1. Australian Common Ground Alliance
September 2012

2. Felicity Reynolds, Mercy Foundation
 Systemic drivers of chronic homelessness
 Issues faced by people who experience long
term homelessness
 Background/context of assistance to this group
over past 20-30 years
 Differences between institutional care and
Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH)
 Key elements of Common Ground (CG)
 An overview/up-date of CG in Australia
 Where are we now? And lessons to date
 Looking to the future

3.  Inadequate income (poverty).
 Inadequate stocks of low cost housing.
 Inadequate support services for people who
need support to sustain housing (often people
have a long history of failed tenancies).
 Inadequate systems to prioritise people with
disability & health problems (and who have been
long term homeless) into supportive housing.
 Pathways system not suited to this group.
 Inadequate systemic funding that joins up
permanent housing & support.

4.  Not a huge population (perhaps 15% of total)
 The drivers of chronic homelessness are
systemic – but chronically homeless people do
have serious problems to contend with (based
on VI data from 7 cities):
 Over 61% have a mental illness
 High rates (70%+) substance misuse/addictions
 30% report brain injury
 63% vulnerable (average across Australia)
(Hear more at the VI presentation at the conference).

5.  In Australia, 5 different systems (available to homeless people/at
risk of homelessness who have disability/health needs).These have
been:
 Homelessness crisis accommodation (often with 24 hour
support and case management). Under SAAP – limited to 3
months (officially). Then transitional/medium accommodation
& support models – usually 6 -18 months.
 Disability housing and support (permanent housing & support,
often in group homes).
 Mental health housing & support (HASI is a good example).
 Public housing (affordable housing, but little support attached).
 Private accommodation, such as rooming or boarding houses
(cheap accommodation, often poor quality, support varies).

6. The overall principle of any supportive housing
is:
 A housing allocation of a permanent tenancy
via the public or social housing system or a
housing subsidy per unit to a tenancy and
property manager.
 Plus an allocation of funding for supportive
services that are planned and targeted in line
with the needs of the specific population
group being prioritised.

7.  The housing is permanent
 High quality low cost housing.
 Separation of tenancy management &
support.
 Concierge/security.
 Mix tenancy (formerly homeless people &
others, such as workers & students on low
incomes).

8.  Best suited to single adults
 Most appropriate to built up/urban environments.
 Work with corporate sector to add value (eg. Grocon
building Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane ‘at cost’.
Candetti Constructions in Adelaide). In 2010, Santos
partnered with CGA providing $3m over five years to a
range of programs, services and building costs.
 Use of Housing First methodology to tenant buildings.
 ‘Target hard’ – emphasis on the most vulnerable and
those who have missed out on housing the longest.

9. Elements of institutional care:
 The person becomes a ‘patient’ (or resident)
 No mutual obligations or responsibility, just compliance required or
forced compliance.
 Medical model – people usually admitted due to symptoms and
diagnosis
 Placed in a ward with people with the same diagnosis, often same
treatment
 People did not have control over when they were admitted or
discharged
 A controlled environment - staff determined when patients could come
and go.
 Patients lose entitlements to community services when institutionalised
 Institutions designed for treatment
 Often disconnected from community
 No independence - forced dependence

10. Elements of supportive housing:
 The person is a ‘tenant’ - with responsibilities of a lease.
 Not a medical-model but recognizes the link between housing and health
outcomes.
 Eligible by income and needs.
 May have a priority population and assessment if needs and services
required.
 Supportive services are designed around tenant needs/aspirations and
are personalised
 Supportive housing design connects with the neighbourhood, and the
specific needs of tenants in the planning and design phase.
 A key goal is to create healthy interdependence.
 Services are voluntary for the tenant but not for the staff.
 Proactive engagement through a range of avenues such as individual
support, bringing in community services, activities on site, community
networks.
 Tenants eligible for community home based services.
 Peer support encouraged and assisted.

11. Heather Holst, HomeGround

12.  Franklin Street opened in February 2008 and consists of 38
units, 14 one-bedroom units and 24 studio apartments.
 Light Square opened in April 2011 and consists of 52 units,
16 one-bedroom units and 36 studio apartments.
 Failed tenancies to date – 6 (2 at Franklin; 4 at Light
Square).
 Under the Nation Building Economic Stimulus Program
(NBESP) CGA were transferred 5 units, 4 two-bedroom
units located in Mile End and one four-bedroom house
located in Brompton.

