Property Council supports Homelessness Week – 7-13 August 2017
Every night in WA around 10,000 people experience homelessness, and another 7,000 are living in insecure accommodation, one step away from falling into homelessness. This year Property Council member, Shelter WA, hosted Homelessness Week between 7-13 August to raise awareness of this issue. Shelter WA and others are working to change the rhetoric about how Western Australian’s think about homelessness.
The 2017 Homelessness Week theme is ‘Let’s end homelessness, not just manage it’. People do not choose to be homeless. Many factors can lead to homelessness, including poverty, domestic violence, mental illness, and unexpected life events.
The reality is that homelessness often happens due to unforeseen circumstance which is compounded when people do not have access to the resources required to assist them and possibly prevent it. Homelessness is an outcome of a failed housing system. It should be understood the actions of all people involved in developing and managing housing, has long lasting impacts on people’s lives, especially the most vulnerable. The property sector has a key role to plan in ending homelessness through the provision of appropriate, diverse, secure, and affordable housing options, both for purchase and rent.
There are many tangible actions you can make for to support the goals of Homelessness Week 2017:
- Raise awareness of homelessness using #endhomelessnessWA on social media
- Have conversations with your friends, family, or colleagues to shift the perception around homelessness
- Give a family that has experienced homelessness the dignity of having essential items for their home by donating to the ‘ lives homes’ project through www.shelterwa.org.au/donate
- Consider how your business can deliver greater housing diversity for people on low and very low incomes – this could be through the provision of more diverse dwellings which provides greater housing choice, building lower cost rentals, or making current rentals more secure and affordable to lower income households