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The lack of a stable home can make it very difficult to find and maintain employment. According to the 2015 report 'Supporting homeless people into work', just seven per cent of the people that charity St Mungo's Broadway works with are in employment, while just two per cent of Crisis' clients are in full time work and five per cent are in part time work.

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Having a job can be a crucial factor in being able to break free from the cycle of homelessness.

But despite this well-known link, few studies have considered how homelessness affects people getting a job - and separate to this - keeping their job.

Homeless people face multiple challenges when it comes to finding, and keeping, a job. Picture: Getty Images

My research finds that homeless people who are employed are significantly more likely to leave their job compared to the non-homeless people.

My working paper examines data from Journeys Home, a large-scale, national survey of disadvantaged Australians, which was launched in 2011 and concluded in 2014, who were either homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless.

The Australians stuck below the poverty line

The overall rate of employment among Journeys Home respondents was very low. Just 27 per cent of all those surveyed were employed - but for those who were homeless - only 19 per cent were employed.

The survey also showed that homeless people were significantly more likely to leave their work, compared with the rest of the respondents. Around 28 per cent of non-homeless people surveyed left their work, compared with 40 per cent of the homeless people surveyed.

However, there was no significant difference in the job entry rates between homeless and non-homeless respondents in the Journey Home survey.

harder to find, and keep work

Homeless people face multiple challenges when it comes to finding, and keeping, a job.

This can include the stigma associated with being homeless, a greater difficulty in maintaining hygiene, a lack of proper time structure and frequent moves. These factors make it very difficult for homeless people to find and stay in work.

In addition, many people struggling with homelessness often also struggle with other factors including low education, high levels of mental stress, poor physical health, problematic drug use, low self-esteem, poor ability to cope with stressful life events, and difficult family environments.

Homeless people are significantly more likely to leave their job than non-homeless people. Picture: Michael Coghlan/Flickr

Some of these challenges are likely to affect staying in a job more than finding one. For example, a low level of education may matter more for finding a job than maintaining a job, while a person's poor health, drug use or poor ability to cope with stressful situations might impact how likely they are to stay in their job.

My analysis shows this could be the case. When I account for physical and mental health, drug use, family characteristics and other personal characteristics such as low self-esteem, poor ability to cope with stressful life events, and difficult family environments, the association between homelessness itself and the difficulty keeping employment disappears.

Homelessness in the World's Most Liveable city

Supporting better work outcomes

In 2015-16, the Australian, state and territory governments spent more than $750 million on services for homeless people, including help with finding employment .

Focusing on interventions that address housing problems alone will not improve employment outcomes for homeless people.

My colleague Professor Nick Haslam from the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, says this research shines light on the complex reasons why homeless people often have poor employment outcomes.

"One of the most valuable findings of this research is that homelessness impairs people's capacity to stay employed more than it affects their capacity to gain employment in the first place," he told me.

"That is significant because it shows how important it is to consider psychological factors for maintaining employment among the homeless, and how although providing secure housing is vital, it is unlikely to be sufficient to improve work outcomes for them."

Homelessness impairs people's capacity to stay employed more than it affects their capacity to gain employment. Picture: Tom Parsons/Unsplash

I agree that a more effective approach would be to address the complex range of personal, psychological, and social problems experienced by this vulnerable population. This would help them retain their jobs, achieve stable employment , and potentially as a result - stable housing.

Providing homeless job seekers and employees with more targeted support from job agencies would help them not only find, but also maintain jobs.

Approaches like this could include interventions like improving health outcomes, providing skill training, enrolling in confidence building programs, or rehabilitation resources.

Disadvantage, family breakdown and homelessness

Learning from our neighbours

A similar approach called the Investment Approach to welfare has been successful in New Zealand since 2011.

It involves identifying the disadvantaged people who are most likely to remain on income support for long periods of time and intervening early with targeted support to improve their employment outcomes and prevent long-term dependence on income support.

The New Zealand government's assessment of the approach in 2015 showed positive results particularly in improving employment outcomes for disadvantaged jobseekers, youth and single parents.

The program resulted in a reduction in the future welfare liability and spending of around $2.2 billion New Zealand dollars between June 2014 and June 2015.

A more holistic approach like this could also work in Australia. It could lead to improved provision of resources, as well as freeing up more resources to address the complex challenges facing disadvantaged people such as homeless and achieve sustainable work outcomes for them.

While this might be costly in the short term, in the long run, improved job retention amongst the homeless would have far-reaching benefits.
This worki ng paper is written under the supervision of Professor David Ribar and Professor Jenny Williams. It uses data collected from the Journeys Home project, a longitudinal survey-based study managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research on behalf of the Australian Government's Department of Social Services (DSS). The findings and views reported in this paper are solely those of the author, and they should not be attributed to either DSS or the Melbourne Institute.
Banner image: Pixabay

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Neha SwamiPhD candidate, Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, University of Melbourne

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Professor Nick HaslamSchool of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne

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The grim cycle of homelessness and unemployment

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Having a job can be a crucial factor in being able to break free from the cycle of homelessness. But despite this well-known link, few studies have considered how homelessness affects people getting a job - and separate to this - keeping their job.

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Updated statistics released by the ABS yesterday show that 28,600 people experiencing homelessness in Australia are working full-time. That's 16.5 percent of all people experiencing homelessness.

The figures also show that more than one in three people aged over 15 experiencing homelessness are employed in some capacity. That's 61,500 people in some kind of work whose wages don't even pay enough to put a roof over their head.

Nearly half the homeless population - 45.6 percent - is either in work or looking for work. And the unemployment rate for people experiencing homelessness is 22.5 percent.

According to the 2016 census, homelessness has jumped by more than 16 percent in the 5 years from 2011 to 2016. The worst affected group is people between 19 and 34.
Quotes attributable to ACTU Secretary Sally McManus:
"We need a living wage. We need to change the rules so that working a full-time job doesn't leave you homeless.

"It is appalling that in a wealthy, prosperous country like Australia, nearly 30,000 can work full-time jobs but not earn enough to afford basics like housing.

"This release shows how badly we need to make the minimum wage a living wage that can pay for the basics of life for working people and their families."

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Nearly thirty thousand working full-time but homeless

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Updated statistics released by the ABS yesterday show that 28,600 people experiencing homelessness in Australia are working full-time. That's 16.5 percent of all people experiencing homelessness. The figures also show that more than one in three people aged over 15 experiencing homelessness are employed in some capacity.

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Homeless service providers say the Covid-19 crisis has created an unparalleled opportunity to end rough sleep in Australia, and are calling on state and federal governments to take immediate action.

In the early weeks of the pandemic, most states and territories made the unprecedented move to get the rough sleepers off the streets and into hotel and motel accommodation in order to protect them, and the community, from the virus.

More than 5,000 people were placed in accommodation across the capital cities.

While Australia has nearly 120,000 people experiencing homelessness, according to the most recent census, only around 8,200 are rough sleepers, meaning the hotel quarantine program provided shelter for more than 60% of this population.
'It sucks': homeless Victorians asked to help pay for lockdown hotels
However this accommodation is temporary and, as restrictions ease, state governments have been left with a choice: invest heavily in social housing or send thousands back on to the street in the middle of winter.

"We will see rough sleeping increase if the government doesn't do something about social housing," said Karyn Walsh, the chief executive of the Micah Projects in Queensland.

Graham Brown, the chief executive of Baptist Care South Australia, said it was imperative to act now.

"There is no better time than right now. We have a jump-start," he said.

"We could actually stabilise these people. The people that would have been sleeping rough have been able to sleep safely without worry. They are better able to engage with case management. When people are in crisis they can't think long term, but when they don't have the fear and anxiety of where they are going to sleep, they can take steps towards grasping life opportunities.

"This should be used as a way to stimulate the economy."

Some states have already announced funding to help provide permanent accommodation for rough sleepers.

New South Wales is putting up $36m to secure homes from the private rental market for several hundred of those in hotel accommodation, and to provide them with access to services.

While this will not guarantee housing for all 1,200 people who were accommodated in hotels in NSW, it is a significant boost to the state's previous programs which only placed 200 rough sleepers in accommodation each year.

"Throughout the Covid-19 response, we've worked hard to keep rough sleepers safe. Now we're working to get them into homes with the support they need to rebuild their lives," said NSW communities minister Gareth Ward.

"The response will be intensive and pack many months of work into just weeks as we strive to transition people from temporary accommodation into secure housing."

The Queensland housing minister, Mick de Brenni, has suggested the government would continue to support the rough sleepers, but no announcements have been made.

"Hotel/motel accommodation was used as an immediate response, and ultimately, we will use this as an opportunity to support these Queenslanders into suitable, permanent accommodation," he told the ABC.

While Victoria is yet to announce any specific longer-term housing options for those currently in hotels, last week it invested another $9.8m to keep the hotel housing system in operation until at least the end of July.

"We have no reason not to be hopeful," said Jenny Smith, the chief executive of the Victorian Council for Homeless Persons.

The ACT has provided extra funding in order to fast-track a 2019 program to house those experiencing chronic homelessness, so far finding permanent accommodation for 21 people with 11 homes still available.

The Northern Territory have been slower to act, with no funding specifically allocated so far.

Western Australia's response to rough sleeping during the height of the pandemic was minimal, with 40 rough sleepers housed in a converted recreational centre and a trial placing 30 morein hotels. This trail had strict self-isolating requirements attached and the program was abandoned after more than half the recipients dropped out.

But this week the WA government announced it was accelerating its "Housing First Homelessness Initiative", an investment of $34.5m. The five-year program will mean 130 individuals or families are housed each year.

The future of the more than 300 South Australian rough sleepers is still somewhat unclear.

The SA premier announced a $20m homelessness prevention fund before the pandemic, and while the government is seeking expressions of interest from service providers for the first $6m of that funding it's unclear how much will be used specifically to house rough sleepers.

WA, ACT, Victoria and Tasmania have allocated hundreds of millions in funding to build more public housing units, but David Pearson, the chief executive of the Australian Alliance to End Homelessness, said this was not targeted enough to end rough sleeping.

"Public housing gets allocated on a really ad hoc basis ... particularly for rough sleepers. Because of the chronic nature of what is happening, they are actually deprioritised because they're too hard to deal with. It's equivalent to you walking into an emergency department and the nurse goes 'Right, I'm gonna take on the stubbed toe over the person having cardiac arrest because I'm having a bad day'," Pearson said.
Rents fall as landlords struggle to fill vacant properties during Australia's coronavirus crisis
The alliance has called for the commonwealth to invest $49.4m to provide subsided rental housing for 2,500 of the 5,000 people in hotels.

Pearson said Australia should be aiming for "functional zero" rough sleeping, where public housing becomes available at the same rate people enter homelessness.

"It costs us more in health costs, in policing costs, in emergency accommodation costs to continue to leave them sleeping rough than it does to provide them permanent supportive housing, and it's just nuts that we don't do it," he said.

"We have got 8,000 people sleeping rough, we just sheltered 5,000. It is an eminently achievable goal."
Topics

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Homelessness: can the Covid-19 crisis help end rough sleeping in Australia for good?

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Homeless service providers say the Covid-19 crisis has created an unparalleled opportunity to end rough sleep in Australia, and are calling on state and federal governments to take immediate action. In the early weeks of the pandemic, most states and territories made the unprecedented move to get the rough sleepers off the streets and into hotel and motel accommodation in order to protect them, and the community, from the virus.

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In the days before the coronavirus shutdown took effect, a massive operation was underway in Australia's capital cities - to get more than 7,000 homeless people off the streets and into rooms in hotels, motels and empty student accommodation.

Steve Coard said getting housing took him from rock bottom to being back on the social ladder

Housing advocates say the hotel program should be made permanent after the pandemic

Taking care of the homeless is cheaper if they have accommodation

"I'm not aware of it happening on this scale before," said Jenny Smith, the chair of Homelessness Australia.

It was an emergency measure.

But it's also been wildly successful at solving a problem that for years has seemed impossible to crack - getting long-term rough sleepers off the streets, into permanent accommodation and with a chance to rebuild their lives.

"The silver lining in the pandemic is that we've got these people in our grasp for the first time," said Bevan Warner, the CEO of Launch Housing in Melbourne.

"It's shown that homelessness is solvable. For the first time, we've got an opportunity to work with them from rough sleeping into a permanent home and a good life."

The numbers are remarkable.

In New South Wales, 100 people have been successfully transitioned off the streets into permanent accommodation since April - in a state that usually only manages around 200 in a year.

In South Australia, Neami National is placing around six people a day - well above its usual rate of around 11 a month.

The difference is that for the first time, social workers are not trying to help clients who are constantly on the move.

"If we go back to their sleep site, they may not be there and you may not see them again for months," said Launch Housing outreach worker Dana McGrory.

"They can be really hard to get your hands on."

Getting housed a 'mind-blowing' experience

Steven Coard was one of them. At nearly 50, he's been sleeping rough for most of his adult life.

"What an amazing transformation - from being at rock bottom, to back on the social ladder," he said.

"I thought we were going to be left out here to deal with it ourselves.

"All of a sudden, we're all being housed. It's a very mind-blowing experience."

But now, as COVID-19 restrictions ease across the country, homelessness agencies are deeply worried about going back to the status quo.

"We've got 1,000 people off the streets because we know that was the right thing to do," said Brownyn Pike, a former Victorian Minister for Housing and current CEO of Uniting Vic-Tas.

"If we can do it, and we can do it effectively, why can't we make it a permanent state?

"There is plenty of student accommodation that is available.

"And then what we have to do is provide the connected supports - to help people deal with their drug and alcohol issues, mental health and childhood trauma issues. A lot of those reasons why people are on the street in the first place."

Housing the homeless is cheaper

And that, says Bevan Warner, is why it is a cheaper model than leaving people on the street.

"It costs more in police call-outs, and having doctors and nurses treat people in emergency wards, than it does to provide people with a home," he said.

"With the 1,000 clients that we have currently in emergency accommodation, we'd be saving $15 million a year."

University of Queensland study

The community saved $13,100 annually per tenant

Health savings: $832,335

Criminal justice savings: $122,904

Homelessness services: $169,364

Those numbers are backed up by a 2015 University of Queensland study that calculated savings of more than $13,000 a year for each homeless person taken off the street, because they had fewer health problems and less trouble with the law.

They also manage to hang on to their belongings - something 19-year-old Raevyn says is impossible on the street.

He had been sleeping rough for the past four years until he was approached by Dana McGrory outside Melbourne Central in March.

"I definitely was not expecting someone to kind of just pop out of nowhere saying - hey, you can have a hotel," he said.

"I've lost a lot of stuff. A lot of people get robbed by other street people. And with it being winter now, the temperatures are probably going to go below zero. I've slept in those sort of climates. It's not fun."

A roof over their heads is just the start

Homelessness agencies are now lobbying state governments hard to keep the program going after restrictions are lifted.

"Are we going to turf these 7,000 people out of these hotel rooms and back onto our winter streets?" asked Jenny Smith.

The answer to that is probably not.

Homeless asked to co-pay for crisis accommodation

While no state government has yet committed to continuing the program, nor have they indicated they plan to wind it up.

