Appendix 4 Program guidance

A Place to Call Home (APTCH) was a commitment by the Australian Government to deliver 600 extra dwellings across Australia. The initiative started in 2008.  

The aim of APTCH is to reduce homelessness in Australia and increase stability. The program works to provide secure housing and remove the need for households to move once their circumstances have stabilised.

Access for households

APTCH provides properties for families in need. This includes women and children experiencing family violence, Aboriginal families and families in housing crisis. Potentially any household in Transitional Housing Management (THM) properties can transfer subject to stock management considerations. There is a cap by division for tenancies that can transfer under the APTCH arrangement.

Eligibility criteria

All households must be on an approved homelessness with support segment application. Families should also have or have quickly developed strong links to the local community. This includes children attending local schools or household members accessing specific health, training or work opportunities. For APTCH to succeed, support agencies must be able to keep working with families for up to 14 months. These agencies are best placed to nominate individuals and families eligible for APTCH properties.

Transitional support provides assessment and referral and case managed support beyond crisis. This may include counselling, crisis resolution, personal care and life skills training. It also covers information and advocacy to help access appropriate long-term housing, and training and job opportunities. Provide transitional support regardless of an individuals’ living situation. That may include rooming houses, transitional housing, squats or informal arrangements.

Homeless persons support centres (HPSC) provide a range of supports to clients. Supports include meals, living skills, information, counselling, personal care, health care, shower facilities and referrals. Services may also include providing facilities for other services or programs to offer support such as legal services and health care.

Family Reconciliation and Mediation Program (FRMP) is an early intervention approach. It helps SHS work with young people to improve relationships with family. The program aims to enable a return home or to extended family where possible. FRMP provides a state-wide brokerage service to SHS. This is to buy family reconciliation and mediation services from private practitioners, group work and other local supports. It also includes a capacity building component to strengthen understanding and commitment to family reconciliation in homelessness services. This includes establishing and facilitating the family reconciliation network.

Young People Leaving Care (YPLC) housing and support initiatives in each department division and Aboriginal-specific responses form part of the Regional Leaving Care Alliance response in each division. These initiatives help young people develop living skills and connections to move towards independent living.

The department divisions give extra resources, supplementing existing refuge funding. This is to improve the crisis response for young people to prevent them transitioning to adult homelessness. Refuges offer brokerage funds for short-term housing, specialist case management and access to family reconciliation programs.

This program helps young people to move from crisis accommodation or intensive support services to more independent housing. It provides extra levels of support, life skills training and a focus on participation in education, employment and training. Accommodation and services are tailored to each young person’s needs based on their age, experience, culture, behaviour and self-identification. The support model is flexible for diverse groups, such as young people leaving care or young parents. The main features of the model are:

• a holistic, flexible approach to each young person, linking services and providing specialist support as needed, including a health response
• developing an ongoing relationship between a young person and the case or support worker
• planned pathways and linking a young person to employment, education and training
• providing life skills development opportunities
• a safe environment linked to after-hours support
• providing a ‘moving on’ strategy and ongoing or follow-up support
• communal facilities and opportunities for training or other activities for local community and project stakeholders  
• on-site support.

This program delivers a high level of support to young people at risk of or experiencing homelessness who are pregnant or parenting. The program runs over six months. It connects young parents to relevant health and welfare services. It provides parenting and living skills, and connects to education, employment and training opportunities. The program also promotes social inclusion and access to stable housing.

The Homelessness Youth Dual Diagnosis Initiative (HYDDI) works with the youth homelessness sector in Victoria. Nine specialist dual diagnosis clinicians offer direct treatment and referrals for young people with mental health and/or substance use issues. HYDDI clinicians also provide service workers secondary with consultations and capacity building training.

These models focus on supporting young people by providing:

• secure housing
• personal support services
• reconnection to learning  
• skills development  
• work experience  
• access to jobs.  

Youth Foyer models need a cross-government and cross-sector response.

Step Ahead started as a demonstration project through Youth Homelessness Action Plan 1. It provides a Foyer-like response to help young people aged 16 to 25 years to transition to greater independence. It provides an integrated package of accommodation, living skills casework and access to employment, education and training opportunities. Support connects them to a range of other services.

The Youth Private Rental programs have two broad key aims. The first is to help young people become independent beyond the homelessness service system. This includes using brokerage funds to secure sustainable tenancy in the private rental market.  

The second aim is to develop relationships and advocate for young people with private housing providers. The goal is to reduce barriers and strengthen pathways to the private rental market.

Private Rental Brokerage Service (PRBS) assists rooming house residents and those at risk of entering rooming houses establish sustainable tenancies in the private rental market. This initiative targets singles, couples and families.  

Housing Establishment Funds are not always available for all families. PRBS aims to support them to access private rental accommodation.  

Brokerage can be used to:

• purchase household expenses including utility bills and connection, furniture, repairs to whitegoods or removalists  
• alleviate debt
• support to secure longer-term private rental
• purchase accommodation including private rental in advance, private rental arrears and private rental bonds.

The Accommodation Options for Families program (AOF) offers interim support and a range of short to medium-term accommodation to families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The aim is to reduce the need for substandard and unregistered rooming houses.

Additional Support for Families

Additional Support for Families (ASF) provides support of up to 14 months to families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The aim is to establish and maintain long-term secure housing and to reduce the need to use substandard and unregistered rooming houses.

