Rough Sleepers Working Group

1. Purpose

The purpose of the Rough Sleepers Working Group is to coordinate organisations working directly with rough sleepers to share information, identify the individual needs of rough sleepers, develop collaborative responses, and use real time data to advocate for greater investment in affordable housing.

2. Principles

The Rough Sleepers Working Group will operate under agreed high-level principles. These are intended to bring together the range of organisations while maintaining privacy and confidentiality for people accessing support. The Rough Sleeper Working Group principles are:

·Person-centred practice – Maintaining a core focus on the best interests of people at the centre of decisions regarding their support and housing needs.

· Housing First – Working within a consistent framework that looks to provide safe and stable housing as a first priority in supporting people.

·Collaboration – Participating in a spirit of co-operation to create effective and efficient processes that benefit the Gold Coast rough sleeper population.

·Place-based – A database and approach that is owned by the Gold Coast sector to ensure that the local voices drive decision making for the housing needs of their community.

·Continuous improvement – The COSH oversees, reviews, and adapts the processes of the working group to ensure that they continue to meet its purpose.

3. Goals

The Rough Sleepers Working Groups goals are to:

• Develop and maintain a By Name List for rough sleepers in the Gold Coast LGA

• Action care coordination needs

• Triage the By Name List (preferably using a common assessment tool)

• Recommended people to the Care Coordination Panel to be considered for housing allocation

4. Contact

For more information: