SHELTER SA MAKES URGENT CALL UPON MINISTER RANKINE:

STOP THE STREET COUNT OF HOMELESS

Saturday, 06 August, 2011

Media release: SA Shelter

The latest street count survey figures were released three weeks ago alongside claims that homelessness has halved in South Australia.  Dr. Alice Clark, Acting Executive Director of Shelter SA commented then “the street count clouds the truth about the numbers of people who are homeless”.

Now, Dr. Clark calls upon Minister Jennifer Rankine to cease conducting the street count as a matter of urgency and stop the next survey from going ahead.

Dr. Clark said “we need to challenge claims like the ones made by the Social inclusion Board about successfully counting rough sleeping to support better planning for and delivery of services” and “we have halved the number of people sleeping rough on Adelaide’s streets”.

“It’s time to stop wasting resources and talk about the real issues affecting homeless people, homeless service providers and the lack of affordable housing”.  Participants in the current Shelter SA consultation have been talking about:

• more reliable ways of evaluating services and deciding on funding
• heavy administrative requirements that take service providers away from their day to day activities with homeless people
• finding better ways to provide crisis accommodation

Shelter SA raises these points to encourage debate and dialogue amongst stakeholders.

Homelessness SA endorses the views of Shelter SA regarding the street count.

Shelter SA is the peak body for housing and homelessness in South Australia, advocating for the housing needs of low income and disadvantaged people.  For more information please contact Alice on 0425 060 649 or alice.clark@sheltersa.asn.au

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This website was last updated: 07 September 2011