The AOF and ASF are delivered as a single program for greater efficiency. The program has two distinct service responses: AOF and PRBS.

AOF aims to reduce how many families live in unregistered rooming house accommodation or at risk of entering rooming house accommodation. AOF assists families to find secure longer-term support and more appropriate housing options. This includes public housing, social housing and private rental accommodation. The program is generally managed by Transitional Housing Managers (THM) in partnership with support agencies. Families in unregistered rooming houses receive priority access to the program. The program also supports families at risk of accessing unregistered rooming house accommodation.

Support agencies, along with the THM, find a suitable family that is currently supported and has a homeless with support segment application. All households must meet criteria for homelessness with support segment application. These families tend to live in substandard rooming houses shut down by compliance activity. They maybe also be in inappropriate housing or at risk of moving into such substandard rooming houses.

Each funded organisation has an annual minimal target based on the amount funded. Agencies must complete requested data reports during a financial year.

The department provides subsidised housing for low-income Victorians. This support is for those who can’t access the private rental or ownership markets and meet the department’s eligibility requirements.

The Aboriginal Tenants at Risk (ATAR) program uses an intensive case management and support service model. It assists Aboriginal people living in mainstream, public housing, community housing or Aboriginal Housing Victoria (AHV) properties whose tenancies are at risk because of emerging issues such as financial difficulty, neighbourhood disputes, drug and alcohol and mental health issues.  

Households receive help to stabilise their housing and keep their tenancies rather than leave the property or risk eviction. Support workers must act when a public housing tenancy is at risk.

Rent arrears is the major factor putting tenancies at risk. This initiative provides intensive individual support to tenancies identified as at risk and referrals from the department’s housing offices. Support can also include other factors, like life skills. Where the issues relate to non-housing programs, make referrals to those programs. ATAR workers must take part in the Victorian Indigenous State-wide Homelessness Network (VISHN) meetings, held three or four times a year.

Flexible brokerage

Primary uses of flexible brokerage funding include:

• household expenses, such as electricity, gas and water bills, repairs to whitegoods
• counselling services, drug and alcohol counselling, grief and loss counsellors, dealing with stress
• life skills such as financial services, cooking courses, cleaning skills
• recreation activities, sporting and fitness activities, dancing classes, gym membership, joining community groups, culture events, children’s holiday clubs, camps and after school activities
• education and training, extended learning, language classes, literacy and numeracy, job coaching
• material aid, such as food, travel and clothing expenses
• medical, doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists
• pharmaceutical requirements, glasses, prescriptions where indicated for use by GP
• therapeutic intervention, family counselling, parenting skill courses, anger management and speech therapy.

Reporting the ITAR brokerage funding

Record and report ITAR brokerage funding spending in Specialist Homelessness Information Platform (SHIP). Generate a report at the end of each financial year. Flexible brokerage expenditure should not duplicate Housing Establishment Fund (HEF).

The primary uses of HEF are to access or maintain housing by the following:

• private rental bonds
• private rental in advance
• private rental arrears.
• You may use also HEF for the following:
• overnight emergency accommodation where there is no acceptable alternative option
• storage costs
• removal expenses
• essential furniture where it’s a prerequisite to housing the applicant and there is no acceptable alternative
• bedding
• refrigerators
• health items.

Funding is subject to the delivery of specified targets in performance measures. If actual performance is less than 100 percent of target performance, the funded organisation must justify to the department why it should keep full funding. Funding depends on monthly data from the Service Delivery Tracking Initiative and monthly reporting through the Specialist Homelessness Services Collection (SHSC) to the department and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Initial assessment and planning take place at entry point services and some specialist services that help complex groups. Initial assessment, referral and response comprises the following steps.

Step 1. Screening

Screening determines whether people seeking support are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Step 2. Initial assessment

Initial assessment determines:

• the most immediate homelessness related needs and risks
• options for safe housing for the night
• basic needs for food, hygiene, transport
• indications of need for specialist support
• risks to individuals and families’ safety or to the safety of others.

Step 3. Response

Develop a plan to access services as required. This involves planning, matching resources to client need, active referral to appropriate housing, support and material aid services and, if required, direct service delivery.  

• Direct service delivery typically includes:
• emergency short-term accommodation, with appropriate access to food, clothing and personal hygiene
• support to secure and/or maintain crisis and transitional accommodation
• support to secure and/or maintain private rental accommodation
• support with applications for priority access to public housing
• support to secure community-managed housing
• financial support for housing-related needs
• support with legal issues
• housing advice and information
• advocacy or liaison
• support with exit planning
• monitoring while the client is waiting for other services
• safety planning
• emotional support.

Step 4. Determining appropriate housing options

An appropriate housing response will depend on the options available. Factors include:

• Initial assessment to determine whether private rental or other private housing options are suitable.
• For individuals and families who can access suitable housing options, provide advice and support. This may include referrals to other housing providers, support providers or financial support.
• If private housing is unavailable or unsuitable, check eligibility for transitional housing.
• When a suitable transitional vacancy is available, make a referral for transitional housing.
• If there are no suitable vacancies, make every effort to access alternative short-term accommodation. Examples include staying with friends or relatives, crisis accommodation, private hotels or motels, rooming house or caravan park accommodation where appropriate and safe.