soul.”
Statement from the Mayor
The Coffs Harbour Local Government Area has seen an unprecedented rise in homelessness, especially people ‘sleeping rough’ in public spaces.
Acknowledging that the Australian and NSW Governments are best placed to develop solutions to homelessness, the City has developed this draft Strategy so that it can be part of the solution with the tools and resources it has available. Collectively with the City’s Affordable Housing Strategy, this Strategy aims to advocate to other levels of Government, provide leadership and collaborate with the housing sector to increase opportunities for more social and affordable housing, with a goal to end homelessness within our city.
Cr Nikki Williams City of Coffs Harbour Mayor
1. About the strategy
Overview
The City’s draft Strategy seeks to work with other government agencies and peak bodies to support ending homelessness however given its complexity, there is no simple or single solution to solving it and ending it requires a commitment from the whole community and all levels of government.
People experiencing homelessness come with a diverse range of histories, identities, and experiences and therefore no one’s experience of homelessness will be the same. Yet the structural and systemic conditions that cause homelessness are universal.
In recent years, the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area has seen a significant rise in homelessness, especially people ‘sleeping rough’ in public spaces (Primary Homelessness). This is caused by a lack of available social and affordable housing. This lack of suitable housing is placing increasing pressure on Specialist Homelessness Services and creating bottlenecks in Temporary Accommodation, making it longer for people’s periods of homelessness to end.
Traditionally solving homelessness has been the role of the Australian and State Governments, however more and more Local Governments are defining their role and doing what they can with the levers that are available to them.
This Strategy presents Initiatives for the City of Coffs Harbour to work together with other levels of government and the community to help end homelessness in the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area.
Alignment with Community Strategic Plan
The MyCoffs Community Strategic Plan 2035 (MyCoffs Plan) sets out our community’s longterm vision for Coffs Harbour and identifies the community’s most pressing needs and aspirations at this time.
In a recent check-in with our community, the need for more social and affordable housing within the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area has been identified as high priority, to ensure that housing opportunities are provided for all.
This Strategy aligns with the MyCoffs Plan and will support the achievement of the following initiatives and objectives:
• A vibrant and inclusive place: we address the causes of disadvantage.
- We explore innovative solutions to affordable housing provision.
- Collaborative approaches, based on evidence, are used to best reduce disadvantage.
• Liveable neighbourhoods with a defined identity: we collaborate to deliver opportunities for housing for all
- Housing is affordable
- Development meets the changing needs and expectations of our community, and
- We have the ability to access, afford and secure long-term housing.
What is homelessness?
Homelessness is a complex issue with no single definition.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) defines homelessness as the lack of one or more elements that represent ‘home’. This definition is informed by Western ideas of ‘home’ -constituted by one’s sense of security, stability, privacy, safety, as well as the ability to control one’s living space.
While complex, homelessness is defined by lack of access to one or more of these elements which represent ‘home’ and if a person’s current living arrangement:
• Is in a dwelling that is inadequate.
• Has no tenure, or if one’s initial tenure is short and not extendable; or
• Does not allow one to have control of, and access to space for social relations.
For First Nations people, homelessness can be spiritual, because of being disconnected from one’s homeland, separated from family or kinship networks, or not being familiar with one’s cultural heritage.
Alignment with Affordable Housing Strategy
It is impossible to solve homelessness without pathways into safe, sustainable, and affordable housing. Increasingly, many of our City’s residents cannot afford to rent or own a property, and housing stress continues to rise as rents and property values increase.
The City experiences a range of complex problems relating to housing including a lack of available social housing, a lack of affordable rental housing,
and low vacancy rates in combination with a high number of properties being used as Short-Term Rental Accommodation.
The City of Coffs Harbour Affordable Housing Strategy 2024 addresses these issues with initiatives and actions to provide more social and affordable housing.
The three categories of homelessness
Collectively, this draft Strategy and the City’s Affordable Housing Strategy aim to:
- reduce the numbers of low-income households in housing stress, - provide increased social and affordable housing opportunities, and
- address both homelessness and housing Insecurity.
Primary homelessness Secondary homelessness Tertiary homelessness
Without accommodation or sleeping in unconventional accommodation
(e.g. sleeping on the street, in improvised dwellings, bus shelters, taxi ranks, riverbanks, forests, railway embankments, parks, tents, squatting in derelict buildings or cars. This is often referred to as ‘rough sleeping’ or ‘sleeping rough’.)
Temporary, crisis, or emergency accommodation with people often moving from one temporary accommodation to another
(e.g. emergency/crisis accommodation, hotels, youth hostels, refuges, couch surfing, transitional housing, Pod Villages, temporary accommodation).
Accommodation that falls below minimum standard
(e.g. boarding houses, caravan parks, living under the threat of violence, severely overcrowded4 properties, non-conventional buildings and temporary structures/ informal settlements, garages, accommodation without a formal lease agreement).
2. Purpose of the strategy
The Purpose of this strategy is to work together with our community, the community services and housing sector, the business sector, and other levels of government with a goal to end homelessness in the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area.
Judy’s Story*
Coffs Coast Older Women’s Network
“I was married at 19. I was trusting of my husband at first. He was charming when I first met him, and he was in the Army. He changed as soon as we were married and was extremely abusive, and cruel. I experienced all forms of domestic violence and abuse. My family eventually supported me to travel across states with my young daughter to get out of that situation.
We need to take down the blinds and see that people who are homeless have lives and histories of trauma and abuse, often at the hands of family members. I was sexually abused by a close family member when I was 14.
I didn’t realise until much later that I had Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD)from all the domestic and family violence (DFV) and trauma from my past. The triggers from this C-PTSD led to my homelessness. I couldn’t afford to eat or buy food. I felt invisible and like a piece of rubbish.
I couldn’t wash my clothes or look after myself. I didn’t know I needed help or where to get it. Triggers from the trauma are a big part of this. I have seen 3 psychologists and had sexual abuse survivor counselling. I am also Dyslexic which didn’t help growing up.
I first moved to Coffs Harbour to support my daughter. I needed to make connections in the Coffs Harbour area and joined Coffs Coast Older Women’s Network (OWN). They listen and support a lot of women. Lorraine works in many areas and has many connections and wasa great contact. I have been helped in my recovery through local art therapy and support groups for people affected by DFV. I have been a member of the Voice Up community in Coffs Harbour which has been going for about 10 years.
What needs to be done. We need to build more 1-bedroom units for DFV survivors and older women. I needed to be stable, safe, and on my own. I have been on my own now for 40 years and I needed my own place as I cannot trust anyone and won’t be hurt by anyone anymore. I have always been on the land, so I need a small garden to connect with. It helps in my healing.
I also needed ways to be able to give back to society, but you can’t do this when you are homeless. I now volunteer at an op shop and do their novels. I do what I can to give back. There’s no way to give back when we’re homeless, we’re lost and invisible.
Through art I get healing from stress and depression, and I find purpose and life, and it helps with my triggers, so I get better. I get light and healing from art.”
*Name changed to protect identity
3. Background and rationale
Homelessness, particularly people experiencing visible homelessness (rough sleepers), has been increasing in the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area in recent years, as seen in the NSW Department of Community Services and Justice (DCJ) Annual Homelessness Street Count.
Annual point in time street count in Coffs Harbour
= Number of People Recorded Experiencing Homelessness by year
Significantly, in 2024 the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area had the single greatest increase in numbers of visible people experiencing homelessness (rough sleepers) across NSW. Despite a decline in the 2025 Point in Time Street
Count facilitated by DCJ, the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area has the fourth highest number of visible people experiencing homelessness in public spaces in NSW.
Annual point in time street count by Local Government Areas
Policy context
There are multiple Government Departments, Community Housing Providers and Specialist Homelessness Service providers which make up the housing and homelessness sector. This includes peak, research and advocacy bodies who work tirelessly to end homelessness across the country
Australian Government:
The Australian Government implements a broad range of legislation, policies, tax settings and financial regulations which can influence rates of homelessness and the availability of social and affordable housing. The Australian Government is also responsible for leadership of a national housing and homelessness policy, including Aboriginal Housing policy. Whilst there has not been a national housing and homelessness strategy this Century, the Australian Government is currently drafting a 10-year National Housing and Homelessness Plan in collaboration with State and Territory Governments. The graph on page 12.
outlines the role that the Australian Government plays in providing around 1.8 billion each year to the NSW Government through the National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness (NASHH).
