16 June 2005
Federal Government ignores most vulnerable
Melbourne Citymission applauds the State Government’s move to provide a complete rescue package of $13.8 million to curb the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) funding deficit totally forsaken by the Federal Government.
“It’s ironic the Federal Government is ignoring the crisis after it commissioned an independent report the National Evaluation of SAAP which clearly indicates that the sector ‘requires a minimum of 15 per cent in extra funding to sustain the viability of existing services’,” said Ms Claire Nyblom, Manager Youth Homelessness.
“We need more funds. The cold, hard reality remains that without adequate funding, many children and families escaping domestic violence will have no place to go. Is the Federal government saying that this is an acceptable situation?” said Mr David Marnie, General Manager, Melbourne Citymission Western Region.
Melbourne Citymission, is one of Victoria’s largest youth homeless support providers and faces mounting pressure on its services.
“An internal audit conducted earlier this year found that in a two-week period, for the 339 young people desperately seeking accommodation, only 35 emergency beds were available. This would indicate that the unmet need within SAAP services far outweighs our capacity to respond,” said Ms Claire Nyblom. “The ABS data shows there are 4,663 young people who are homeless in Victoria, not accounting for the growing numbers of families that are also urgently seeking crisis accommodation”.
“A fortnight ago our SAAP Adult & Family services collected data demonstrating that in one week Melbourne Citymission provided assistance for 132 children from 82 different families, finding housing, providing medical needs, school uniforms and food and also finding appropriate employment and training,” said Mr David Marnie. ”Though many people were assisted, conservatively speaking an equal backlog of people did not receive support.”
“It’s a basic test of a civilised society to support the homeless and those facing the potential threat of homelessness. This scenario is particularly concerning at a time when most people are enjoying comparative affluence and high employment. We should be assisting the most vulnerable people in our society not cutting vital funding for support services,” said Mr Marnie.
“Melbourne Citymission will campaign alongside other NGOs over the life of the next agreement to seriously boost funding,” said Ms Nyblom.