Some, like New South Wales and Queensland, are sounding decidedly positive about keeping it going.

"Our intense work since the beginning of April has resulted in many people sleeping rough accepting the offer of temporary accommodation for the first time in their lives," said NSW Housing Minister Gareth Ward.

"While this is a positive outcome, now that these people have a roof over their head and a safe place to stay, we want to work with them to plan for the future and, where we can, assist them to secure a safe and stable home."

Queensland Housing Minister Mick de Brenni said supporting Queenslanders "does not end with giving them a roof over their head, in fact, that is just where it starts".

"Hotel/motel accommodation was used as an immediate response, and ultimately, we will use this as an opportunity to support these Queenslanders into suitable, permanent accommodation," he said.

Launch Housing CEO Bevan Warner says it is the "right thing to do".

"It's cheaper to get people a home. It'll save money on police call-outs, and treating people on emergency wards," he said.

"Homeless is not an identity. It's an experience. And if we can make it a short experience, and one that doesn't reoccur, we can reduce the human toll and of course, the cost to the taxpayer."

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The pandemic program that's unexpectedly solving the homelessness crisis

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Steve Coard has been living on the streets for most of his 50 years and says getting somewhere to stay during the coronavirus pandemic was a "mind-blowing" experience. Now, housing advocates want to continue the program of giving rough sleepers a roof over their heads.

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Homeless youth have long wait for public housing

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Homeless youth have long wait for public housing

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The Youth Network of Tasmania told the House of Assembly Select Committee on Housing Affordability that homeless young Tasmanians were not prioritised for public housing despite accounting for 30 per cent of the waiting list.

Committee chair Labor member for Franklin Alison Standen asked what evidence there was that young people were not a priority for housing.

"What we know is that in March this year, they were receiving housing at an average wait of 66.7 weeks but that was for priority young people or people who were actually homeless," Ms Horton said.

"But what we want to say is that for early investment you're going to have greater outcomes if we get them into a home, get them the support and care they need to continue on with their studies and work we will then be able to help support them to become fully engaged adults in society rather than having to be dependent on the system."

"I think there's an assumption that families will support their young person until they can find accommodation and so it does put additional financial pressure and stress on families to be able to support their young person while they're living at home," she said.

She said young people earning less than $500 a week were priced out of the renal market.

One young person with complex mental health issues who was unable to live in group housing was "now reliant on their parents who are stretched to capacity and there's nowhere else for them to go."

Ms Standen said when she worked with the Smith Family 50 per cent of vulnerable children were from single parent families and 70 per cent had no working parent.

"What we know is that did result in some young people actually ceasing their tertiary studies " she said.

"We had one young person who moved back to Victoria to work on the family farm because he just could not find accommodation.

"It did impact significantly at the time and i think it does have the potential to have more impact if it is not addressed."

The committee announced that it had widened the terms of reference of the inquiry to consider the regulation of rent price increases, with particular reference to the model in the Australian Capital Territory.

"We would support that because significant rent increases are leading to homelessness," she said.

"There is a perception that young people chose to leave home and live independently, however ,what we do know is that the majority of young people leaving home have experienced trauma or family violence so it's not possible for them to be reunited with their family," she said.

"We need to ask them what they need and that is lacking at the moment.

"We need to look at the gaps and not just plugging the holes. The youth voice is lacking.

"We need to have a more strategic and co-ordinated approach to youth homelessness in this state."

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Homeless youth have long wait for public housing

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The Youth Network of Tasmania told the House of Assembly Select Committee on Housing Affordability that homeless young Tasmanians were not prioritised for public housing despite accounting for 30 per cent of the waiting list. Committee chair Labor member for Franklin Alison Standen asked what evidence there was that young people were not a priority for housing.

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ABC Radio National

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Whistle-blowers from inside Australia's lucrative employment services industry are claiming profits are being prioritised over the needs of vulnerable welfare recipients.

This week on Background Briefing, reporter Andy Burns investigates alleged murky behaviour inside the government's 350-million-dollar "Parents Next" program.

She follows allegations that some private providers are benefitting at the expense of single mothers, some of whom are homeless.

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Whistle-blowers from inside Australia's lucrative employment services industry are claiming profits are being prioritised over the needs of vulnerable welfare recipients. This week on Background Briefing, reporter Andy Burns investigates alleged murky behaviour inside the government's 350-million-dollar Parents Next program. She follows allegations that some private providers are benefitting at the expense of single mothers, some of whom are homeless.

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Whistleblowers say some employment service providers are exploiting the ParentsNext welfare scheme

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Whistleblowers say some employment service providers are exploiting the ParentsNext welfare scheme

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ABC News

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Updated August 02, 2019 12:39:46

Whistleblowers are warning a $351 million Government program aimed at getting parents back to work is exploiting vulnerable single mothers, and even the homeless.

At the centre of the controversy is ParentsNext, a program some people must take part in to receive parenting payments from Centrelink. It is also the first Australia-wide program to allow private employment service providers to decide who must participate.

Background Briefing has interviewed current and former employees in Australia's lucrative employment services sector who claim some caseworkers are pressured to sign up and retain people who face significant personal crises, even though departmental guidelines stipulate they should be exempted.