NSW Government:
The NSW Government is responsible for social housing provision, community housing support and regulation, as well as administering funding and managing contracts of Specialist Homelessness Services. The NSW Government is currently developing the Draft NSW Homelessness Strategy 2025–2035, with supporting action plans to make homelessness ‘rare, brief, and non-recurring’. This will include shifting the service system from: a focus on crisis responses to a focus on prevention, a service-centred system to a person-centred system, centrally focused to coordinated, localised service planning, design and delivery, government and nongovernment service design to the voices of people with lived experience of homelessness as part of program design and delivery.
City of Sydney Tweed Valley
City of Coffs Harbur
Northern Beaches
The Local Housing and Homelessness System
Australian Government
Australian Government’s National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness (NASHH) $1.8 billion nationwide annually.
NSW Government
• Department of Communities and Justice
- Social Housing Management Transfer Program
- Link2Home Service
Community Housing Providers
• Community Housing Ltd. (approx 200 properties)
• Mission Australia Housing (approx 1100 properties)
Specialist Homelessness Services Contracted by DCJ
‘No Wrong Door’ approach
• New Horizons Enterprises
• Wesley Mission
• Blue Sky Community Services Ltd
• Warrina Domestic & Family Violence Specialist Service
Other Non-Government Organisations
• Pete’s Place (Vinnies)
Local government:
Whilst solving homelessness has traditionally been the role of Australian, State and Territory Governments, Local Governments are either stepping up or being called upon by local communities to address the issue. This is not without challenges, as homelessness is a complex issue and Local Governments are impacted by significant and ongoing financial constraints. Regardless, Local Governments are innovating and
doing what they can through strengthening the levers available to them.
Local Government NSW’s position is that while the Australian and NSW Government are responsible for ensuring that all people have access to housing, Councils play a role in ensuring there is an appropriate housing supply for their communities, through preparing local housing strategies and working closely with a range of Specialist Homelessness Services.
Available options
As outlined in the City of Coffs Harbour Issues and Options Paper 2025 – Homelessness, there are a wide range of potential options available to the City to work towards ending homelessness within the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area. These options range from limited interventions such as ‘advocacy to other levels of government’, to direct interventions such as ‘collaborating and partnering with the community sector and other levels of government’, as shown in the spectrum of intervention below..
Spectrum of intervention
Advocate to other levels of government.
Endorse or align to best practice models.
The initiatives identified in Section 4 of this Strategy have been informed by the City of Coffs Harbour Issues and Options Paper 2025 – Homelessness, which was developed from academic research, best practice, and engagement with both internal and external stakeholders with lived experience.
Support and develop initiatives.
Collaborate and partner with the community sector and other levels of government to deliver initiatives within the levers available to local government.
Initiatives within the Strategy cover the full spectrum of intervention.
4. Initiatives
Overview of framework
This Section of the draft strategy identifies 12 initiatives to encourage and support ending homelessness in the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area.
The initiatives focus on advocacy, leadership and collaboration. This is considered the most efficient and cost-effective way for the City to contribute towards ending homelessness within its current role and resourcing capabilities. The initiatives are grouped under 3 themes:
A: Advocate
B: Lead
C: Collaborate
Implementation
The timeframes for undertaking each initiative is outlinedbelow and correspond to the following time periods:
• Immediate = within 1 year
• Long term = 10+ years
• Ongoing = will be carried out on an ongoing basis
All Initiatives can be delivered using existing staff resources and budget allocations.
Initiative
Advocate for consistency
Advocate to the Australian and NSW Government to legislate a consistent framework for Local Government in relation to its role and responsibility to prevent homelessness.
The Australian and NSW Government are both currently developing homelessness strategies. This provides an opportunity for this framework to be put into place. The Australian and NSW Government could look to the United Kingdom’s Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 which places ‘duties’ (requirements) on housing authorities to intervene earlier to prevent homelessness and to take reasonable steps to relieve homelessness for all eligible applicants.
Initiative
Advocate for Housing First
Advocate to the NSW Government to implement the Housing First Approach within the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area, with proactive outreach, crisis support, and homelessness prevention, including addressing co-morbidities (as used in the Together Home Program, which has now finished).
Immediate
Immediate
Initiative Improve system responses
Advocate to the NSW Government to improve system responses at transition points, so those exiting prison, hospitals, acute mental health units and exiting out-ofhomecare and foster care do not fall into homelessness.
The Issues and Options Paper 2025 Homelessness, identifies that people exiting institutional care require support mechanisms including increased case management both prior to, and post release, and increased access to social housing to improve opportunities for rehabilitation and reduce discrimination and risk of early death.
NSW Together Home program
The NSW Together Home program was established June 2020, after advice from Homelessness NSW and its supporters, to minimise the spread of COVID-19 amongst those most exposed. This program, which has now ended, is a great example of an improved system response that provided longer-term accommodation housing with support, targeted to people entrenched in rough sleeping. Together
Home was a very welcome step from initial emergency responses which housed people in hotels and motels, but it was also time limited. The program utilised the established Community Housing Leasing Program which sources rental properties from the private rental market to accommodate people for crisis or transitional housing, with the lease period being 2 years.
Together Home was largely very successful. By mid-2022 it housed and actively supported around 1050 people, previously sleeping rough.
Critical to the success of the model, is the implementation of core Housing First principles:
• A right to a home
• Flexible support, for as long as needed
Timeframe Responsibility
Immediate City of Coffs Harbour Limited
Level of intervention
• Separate housing and support/treatment
• Active engagement, without coercion
• Choice and control for individuals
• centred approach, based on strengths and aspirations
• Harm reduction approach
• Recovery orientated
The NSW Government (Homes NSW) reports that, “Future program funding will be informed by the program evaluation and delivered as part of a broader suite of Housing First initiatives within the new NSW Homelessness Strategy. It is anticipated the new NSW Homelessness Strategy will start from July 2025.”
The National Alliance to End Homelessness defines Housing First as “…a homeless assistance approach that prioritises providing permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness, thus ending their homelessness and serving as a platform from which they can pursue personal goals and improve their quality of life. This approach is guided by the belief that people need basic necessities like food and a place to live before attending to anything less critical, such as getting a job, budgeting properly, or attending to substance use issues.
Initiative 4
Coordinate our response
Advocate to the NSW Government to fund a backbone lead position and/or project officer role within DCJ to establish and manage a coordinated response within the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area to help to end homelessness, similar to the funding for the Ending Rough Sleeping Collaboration in the Byron Shire Local Government Area. This role could work collaboratively with the City to implement the initiatives within this Strategy. If funded, this role could also lead the development and implementation of a Homelessness Sector Action Plan and support the “No Wrong Door” approach.
No Wrong Door Approach
The No Wrong Door approach is based on the idea that clients will obtain similar information about the full range of housing assistance options no matter which service outlet they approach.
Core Principles of the approach are based on the idea that every point of contact within a service system should be a valid entry point, ensuring individuals receive the necessary support without being bounced between different agencies. i.e. having to re-tell their story over and over again.
Homelessness Sector Action Plan
A Homelessness Sector Action Plan is a collaborative approach to solving complex problems such as homelessness, often using a Collective Impact model such as ‘Advance to Zero’ from the National Alliance to End Homelessness which is being implemented in other regional area in NSW such as Byron Shire.
Collective Impact
Timeframe Responsibility
Immediate City of Coffs Harbour Limited
Level of intervention
Collective Impact is a collaborative framework for tackling complex social problems by bringing together diverse stakeholders with a shared vision and common agenda. It involves a structured approach that emphasises shared measurement, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and backbone support to facilitate large-scale social change.
Advance to Zero - Australian Alliance to End Homelessness:
is a Collective Impact approach. The alliance is an independent champion and catalyst for ending homelessness in Australia who support and amplify community efforts through driving the ‘Advance to Zero movement’, building a series of allied networks and working in partnership with people with lived experience to demonstrate that it is possible to make homelessness rare, brief and once-off.
