Based on our belief that homelessness is a key indicator of the health of our society and that reducing the incidence of homelessness is a goal that sits at the heart of a socially-inclusive nation, The Ian Potter Foundation has been working to identify the ways that philanthropy can make a meaningful contribution towards this goal. We recognise that our contribution is just one of the many that must be made if Australia is to achieve the national goal of halving homelessness by 2020.

In keeping with the Foundation’s long-held philosophy that prevention is better than cure, and the evidence built up by scores of researchers and organisations working in the area, the Foundation’s focus is firmly on supporting preventive practices and high calibre organisations that have a strong track record in the area.

Our opportunity is to help them to introduce and implement innovative programs that act as ‘circuit breakers’ and provide an alternative future for children and families that are at risk of homelessness.

Through the first sweep of the new Expression of Interest process in this area of our Community Wellbeing Program, we have identified three projects that have the potential to end homelessness for some people at least, and in the process, to provide models that could be replicated for the benefit of more. At the Foundation’s Board Meeting on April 29, $1.76 million was granted to three organisations to assist with the implementation of these ambitious new projects. The Foundation will evaluate and review the effectiveness of the projects and the role of our funding within them, and this will help determine our future funding practices.

YWCA NSW receives a grant of $160,000 over two years for their Future for Families project. This project will address the personal and accommodation needs of homeless young mothers and their children. YWCA NSW receives government grants to provide safe and supported accommodation to homeless young mothers aged 17- 25 years.

The Future for Families program will use highly experienced facilitators to address essential areas of knowledge, skills and behaviour with the young women. Through weekly group work and individualised counselling and support, the young mothers will be assisted to develop the life skills essential to sustained independent living, with the aim of preventing them from lapsing back into homelessness. At the same time efforts will be made to break the cycle of intergenerational disadvantage by providing their children with programs that prepare them for successful school entry and achievement. The project will be extensively evaluated to assess its impact.

The second grant also seeks to halt the cycle of disadvantage, in this case beginning with children born into high-risk circumstances. The Children’s Protection Society’s Integrated Care and Education Project (ICEP) is a project in which 45 very disadvantaged and at-risk infants and young pre-school children will spend five hours a day in a long day care centre staffed by fully qualified workers. At the Centre they will experience consistent care-giving and participate in intensive education programs designed to address the deficits they experience at home. At the same time their parents will receive “wrap around” services designed to improve their parenting, relationship and pre-employment skills.

Through this intensive early intervention it is hoped to prepare the participating children to enter primary school ready to learn and to keep up with their peers, paving the way for them to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty, deprivation and possible homelessness into which they have been born. This pilot project is the first of its kind in Australia. Based on the results of two intensive early intervention programs conducted in the USA, it is to be evaluated by a team of academics from The University of Melbourne, and if successful it is hoped it will result in increased government support for such services. Our funding of $600,000 over three years will support six of the 45 children, and a combination of government and other philanthropic funding will support the rest.

Mission Australia received the third grant from the Foundation in this program: $1,000,000 over four years. Their project tackles homelessness from a different perspective again, with funds going towards the capital costs associated with the construction of a new Mission Australia Centre that is to be built in western Sydney. The Mission Australia Centre (MAC) in Kingswood will be a purpose-built facility that will contain services including family accommodation, child and family support services, family day care, health services and various other community services.

The Centre will ensure that there are adequate accommodation options and support services for families in need, enabling them to address significant family issues, move from crisis to medium-term accommodation and ultimately to secure longer term housing. This integrated approach allows families in need to gain faster access to services and gives them the ability to address multiple issues simultaneously, leading to better client outcomes and a pathway out of homelessness.

The MAC’s support services will be available to the whole community; it is expected that around 1,000 families will use the services each year.

The Centre is expected to have a major impact on reducing the levels of family homelessness in high “at risk” areas of Western Sydney.

The total cost of the facility is $8.8 million which is being generated through contributions from government, business and private donations, as well as funds from Mission Australia itself.

The Foundation is optimistic about the combined potential for these projects to contribute to fulfilling our objective of ‘improving the life chances of individuals and families by supporting projects and programs that target the prevention of homelessness, and giving priority to programs and organisations that develop and implement best practice in this area’. “The diversity of the programs supported in this funding round is a direct reflection of the complexity and depth of this issue,” commented Janet Hirst, CEO of The Ian Potter Foundation.

“These projects are a strong start to the program and going forward we will continue to seek out innovative programs that address key causal factors in homelessness such as domestic violence. It is our hope that by supporting programs such as these, ultimately the best and most successful will thrive and grow to become sustainable in the long term and make a difference for many (not just a relative few). In the long term we hope this will help in a significant way to break the cycle of homelessness for the benefit of the whole community.”