This game-changing fund comes at a critical time, as the 2024 NSW Street Count revealed a 26 per-cent increase in rough sleeping over the past year.
The fund will equip homelessness organisations with the tools to develop creative and innovative solutions to the housing crisis. Delivering more effective support to those experiencing homelessness, including the rapidly growing number of women and children fleeing domestic violence.
This announcement is a core part of the historic $6.6 billion Building Homes for NSW program, the state's largest-ever investment in public housing and homelessness services.
The $100 Million Homelessness Innovation fund will:
- Enable the NSW Government to develop and support better responses to homelessness, aiming to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.
- Reduce reliance on private hotels and motels by listening to the expertise and lived experience of non-government partners and frontline services, the Homelessness Innovation Fund will provide grants for better supported emergency accommodation, moving away from reliance on expensive hotels and motels.
- Support service delivery overhaul by backing organisations exploring ways to improve service efficiency, expand crisis accommodation options, trial new approaches, and invest in targeted early intervention and prevention strategies.
Accredited homelessness services and registered Community Housing Providers (CHPs), or those on the path to accreditation or registration, can apply for the fund. The Homelessness Innovation Fund will formally open mid-September and will remain open until at least June 2025.
Minister for Housing and Homelessness Rose Jackson said:
"We cannot solve homelessness alone, which is why we're embracing the skills and lived experience of frontline homelessness services. This fund empowers organisations to deliver better services and outcomes for those experiencing homelessness.
"We're adopting a housing-first approach to tackle homelessness, but we're also investing in comprehensive on the ground services for those at risk or currently experiencing homelessness.
“The Homelessness Innovation Fund will enable us to decrease reliance on hotel and motel accommodations, moving toward new temporary and crisis housing solutions that offer comprehensive support.”