Initiative Increase assertive outreach
Advocate to the NSW Government to fund and expand a well-resourced Assertive Outreach Team for the Specialist Homelessness Services Sector within the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area to address the growing numbers of people sleeping rough.
Byron Shire case study
The Bryon Shire Local Government Area has received substantial funding from the NSW Government to implement the Ending Rough Sleeping Collaboration Byron Shire. This includes a well-resource Assertive Outreach Byron team that work together with the Byron Shire Council’s Public Space Liaison Officers to support a coordinated approach to respond to people sleeping rough.
This has positive outcomes, alleviated pressure on support services in the community by regularly engaging and creating a human face to people experiencing homelessness.
Timeframe
Immediate
Responsibility
City of Coffs Harbour Limited
Level of intervention
New Horizons currently provides Assertive Outreach in the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area. Assertive Outreach Teams have been piloted by the NSW Government in two geographical locations – the Tweed/Northern Rivers, and the Hunter/New England local government areas. This was expanded to the Byron Shire Local Government Area in 2024. Assertive Outreach Teams are a recommended response for areas with growing numbers of people “sleeping rough” in public spaces.
Initiative
Advocate for best practice
Advocate to the NSW Government to fund a Public Space Liaison Officer for the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area for a fixed term period of least 5 years, in line with the review period of this strategy, to manage issues affecting people experiencing homelessness in public spaces and support best practice programs and initiatives across the City to help end homelessness.
The City will advocate to the NSW Government to commission this role similar to the fixed-term Community Resilience and Recovery Officer roles.
Public Space Liaison Officers
Public Space Liaison Officers (PSLOs) generally have Community Services backgrounds and work with a diverse range of stakeholders to reduce homelessness and its impact on local government areas. PSLOs engage with people occupying public space who are experiencing homelessness, using alcohol and other drugs, and/or asking for money. They link them with established services and pathways to exit homelessness, as well as improve amenity and manage the impact of homelessness on public space.
PSLOs support proactive initiatives that will help to prevent compliance and regulatory issues and homelessness. PSLO’s have been in operation
Timeframe Responsibility
Immediate City of Coffs Harbour Limited
Level of intervention
in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne cities for up to 20 years and have reported successful outcomes, particularly for people rough sleeping, as well as reducing costs and impacts on the cities and building stronger relationships across all stakeholders.
Recommendation 15 of the 2020 NSW Government Inquiry into the NSW Protocol for Homeless People in Public Spaces is that the NSW Department of Community and Justice (DCJ) consider the benefits of PSLOs in identified areas where there are high numbers of people sleeping rough.
Initiative Implement person-centred approach
Advocate to NSW Government for Support to the Specialist Homelessness Sector within the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area to implement the Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness (P-CEP): Homelessness Outreach Guide.
This initiative includes support for the Specialist Homelessness Sector to implement Action 4. of the Person-Centred Emergency Preparedness (P-CEP) Homelessness Outreach Guide to improve responses with people experiencing homelessness for and during emergency events.
Timeframe Responsibility
Immediate City of Coffs
Harbour
Level of intervention
Limited
Person Centred Emergency Preparedness (P-CEP) Homeless Outreach Guide.
The P-CEP Homelessness Outreach Guide can be used to facilitate meaningful conversations that raise awareness about disaster risks and increase emergency preparedness to:
• improve emergency preparedness in partnership with people experiencing homelessness,
• reduce the negative consequences of disaster for homeless individuals and communities, and
• improve access to recovery services and supports after a disaster.
B: Lead
Local Government can help to end homelessness through taking on a leadership role.
This includes clearly communicating their position on the issue and taking a stance that calls for ending homelessness rather than managing it. Doing so helps to advocate and raise awareness of the issue within councils and to other levels of Government, business, philanthropy, and the wider community.
Update policies and procedures
Update the City’s existing Homelessness Policy and Procedure to align with this Strategy.
Update the City’s Homelessness Policy and Procedure to clearly define its position and role supporting ending homelessness in the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area, moving away from ‘managing homelessness’.
Initiative Initiative
Implement NSW protocol
Adopt and implement the NSW Government’s Protocol for Homeless People in Public Places, and educate City staff, stakeholders, local businesses, and the general public of the principles of this protocol.
Short term
Timeframe Responsibility
City of Coffs
Harbour
Level of intervention
Proactive
Timeframe
Short term
Responsibility
City of Coffs
Harbour
Level of intervention
Facilitated
NSW Protocol for Homeless People in Public Spaces.
The NSW Protocol for Homeless People in Public Spaces was implemented by the NSW Government in 1999 and updated with a Guideline in 2012 for 12 signatory NSW Government agencies, including the NSW Police Force.
An Inquiry into the Protocol in 2020 made 23 Recommendations, including Recommendation No. 7 that local councils in NSW be encouraged to become signatories, and Recommendation No. 15 that the NSW Department of Community and Justice (DCJ) consider the benefits of Public Space Liaison Officers in identified areas where there are high numbers of people sleeping rough. Recommendation No. 3 of the inquiry also has
strong support for enhancing the work of Assertive Outreach Teams in line with Assertive Outreach Good Practice Guidelines, specifically that the NSW Government should support the critical role of Assertive Outreach in engaging with people sleeping rough, and the need for quality and consistency in practice. This recommendation does however recognise that Assertive Outreach activities extend beyond the funded remit of a number of signatory agencies. In 2022 an Implementation Guide for the Protocol was developed by the NSW Government to assist in its implementation in local council areas and to improve practice for NSW agencies.
Initiative
10
Clarify our role
Lead the narrative on the City’s website, detailing the City’s role in homelessness, what the City is currently doing and what the City plans to do, as well as information about where to get help and what the local community can do to help end homelessness.
Short
Timeframe Responsibility
Facilitated
C: Collaborate
The local Specialist Homelessness Sector has a reputation amongst stakeholders for being collaborative and connected, through groups such as the District Housing Implementation Group and the Coffs Coast Housing Partnership Group. Through contacts and collaboration, local councils are well equipped to paint the picture of housing stress and homelessness in their own area. With this knowledge, councils can see the places where early intervention is possible, provide the correct support and assist in stopping the flow of homelessness.
Initiative
Build partnerships
Participate in local housing interagencies, such as the Coffs Coast Housing Partnership Group, the District Housing Implementation Group, as well as the NSW Government Housing and Health Agreement, supporting a “No Wrong Door” approach for people experiencing homelessness.
Initiative
12
Innovate for better outcomes
Undertake a research project to investigate the true cost of homelessness issues for the City and investigate how these funds could be redirected and better spent on homelessness prevention such as funding for a Public Space Liaison Officer position/s. 11
Analysing this data will help the City to understand the severity of the issue, the budget spent on responding to homelessness in our communities and if needed, to innovate for better outcomes and redirect or seek funding for targeted initiatives.
The City will advocate to the NSW Government to commission this role similar to the Community Resilience and Recovery Officer roles.
Timeframe Responsibility
Short term City of Coffs Harbour
Level of intervention
Facilitated
Short term
Timeframe Responsibility
City of Coffs
Harbour
Level of intervention
Direct
5. Monitoring, Reporting and Review
Monitoring
It is important that the implementation of the Strategy is monitored to track progress and to determine its effectiveness and/or the degree to which it achieves its aim. Monitoring will be the responsibility of the Local Planning Section.
Reporting
Reporting on the implementation of the Strategy will be provided through the City’s Integrated Planning and Reporting Framework (Delivery Program and Operational Plan reporting).
The Operational Plan is the City’s annual plan that lists projects and activities to be undertaken in that year to achieve the Delivery Program.
The Delivery Program outlines the City’s commitments and focus areas over a fouryear period that are intended to deliver on the objectives and outcomes the community has outlined in the Community Strategic Plan. Reporting will be the responsibility of the Local Planning Section.
Review
A review of the Strategy will be commenced within 5 years of the Strategy’s adoption to determine its effectiveness and/or the degree to which it achieves its aim. Monitoring will be the responsibility of the Local Planning Section.
City
coffs.council@chcc.nsw.gov.au
www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au
