SAVING HOMELESSNESS SERVICES

BY JENNIFER THOMAS

WHEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PLANNED TO STRIP THE COMMONWEALTH CONTRIBUTION TO EQUAL PAY FOR HOMELESSNESS WORKERS, THE AUSTRALIAN SERVICES UNION (ASU) IMMEDIATELY LAUNCHED THE NATIONAL DON’T CLOSE THE DOOR, SAVE HOMELESSNESS SERVICES AND JOBS CAMPAIGN.

This particular federal funding has been provided since 2012 when the ASU won the historic Equal Pay Campaign which raised wages for community sector workers. This decision recognised that for too long, community sector work had been undervalued and underpaid, and had traditionally been seen as ‘women’s work’.

The Federal Government had already committed to lift base funding for services funded directly by the Department of Social Services grants – but housing and homelessness services funded under the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement were not included. We knew that if this $65million in funding was withdrawn, hundreds of workers in frontline homelessness services would lose their jobs and many critical services would be cut. In a national housing crisis, this result would have been catastrophic for our whole society.

Data tells us that close to 300 people are turned away every day from homelessness services, leaving many people to live on our streets. We knew that these cuts would directly impact highly vulnerable people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, including women and children escaping domestic and family violence, young people and people aged over 55. Rising rents and an inadequate supply of affordable homes is also putting enormous pressure on the frontline staff and services.

With all this in mind, we called on the Albanese Government to properly fund homelessness services so people needing urgent help could get it, and workers could be paid properly to provide critical frontline services. We had already campaigned and stopped the Federal Liberal National Party from cutting this funding twice in the past, so we hoped we could do it again.

Together with an online petition, our members working in homelessness and housing services across Queensland were loud in their opposition to the funding cut threat. Coming together for photographs and videos, the ASU inundated social media with our message to the Federal Government – Don’t Close The Door

Behind the scenes, a delegation of members from, including our Social and Community Services Industry Vice President Maria Leebeek, travelled to Canberra to lobby and meet with MP’s including the Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness, Minister for Small Business, Julie Collins MP, Queensland Senator Nita Green, Chair of Standing Committee on Economics and Member for Fraser Daniel Mulino MP and Chair of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights and Member for Macnamara Josh Burns MP.

Maria said the visit to Canberra was an important step in ensuring our members’ stories were heard and to let our government know the crisis housing and homelessness services are already facing. "It was a great experience to be able to lobby for members, however I did feel the weight of responsibility, Maria said. "I really enjoyed the camaraderie with fellow union members, and we collectively could rally around each other as we met various members of parliament."

These stories were then raised and heard by Treasurer Jim Chalmers MP who our Union met with a couple of weeks later along with CEO at

YFS Cath Bartolo. In this meeting we were able to raise with him directly the devastating impact the funding cuts would have on vulnerable people and workers.

Maria said the meeting with the Treasurer was excellent. "The Treasurer was so open to hearing the experiences of workers," Maria explained. "He was empathetic and willing to work through the issues both during and after the meeting. It was really positive."

Our campaigning paid off with the Federal Government announcing in the May Budget a $67.5 million boost to Housing and Homelessness funding for the next 12 months! This is a huge win by our branch members and their union colleagues from across the nation. Each person who took action to save homelessness services made this happen. Congratulations! We will keep up the hard work as the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement is being negotiated during the next 12 months.