13.  All sites are fully tenanted, and CGA maintains a waitlist of
approximately 130 registrants.
 Common Ground Adelaide acts as both the landlord/property
owner and the supportive housing provider – although both roles
are managed separately, with staff reporting to the Executive
Manager Operations.
 The supportive housing function is funded by the state
government under a three year funding agreement, and is costed
to provide support for 50 clients – although support is provided to
approximately 60 clients at any one time.
 The Low Income/Affordable housing tenants are sourced through
several avenues;
 Promotion of the CGA Affordable housing program to local
businesses
 Advertising at local universities and TAFE Colleges/Web based
advertising on ‘Gum Tree’/Window face advertising.

15.  131 single units, 65 for formerly homeless people
 65 formerly homeless are currently housed
 Building open for just on 2 years
 Tenancy manager = Yarra Community Housing (YCH)
 Support service provider = HomeGround Services
 Offer to formerly homeless was originally through a call for
referrals, assessed by a panel of support experts according to
a defined criteria; subsequent vacancies through
Department of Justice referrals and via the Collingwood
homelessness entry point with an emphasis on Street to
Home clients.
 Affordable tenancies = via YCH website and internal transfers
from other YCH properties
 Social enterprises = Green Connect (recycling) and The Last
Cuppa (catering via Wesley Mission Victoria)

17.  104 units: 52 for formerly chronically homeless
people; 10 social housing tenants; 42 affordable
housing (need to be working or studying).
 35 formerly homeless tenants identified through
VI.
 Officially opened November 2011.
 Mission Australia Housing - tenancy managers.
 Camperdown Support Services - support
provider.
 Contracted concierge.
 Social enterprise planned.
 2 people formally relinquished their tenancies.

19.  Total number of units to date – 47
 Another 50 by late September
 Currently 8 tenants, with the plan to be fully
tenanted by end of 2012
 One building now open for 2 months
 The tenancy manager is a private real estate
firm in Hobart.
 The support services provider is Anglicare
 Significant local business and corporate
support.

20.  Common Ground in Brisbane formally
opened on Wednesday 29 August 2012.
 Is located overlooking the river and art gallery
and next to the CBD.
 Total of 146 units.
 To date – 73 tenants living in the building
(first moved in July).
 Tenancy manager is Common Ground
Queensland
 Support services provider is Micah Projects

22. 1. Important to consider the approach of the staff that work in case management roles, as
staff coming from a crisis accommodation background are generally very good at managing
chaotic periods, but may be less naturally inclined to seek more of the life-enhancing and
independence-sustaining outcomes for those less chaotic people.
2. Early consideration of building layout for maximum utility and greatest safety.
3. Early consideration of building location and neighbourhood.
4. Consider planning for a slower tenanting to avoid problems.
5. It takes a while to settle, but the building does settle.
6. Some people who have been at Melbourne CG for 2 years have never lived anywhere for
that long before.
7. The social mix has proved much easier than expected.
8. OK to target very complex people indeed, but people who use violence are hard to
accommodate with the common areas.
9. Use of Vulnerability Index does work.
10. Relationships with local services very important for establishing functional and productive
relationship, e.g.,
 Local hospital staff were discharging people early, believing we had nursing care
staff onsite
 Police believed that CG was a halfway house (non-permanent accommodation) for
ex-offenders, were unaware of tenant vulnerability

23.  Every State has done CG differently. And the size
of cities has seen relevant adaptations to fit to
the local context.
 All projects have had shared Federal/State
funding.
 Primarily State re-current expenditure for
support services.
 We need to clarify a recurrent funding stream.
 We need to ‘unpack’ what we mean by ‘support’.
 We need to watch out for ‘function creep’ to
guard against aspects of institutionalisation
creeping into a housing model.

24.  The new partnership agreements have had an
emphasis on a Housing First Approach as well
as funding for support services to be aligned
with permanent housing.
 The Common Ground model is an appropriate
model for inner city urban areas where
reduction in rough sleeping is being
prioritised.

25. The main adaptation around Common Ground
in Australia is the fact that as a model it
includes a social mix which addresses the
housing needs of low income workers in the
city for affordable housing as well as formerly
homeless people. The concerns about
congregating of people with high needs is
mitigated against - with the diversity of the
population.

26.  The mental health and disability reform process
combined with the crisis in housing affordability
has meant too many people are missing out on
what they need in both housing and services.
We need services to respond to both the need to
support a person to meet their obligations as a
tenant as well as have a quality of life.
 Housing providers need access to capital and
subsidies so that the supply permanent housing
can be increased.

27.  ACGA – C/- Mercy Foundation, Sydney
 Common Ground Adelaide
 HomeGround, Melbourne
 Common Ground Tasmania, Hobart
 Micah Projects, Brisbane
 Mission Australia Housing, Sydney
 Common Ground Group, Canberra