Homeless but signed up anyway

Mel, 33, is one of more than 3,000 homeless Australians who've been signed up to the compulsory employment training program ParentsNext despite having no fixed address to take a shower or prepare a warm meal for her kids.

A mother of four, Mel's spent more than two years on Tasmania's public housing waiting list.

She was furious when she received a letter demanding she undergo an eligibility assessment for ParentsNext or else her parenting payments would be cut off.

"It's degrading, it's making us feel like we're lazy, like we're not doing nothing for our kids," said Mel, whose last name is being withheld for privacy reasons.

Guidelines from the Department of Jobs specify Centrelink could have exempted her from participating on the grounds of her homelessness.

Mel was instead referred to a local not-for-profit community provider, Workskills, which were paid a government fee just for her turning up.

Under ParentsNext, employment service providers are paid $600 for each new recipient they take on.

Mel was exempted at her first meeting with Workskills, but will be re-examined for eligibility in 12 months. She says she can't understand why the Department did not exempt her at the outset.

Despite being exempted from ParentsNext, last week Mel's parenting payment was cut off after she forgot to tick a box declaring her zero income to Centrelink.

Industry peak body does an about face

ParentsNext was rolled out nationally in July 2018. Most of the 93,000 participants are single mothers and failure to comply with any of the ParentsNext obligations can lead to suspension of the Centrelink parenting payment.

Simone Casey was the top policy adviser at the industry's peak body, Jobs Australia, during a federal senate inquiry into the employment services sector earlier this year.

Members had been split on whether Jobs Australia should advocate to scrap the existing ParentsNext model. She had previously made the case ParentsNext punished parents for matters out of their control and initially Jobs Australia supported this position to suspend the so-called "targeted compliance framework".

"The feedback I was given was that our board, members of our board were not happy with the positions that we'd been advocating and that I've been leading Jobs Australia with," Ms Casey said.

"After the Senate inquiry I was told to just not do anything more on ParentsNext. And I was really confused actually because I thought it was something that we had taken a moral high ground on."

Even though many of these organisations were not-for-profit, Ms Casey believes they depended on the scheme for contracts.

"They want to maintain their existence and they want to maintain the employment of their staff, and risks to their income undermine their ongoing stability."

Ms Casey believes Jobs Australia was moderating its criticism of ParentsNext because some members, including the Western Australian provider, Communicare WA, didn't want to risk losing their ParentsNext contracts.

"Communicare have lost a number of other employment services contracts recently, including their Jobactive contract. I could get the sense that there were financial tensions there, around needing to keep the ParentsNext program in place as it was," Ms Casey said.

The Federal Government initially valued Communicare WA's jobactive contract at $88 million.

Communicare WA has consistently received the lowest possible rating under the Government's Jobactive performance framework.

In a statement, Jobs Australia told the ABC it had softened its approach following feedback from some of its members.

It said no staff members were told to stop speaking publicly about ParentsNext.

"While Jobs Australia still has concerns about [the targeted compliance framework], it understands the need for a level of compliance," read the statement. "The key priority is to ensure a correct balance between compliance and engagement in the program."

The Minister for Employment, Michaelia Cash, also responded to Background Briefing in a statement.

"The Targeted Compliance Framework (TCF) is not punitive," she said. "Under the TCF, participants who are genuinely trying to meet their requirements but are simply having difficulty doing so are not unfairly penalised."

Mission Australia, a major provider of employment services, said in a statement it continued to advocate for a fairer ParentsNext system.

"The Department of Jobs and Small Business has made a number of changes to ParentsNext," read the statement. "It is too early to determine the effectiveness of these changes, but Mission Australia will be monitoring their implementation."

Whistle-blowers at employment service providers speak out

Several caseworkers Background Briefing spoke to believe the system was being manipulated by some providers.

One former caseworker with the Melbourne not-for-profit organisation CVGT, Carol*, said in some instances she noticed extreme pressure on staff to keep vulnerable clients in the program in order to achieve budget targets.

"It was, 'keep that person active', especially if we're coming up to the end of a quarter and we found that we hadn't met our budget in a particular way," she explained.

Private providers are paid an additional $600 service fee by the Government for every participant they keep in the program for six months.

Carol also claims in some cases CVGT actively encouraged staff to find clever ways to refuse medical exemptions, even when they were supported by medical certificates, to retain clients over rollover periods.

"You could pick at the wording of the medical certificate and tell them it wasn't enough to grant the exemption at that point in time and they had to go back to the doctor to get another one," she said.

According to Carol, she was fired from CVGT after she complained about the practices. She said CVGT told her she was the subject of two complaints from clients and took too long on smoking breaks.

In a statement, CVGT said it was regularly audited by the Department of Human Services.

"Recent audits and reviews have not identified any areas of concern in the manner in which CVGT administers this program."

Tony* is a six-year veteran of the employment services industry and made a similar allegation about his former employer, PeoplePlus.

He explained he was told to not let clients know about exemptions, especially the exemption for people with four or more children.

"If they don't ask about it then we don't let them know, which I don't think is obviously the right thing to do because it's all about giving the correct information," he said.

"We don't choose the information that we give to people. We are given information and guidelines from Centrelink and we are supposed to follow those guidelines."

The Executive Chairman of PeoplePlus and its largest shareholder is Con Kittos. Background Briefing approached him for a response, but was told he was on holidays in Europe and was unavailable.

PeoplePlus also refused an interview, but provided a statement: "PeoplePlus follow government guidelines in relation to exemptions ... If we were to become aware of any behaviour outside these guidelines we would take it very seriously and take action immediately."
*Some names have been changed to hide the person's identity.
First posted August 02, 2019 02:49:42

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Outsourced welfare agencies paid $600 per person to 'tick and flick'

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Updated August 02, 2019 12:39:46 Whistleblowers are warning a $351 million Government program aimed at getting parents back to work is exploiting vulnerable single mothers, and even the homeless. At the centre of the controversy is ParentsNext, a program some people must take part in to receive parenting payments from Centrelink.

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Dead at 45, homeless Australians - half-lives

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Gerry Georgatos - Homeless Australians on average die in their forties, not only living depleted lives but also half-lives. The Australian Bureau of Statistics Census counts nearly 117,000 Australians in some form of homelessness with more than 7,000 living on the streets. I argue that homelessn ...

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Domestic Violence Snapshot

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for your Newstart Challenge

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The CEO of one of Sydney's most crucial homeless charities says Australia needs fundamental change if we are to solve the problem.
Wayside Chapel at Kings Cross has been helping people sleeping rough and those with drug, alcohol and mental health issues for 55 years.

CEO Pastor Jon Owen tells Steve Price we need to change as a country.

"If we take a real honest look at the history of our country, our first response to any kind of social issue tends to be incarceration.

"If you had a mental health problem, if you were an orphan, if you were an indigenous person, if you're an asylum seeker in this country, what do we do? We lock you up.

"We have this knee jerk reaction to criminalise social issues instead of looking at ways we can respond and care for people and help everyone be able to flourish in this country."
Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

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Head of homeless charity says Australia needs to take 'a real honest look' at itself

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The CEO of one of Sydney's most crucial homeless charities says Australia needs fundamental change if we are to solve the problem. Wayside Chapel at Kings Cross has been helping people sleeping rough and those with drug, alcohol and mental health issues for 55 years.

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Diverse Australians living in judgement confront prejudice and discrimination head-on. The show asks the hard questions and turns the answers into surprising moments of honesty and heart-warming humour.

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The implementation of a Code Blue response is one of many options being explored to address homelessness and housing stress in Tasmania. Already operational in South Australia, the Code Blue system is activated to open up additional crisis accommodation for the homeless when weather reaches certain criteria such as average overnight temperatures dropping below 6 degrees, significant rainfall or damaging winds.

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Kirsten Ritchie, founder of Strike It Out Inc, Feeding the Homeless Launceston, couldn't believe her luck when an ad for 40 capsule sleeping pods popped up on Gumtree.

The seller of the beds is the capsule accommodation business the Pod Inn, who are upgrading their pods.

The Pod Inn said it is holding the pods for Ms Ritchie until she can raise the $60,000 asking price.

"We need to set something up urgently," Ms Ritchie said. "Because it's just not fair."

"We need people in a crisis situation to have a bed straight away, because the price of a rental is just not affordable, and people have to wait years to try and get a public housing house.

"Another winter is here. It's so cold, and it really breaks your heart that we are leaving people outdoors in this weather."

However, no one would be turned away no matter how much money they have - with one exception.

The pods are portable and easy to clean. Each one comes with a phone charger, a locker accessed with a swipe card, and a clip-down blind for privacy.

Donations can be made at the Gofundme page 'Sleeping pods for the homeless in Tasmania', or by messaging the Launceston feeding the homeless Facebook page for alternative methods.

While you're with us, did you know you can now sign up to receive breaking news updates direct to your inbox? Sign up here.

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Sleep pod solution to combat homelessness

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Kirsten Ritchie, founder of Strike It Out Inc, Feeding the Homeless Launceston, couldn't believe her luck when an ad for 40 capsule sleeping pods popped up on Gumtree. The seller of the beds is the capsule accommodation business the Pod Inn, who are upgrading their pods.

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Updated June 15, 2019 15:31:00

Tasmania's homeless will be moved into pre-fabricated units at homelessness shelters and housed in hotels, hostels and caravan parks, under a plan announced by the State Government.

Housing Minister Roger Jaensch announced the plan to address the housing crisis after an emergency meeting on Friday afternoon.

The proposal includes paying tourism operators more money to take on people experiencing housing stress, for months at a time.

"We already do it, we need more of that and so we are confident the hospitality and accommodation sector will come to the party if we've got the right deal in place," Mr Jaensch said.

Mr Jaensch would not say how much extra the Government was willing to pay.

The Government is also willing to adopt some of Speaker Sue Hickey's proposals to house homeless people in shipping containers.

However, instead of building a village at green-field sites he wants to put them on the sites of existing homeless shelters.

"It's a different way of doing the same thing, rather than building a village and bringing the services to it, extend the villages where the services already are," the minister said.

"What we aim to do is immediately secure more emergency housing stock across the state."

Mr Jaensch would not reveal how much money the proposals would cost but said he would take the ideas to Cabinet on Tuesday.

"We share a sense of urgency to deal with this issue, and we've broadly agreed on a plan to go forward that we can put in place straight away," he said.

Anglicare says extra funding is crucial

Stakeholders say while there was goodwill at the meeting, what they need is good money to fund the proposals.

"I think what we need to make sure is that the Government are able to provide the funds that those of us who work in the community sector will need to ensure people have the beds," head of Anglicare Chris Jones said.

"What we need to make sure of is that extra spending that's required comes next week.

"I'm hoping that Cabinet, when it meets next week, signs off on it, and the money will flow so that we can make sure that people will have safe, warm beds."

Using tourism sector 'not new'

Luke Martin from the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania described the plan as "pragmatic" but "not new."

"The Government has regularly paid for people to be housed in visitor accommodation over winter months," Mr Martin said.

"There will be some operators who will really embrace it I hope and see it as an opportunity to do something right by the community as well as obviously make some money and there will be some operators it's not suited for.

"It's obviously a short-term solution over the winter months."

Labor spokesperson Alison Standen said while her party supported the proposals, there was scepticism about the timeframe.

"Unfortunately there was no detail about the timeframe for that and, in particular, we know this is a time of high demand, so I am not satisfied there will be anything changing in the next week to month," she said.

"Immediate action is needed, we know that there are people sleeping rough, in the cold."

It is estimated 1,600 Tasmanians are sleeping rough each night.

Topics: homelessness, community-and-society, federal---state-issues, states-and-territories, government-and-politics, tas, hobart-7000, launceston-7250

First posted June 14, 2019 18:38:54

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Homeless to be housed in pre-fab units as urgent short-term fix for Tasmanian winter

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Updated June 15, 2019 15:31:00 Tasmania's homeless will be moved into pre-fabricated units at homelessness shelters and housed in hotels, hostels and caravan parks, under a plan announced by the State Government. Housing Minister Roger Jaensch announced the plan to address the housing crisis after an emergency meeting on Friday afternoon.

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Posted June 19, 2019 07:02:08

It is an unseasonably mild winter night at the top of Hobart's Domain parkland - nine degrees Celsius.

The silence is broken only by the last cars leaving before the gates close at 9:00pm.

But don't mistake the quiet for emptiness.

"There are another 20 or 30 people just around here," says Craig, one of Tasmania's long-term homeless.

This week he will spend four nights somewhere in the Domain and another three on the couch of a lady he helps with chores, careful not to wear out his welcome.

Tonight, he sits to eat bread and tuna at a park bench lit only by the moon.

On a typical night, Craig is in his sleeping bag with his dog next to him, attempting to get as much sleep as possible while "waiting for the sun".

'There's a lot of violence out there'

Craig doesn't leave his stuff in the bush.

"I don't trust people stealing things, so I pack up and get it sorted where I can be sure it's stowed away," he said.

Craig says sleeping on the Domain can be dangerous and last year he was confronted by a man with a machete at 4:00am.

"There's a lot of violence out there. But that comes with people that are hopeless. They feel hopeless, they feel like they've got nothing. So they turn to drugs, they turn to alcohol and with drugs and alcohol comes violence," he says.

His story contains elements of the complexities of what is being called Tasmania's housing crisis.

He is on the waiting list with Housing Tasmania and as a single man, will only get a bedsit - a room in a boarding house - making it difficult for him to see his treasured teenage daughters.

His best friend is dog 'Hamburger', whose charms are not easily sold to potential landlords on the private rental market, but he will never give Hamburger up.

"That's my family, that's my sanity. He's got my back, he's what allows me to sleep at night without worry. He's the thing that I know is there the next morning for me. In spite of anything, he's there. And I wouldn't give him up for the world."

And so it goes. The challenge for the State Government, local councils, community organisations: how to offer help to the growing number of homeless in Tasmania.

"Over the past couple of years I've put in well over 100 private house applications. I've hardly ever been given a call back," Craig says.

What seems clear is that secure accommodation for Craig will mean the opportunity to work, to see his children, to dig himself out of the tenacious adhesive grip that homelessness creates.

But rising rental costs are almost insurmountable.

"I don't see for a start how people can get themselves out of this when you're looking at a basic two-bedroom unit for $300 a week and the basic Centrelink payment wouldn't even cover that," Craig says.

Support and shelter needed for Hobart's homeless

At 8:20pm, a small group gathers in Hobart's Elizabeth Street Mall. Loui's Van, carrying soup, coffee, sandwiches and bread pulls up.

Jeremy asks for soup. He has been homeless on and off for two decades.

He, and the others we speak to, know that homelessness seems to be at the forefront of politicians' minds at the moment.

"It's good to see politicians are talking about it, but talk is cheap. You've gotta do something about it," Jeremy says.

He acknowledged the complexities of his own situation which, unlike Craig's, are more internal than external.

Help from government and service providers will need to provide more than just shelter, but also include support.

"They don't have the patience, the understanding that people need to change that brain. 'I'm homeless, I'm homeless' you keep telling yourself, 'you're homeless and you're going to be homeless for so long'."

With mate Jamie, they head into the night.

Jeremy picks up his stash of bedding and cardboard from a balcony in North Hobart where it has been left for the day.

In an inner suburban park, surrounded by houses increasingly worth a million dollars, Jeremy lights a small fire and places his cardboard, blanket and sleeping bag onto the ground.

"You can sleep quite comfortably like this if you find somewhere decent ... but something needs to be done."

Tomorrow, Hobart City Council will hold a forum to discuss what options might be available to immediately deal with homelessness in Hobart.

The answers will need to reach up and out to the dozens sheltering tonight in the Domain scrub and to the man resting beside the small fire of leaves and twigs in a North Hobart park.

Waiting for the sun.

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'Waiting for the sun': The realities of sleeping rough in Hobart

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Posted June 19, 2019 07:02:08 It is an unseasonably mild winter night at the top of Hobart's Domain parkland - nine degrees Celsius. The silence is broken only by the last cars leaving before the gates close at 9:00pm. But don't mistake the quiet for emptiness.

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As Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie negotiates to see if the federal government will cancel the state public housing debt in exchange for tax cuts, the Hobart City Council is preparing a response with all tiers of government and property developers and social support groups to tackle homelessness.

Their first priority is to count the number of people who are on the streets and homeless in Hobart.

But one man who's been sleeping in a local park on and off for the past five years says he expects to die waiting for a house because the state waiting list is so long - more than 3,000 people.

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Homeless man expects to die waiting for house in Tasmania

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As Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie negotiates to see if the federal government will cancel the state public housing debt in exchange for tax cuts, the Hobart City Council is preparing a response with all tiers of government and property developers and social support groups to tackle homelessness.

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Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie has confirmed she will vote with the government to pass its $158bn tax cut package, handing the Coalition a significant victory in the first week of the new parliament.

Lambie's vote gives the government the final of four crossbench Senate votes it needs to pass the 10-year plan without the support of Labor, which had been trying to win support to amend the package.

Speaking on Thursday morning ahead of the legislation being introduced to the Senate, Lambie said she had outlined her concerns about Tasmania's public housing debt, and had been given an undertaking that the government would respond.

"Yes, I will be supporting the tax cuts," she told ABC Radio National.
Jacqui Lambie backs Coalition's income tax cuts package - politics live
"Bottom line (is) now there's deals on the table, where I can give businesses down there and give others a thousand dollars so I can stimulate that economy and so some people can pay their bills," she said.

"I'm not keen, I've made that quite clear, on the stage three tax cut, (but) they are another five, six years away, and we have got an election in between."

On Wednesday, Lambie had called on the Coalition to waive Tasmania's social housing debt as a condition for her support of the $158bn tax plan, saying she could not support tax cuts when thousands of low-income earners in her home state were struggling with homelessness.

"There is no way in good conscience I can vote for substantial tax cuts without making sure that the people who so desperately need a roof over their heads aren't left to go without," Lambie said in a statement on Wednesday.

Lambie said the money she was asking for - about $15m a year - was "very little in the overall of things", and she had been assured that the federal government would now act.

"The goodwill is there, they know we have got housing problems down there, we have got massive (numbers of) homeless people down there, and they want to do something as well," she said.

"We are doing what we can as quickly as what we can.

"What I don't want to be doing is rushing out, saying here's the money and that's it. We want to make sure that money is targeted."

Lambie said that she trusted the government would waive the debt, which costs the state $15m in interest repayments a year, but more time was needed to "iron it out properly."

With the support of Lambie, the two Centre Alliance senators and Cory Bernardi, the government has now secured the 39 votes it needs in the Senate, rendering the support of Labor unnecessary.

Labor MPs have been divided on whether to block the government's tax plan, and the party has yet to declare how it will vote on the unamended legislation when it comes to the Senate on Thursday.

Finance minister Mathias Cormann welcomed Lambie's support, and said the government had negotiated in good faith.

"As we have always said, we are always prepared to talk about policy issues of concern to our crossbench Senate colleagues, but of course all of these judgements have to be made on their own merit," Cormann told Sky News.

"Of course we have agreed with those crossbench colleagues that we will continue to work with them through those issues."

"Today is very good news for millions of working Australians who will get to keep more of their own money."
Will tax cuts pass the Senate? The Coalition's options to get its bill through

Both Greens and Labor had been lobbying the crossbench not to side with the government, with Labor hoping senators would support its proposed amendments to defer stage three of the tax package and bring forward tax cuts for people earning up to $120,000.

The Tasmanian Greens senator, Peter Whish-Wilson, said on Wednesday Lambie would be "selling out Tasmanians" if she sided with the Coalition.

The shadow education minister, Tanya Plibersek, said there was no reason to rush the third stage of the tax cuts, due to come into effect in 2024, because they were on the "never never".

"We need the stimulus in the economy now, we support immediate tax cuts, we think immediate tax cuts should be bigger," Plibersek told Sky News.

"What we don't want to see is us signing a blank cheque now for revenue that we will have to find in years to come."
Topics

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Jacqui Lambie agrees to support government's $158bn tax cuts plan

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Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie has confirmed she will vote with the government to pass its $158bn tax cut package, handing the Coalition a significant victory in the first week of the new parliament.