Macarthur Homelessness Steering Committee
The Macarthur Homelessness Steering Committee, MHSC, grew from a desire by key homelessness service providers to raise awareness of the plight of disadvantaged persons across Macarthur. It has evolved over the past 8 years to also cover gaps in service provision to those who are homeless or are threatened with homelessness.
Homelessness across Macarthur presents in a number of guises including couch surfing, overcrowding and living in vehicles and is not always obvious and there are often mental health and co-morbidity issues. The desire to alleviate the plight of homeless people has become the key objective of the group.
The services represented currently on the committee include:
- Argyle Housing,
- Hume Housing,
- Nagle Centre,
- St Vincent de Paul,
- Housing NSW,
- Human Services,
- Partners In Recovery,
- Community Representative,
- Campbelltown Council, and
- Sector Connect
The committee has worked tirelessly to achieve its goals hosting winter sleepouts and dinners under the stars fundraising to cover gaps in homelessness service provision across Macarthur. It also supports some local charities actively working in homelessness support services and helps coordinate the ‘homeless hub’ an annual event held in Campbelltown.
The committee offers financial support where all other services have been exhausted. Assistance will be given for anything from brokerage and emergency accommodation to medical costs ie specialist psychiatric reports. Every referral is assessed individually and signed off by 2 committee members. An added bonus is the opportunity to introduce case management to the client where it is appropriate. The committee has also set up a partnership with the council rangers so that all rough sleepers have a soft entry engagement point.
For more information contact Jeanne Duffy jeanne.duffy@sectorconnect.org.au