Homeless Persons Week

What is Homeless Persons Week?

Homeless Persons Week is a national event that aims to raise awareness of homelessness around Australia. The week is held at the beginning of August each year and anyone is welcome to stage an event which will help draw attention to the causes and effects of homelessness.

How can I participate?

(https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/HomelessPersonsWeekWA)Donating sleeping bags, toiletries or Sox ‘n’ Jox? Locations and availability dates for 2013 have yet to be confirmed.

Want to donate online? Scroll to the bottom of the page.

There are many ways you can help with Homeless Persons Week. You can hold your own event or volunteer to help with events that are already running, or you can donate to a local charity.

Here are some ideas for events:

Awareness stalls
Busking for charity
Hand out awareness flyers (Homelessness Australia has a handy resource kit (http://www NULL.homelessnessaustralia NULL.org NULL.au/UserFiles/File/HPW%202012/HPW%20Kit%202012%20%281%29%281%29 NULL.pdf)
Find a local organisation running an event for Homeless Persons Week 2012 and volunteer to help (or encourage them to run an event)
Give a presentation about homelessness and lack of housing to students or Rotary clubs
Fundraising morning or afternoon teas
Sleepouts
Performances

You can also help support established events. Check out our events calendar (up soon) or these websites to see how you can help out with campaigns:

Winter Sleepout (http://www NULL.missionpromotion NULL.com/winter-sleepout/)\ Street Soccer (http://www NULL.streetsoccer NULL.org NULL.au/) \ The Oasis Movie (http://www NULL.theoasismovie NULL.com NULL.au/index NULL.php)

What is homelessness?

Homelessness is not necessarily ‘sleeping rough’ but more about not having a place to sleep that is your own. Many people who are homeless are either staying temporarily with friends or family, living in a boarding house or finding a bed through homelessness services. Every night, 1 in 200 people are homeless in Australia.

Why do people become homeless?

There are many reasons why people experience homelessness. The most common are:

domestic violence (most common for women)
family breakdown
lack of affordable housing
poverty
social inequality.

Homelessness can be complex problem, the result of many different factors.

See the Homelessness Factsheets from Homelessness Australia (http://www NULL.homelessnessaustralia NULL.org NULL.au/site/issues NULL.php)

How are homelessness and lack of housing linked?

Homelessness and lack of housing are intrinsically linked. According to Homelessness Australia, 1 in 200 Australians are homeless and of those, 1 in 4 are under-18-years of age. Every day, more than half of the people asking for crisis accommodation are turned away and many of those are families with children. In most cases, this is because there is nowhere for them to stay.

Australia is currently experiencing a critical lack of affordable housing. In WA the problem is particularly acute as the mining boom has driven up house prices far beyond the means of people on fixed or low incomes. Many are shut out of the private rental market so the demand upon community housing increases. Between 2004 and 2010, the waitlist for public housing increased 90 per cent, an increase the sector is not equipped to cope with. Not enough homes exist in Perth to house the number of people who need them.

Unaffordable housing can not only cause homelessness, it also makes it extremely difficult to overcome. Not only do people still have to find somewhere they can afford, but also the tiny number of vacancies in the private rental market means that landlords and agents discriminate on the side of tenants with strong rental histories.

What can people do to help?

Most charities and homeless services welcome volunteers and accept monetary donations.

Donating Online

The following organisations have online donation facilities:

NATIONAL	WESTERN AUSTRALIA
The Salvation Army (https://www NULL.salvationarmy NULL.org NULL.au/newdonation/donation NULL.aspx)	St Patrick’s Community Support Centre (http://www NULL.stpats NULL.com NULL.au/involve/donate NULL.html)
Oasis Youth Support Network (http://www NULL.theoasismovie NULL.com NULL.au/donate/donate NULL.php)	St Bartholomew’s House (http://stbarts NULL.org NULL.au/contact-us/donate/)
St Vincent de Paul (http://www NULL.vinnies NULL.org NULL.au/donations-national)	Uniting Care West (https://www NULL.unitingcarewest NULL.org NULL.au/donate)
StreetSmart Australia (http://www NULL.streetsmartaustralia NULL.org/)	Women’s Council for Domestic & Family Violence Services (http://www NULL.womenscouncil NULL.com NULL.au/donations NULL.html)
Communicare (https://www NULL.communicare NULL.org NULL.au/Donations-to-Communicare/donations-to-communicare NULL.html)
Anglicare (http://www NULL.anglicare NULL.org NULL.au/how-can-i-help/donate)
Mission Australia (http://www NULL.missionaustralia NULL.com NULL.au/support-mission-australia)
Have we forgotten your organisation? Email (susan NULL.winterton null@null communityhousing NULL.com NULL.au)or Tweet (https://twitter NULL.com/#!/CHCWA)us.

You can also go to Everyday Hero (http://www NULL.everydayhero NULL.com NULL.au/) and search the tag “homeless” to see a list of organisations you can donate to online.

Remember, all donations to charities over $2 are tax deductible—remember to keep your receipt!

Homeless Persons Week 2013 is proudly supported by: