FREMANTLE is set to host a national summit on homelessness next month. 

The Australian Zero Homelessness Summit will be hosted by the WA Alliance to End Homelessness as part of its Advance to Zero initiative, alongside its national body. 

The WAAEH is an “independent coalition” of organisations and individuals working to end homelessness, including local Freo community support centre St Pat’s. 

Australian Alliance to End Homelessness CEO David Pearson says it’s a chance for the numerous community organisations working towards ending homelessness in WA to come together. 

“It’s an opportunity to share what’s been working, what’s not working, really help understand the challenging nature of this problem,” Mr Pearson said. 

“It’s also an opportunity to help build that understanding that this is a solvable problem.” 

The Alliance brings together communities “across Australia” who have set up localised ‘by name’ lists, which measures homelessness and allows support services to better allocate for the most vulnerable people. 

Additionally, the summit allows for advocacy groups to meet as part of efforts to drive investments into national zero homelessness strategies. 

A ‘housing first’ strategy is “really central” to ending the issue of chronic homelessness in Australia, according to Mr Pearson. 

“If you want someone to improve their mental health, or if you want people to overcome an addiction, for example, it’s pretty hard to do that if you’re sleeping rough,” Mr Pearson said.

“We need to give people a house, and then we can work through supporting them to address whatever issues might be going on in their life, including, you know, helping them back into employment and those sorts of things.”

Australia has “one of the broadest” definitions of homelessness in the world, including couch-surfing, overcrowding, inappropriate housing, temporary shelter, and rough sleeping, according to Mr Pearson. 

Support

According to data provided by St Pat’s, there are approximately 1220 people experiencing homelessness in the Freo and Perth region as of July 2024, including 693 people forced to sleep rough. 

St Pat’s Community Support Centre CEO Michael Piu says it is “more important than ever” to invest in the Advance to Zero movement, given there has been a 30 per cent increase of people needing to access support services in the last 12 months. 

“St Pat’s knows that working on the frontlines can be tough, so having the summit in Fremantle gives our staff the opportunity to hear from international and national experts and connect with likeminded people who have faced similar challenges and managed to create change in their own communities. 

“With the right data and insights into the drivers of homelessness, we can work with our partners to identify gaps, tailor our responses and improve outcomes for the people we support.” 

Mr Piu says the selection of Freo as the location for the summit is “testament to the collective work” being done in and around the city to combat homelessness and to support people experiencing rough sleeping. 

“Fremantle is also a caring community, with a history of embracing its most vulnerable and providing a safe, supportive home for people who may have found themselves ostracised or forgotten by the rest of society,” he said. 

“This is as true today as it was 50 years ago, when St Pat’s began, and by hosting this summit we are showing people who may be struggling that we see and understand what they’re going through and are working hard to break the cycle of disadvantage to build a better, fairer future for everyone.”

Mr Pearson says the AAEH is “really excited” to host the event in Freo, and especially WA, given the state government is “one of the few” in Australia to set a policy commitment to back the housing first approach. 

“At a high level, we’re really keen to change community attitudes around homelessness,” he said. 

The biennial Australian Zero Homelessness Summit will be held on October 16 at the Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle.

by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER