Tenancy Support Far North Coast

1. Tenancy Support Far North Coast

2. What On Track Proposed • Employ three (3) Tenancy Support Coordinators (TSC) who will be placed at Tweed, Lismore and Clarence Valley • The Tenancy Support Coordinators (TSC) will work in conjunction with the SAAP Service Providers, other support services and families to put in place necessary case plans for at risk tenancies • SAAP service providers and other support services will identify barriers to sustaining the tenancy and will work with the family through a Case Plan (CP). The Tenancy Support Coordinators (TSC) will monitor and support this process. • A financial cost of the services will be calculated and forwarded with the case plan to the Co-ordination Group (CG). The group will be made up of Government and Non-Government organisation representatives. The Coordination Group (CG) will assess and approve the Case Plan (CP) and recommend the allocation of funds.

3. Summary of the Program • Funded under the NSW Department of Human Services, • Lead Agency - On Track Community Programs Inc • The Program aims to Prevent homelessness to ensure that people never become homeless • Responding effectively to homelessness to ensure that people who are homeless receive effective responses so that they do not become entrenched in the system • Breaking the cycle to ensure that people who have been homeless do not become homeless again

4. Project Model • The project will primarily focus on sustaining tenancies to prevent homelessness and reduce the significant number of people accessing Supported Accommodation Assistance Program services (SAAP) from long-term accommodation • The project will also focus on preventing Indigenous homelessness by assisting Indigenous people to maintain their tenancies • The project will focus on private rental and public housing tenants. • Partner Agencies being Housing NSW, Office of Fair Trading, NSW Health, ADHC, Legal Aid, Department of Aboriginal Affairs and non government service providers. • The project will identify at risk tenancies at an early stage and intervene with time-limited case management support and service coordination to prevent NSW Consumer Trade and Tenancy Tribunal action and eviction.

5. Tenancy Support Far North Coast Eligibility Criteria • Must have a lease or be able to prove tenancy • Tenancy must be at risk • Agree to a case plan • Give consent • Must reside on the Far North Coast

6. Example of Eligibility • Family with accompanying Children currently residing within NCCH • At risk of losing their accommodation due to their Centrelink payments being stopped • The tenants involved were not unable to get an answer on why their payments were stopped. • On this occasion the tenants were referred to a SAAP service and a case worker was able to assist and stop the tenancy from failing, • 9 hours of case management work Example of when a Service Provider can be Paid for Additional Support to a Client • The nine hours of support have to be outside of the Support Workers normal working Hours – eg currently the support worker works 30hrs per week, if the service/support worker take on supporting the above family they would have worked 39hrs for that week. • Support to a family has to be in addition to normal working hours or have the capacity to employ another worker to support that family for the specified case plan

7. Location and Target Group • Richmond / Tweed (encompassing the local government areas of Clarence Valley, Lismore, Richmond Valley, Kyogle, Tweed, Ballina and Byron • Target Group – Families with accompanying children, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, whose tenancies are at risk (public and private)

8. Program Objectives • To assist families with accompanying children to sustain their tenancies and prevent evictions from all types of tenures ( public and private) • To meet the needs of the clients • Increase collaborative service delivery across government agencies and community sector in response to homelessness • Identify and resolve impediments to the effective provision of tenancy support services and make recommendations to reform the existing service system in the longer term.

9. On Track Community Programs Tenancy Support Far North Coast – Proposed Model Accommodation not sourced Referral to (TSFNC) Coordinator Referral to the regional HAP Tenancy Support Coordinator for further assessment and development of Coordinated Care Plan with costings to the regional Coordination Group • Intake and Assessment • Undertaken by existing homeless service providers and family support needs identified: • Accommodation • Drug and alcohol • Family Counseling • Financial • Domestic Violence • Mental Health Accommodation sourced By existing homelessness service provider, however additional support needs are identified for the family through referring agency’s care plan Referral Families referred to existing homelessness service providers through self-referrals, Housing NSW, Centrelink, Department of Human Services • Regional Coordination Group • Is provided with intake documentation and recommendations contained in Coordinated Care Plan from Tenancy Support Coordinator (TSC) and decides on: • level of support to be provided • organisations identified to provide services • brokerage funds available to family • time frame for brokered support services Coordinated Care Plan developed The Tenancy Support Coordinator develops and liaises with existing services to arrange brokered support as identified in the Coordinated Care Plan • Brokerage Existing servicesprovide specific support as determined by regional Coordination Group and could include: • Mental Health • Drug and Alcohol • Domestic Violence • Counseling (financial, family, relationships) • Cleaning • Life skills • Education and pre-vocational training Reviews Coordinated Care Plan outcomes and any identified systemic barriers to securing safe and affordable accommodation across the region are reviewed by Coordination Group and forwarded to the Regional Homelessness Committee as required Sustained Tenancy

10. Tenancy Support Far North CoastPartnership Model Support Coordination Role of lead agency: • Employ three (3)Tenancy Support Coordinators (TSCs) one in Tweed, Lismore & Clarence Valley area. • Support establishment of Coordination Group (CG) • Will fund approved coordinated case management plans • Collate data for families with Coordinated Case Management Plans on NDCA in line with annual October 31 deadline • Ensure coordinated support is delivered in line with SAAP standards and Performance Management Framework • Annual financial auditing of funds ($586,000 annually until December 2012) and final acquittal of funds

11. Tenancy Support Far North CoastPartnership Model Existing housing service providers, community support services and government agencies Role of existing housing service providers and other agencies: • Provide case management support to families as per current service arrangements • Identify clients eligible for Tenancy Support brokerage support (existing or new families with accompanying children) and who give consent to participate and engage in coordinated case management plan (case management period up to 16 weeks) • Engage with family and Tenancy Support Coordinators (TSC) to develop coordinated case management plan • Provide ongoing case management supportto families for a 16 week period • Liaise with Tenancy Support Coordinators to identify barriers to families achieving goals

12. Tenancy Support Far North CoastPartnership Model Role of the Coordination Group: • Coordinated Case Management Plans are forwarded by Tenancy Support Coordinators (TSC) and are approved, amended and owned by the coordination group, not the TSC or lead agency • Coordination Group (CG) approve or decline the Coordinated Case Management Plans (cost of brokered services, goals identified, timeframes to achieve goals, eligibility of family for the Tenancy Support Far North Coast service (TSFNC) • Ratification of (TSFNC) policies & procedures, client documentation and processes for TSC’s to coordinate brokered services and purchase of item. • Development and ratification of Terms of Reference for Coordination Group • Development of the process to forward housing and homelessness issues across the region to the Regional Homeless Committee • Who do we want on the Coordination Group? – 4 Regional Rep from each area (Clarence, Lismore and Tweed) or people from the sector eg SAAP and Aboriginal Services together with 3 Government Agencies. ( Nomination forms are available here today for those people who express an interest on being involved/part of the CG)

13. Roles and Responsibilities of Tenancy Support Far North Coast Coordinators • Monitor expenditure and advise coordination group – (balance of funds available) • Provide Information and support to service providers / partner agencies around the development of the Case Plans • Develop a database of services and resources that can be used to support case plans • Provide the coordination group with recommended case plans for assessment and approval. • Support service providers who have problems with the process • Ensure Consent Form is signed by the family allowing their case plan to be forwarded to the (CG) • 116.6 people (families with accompanying children) are supported in each three (3) areas every twelve (12) months • Ensure the distribution of Brokerage funds are spread out over the 12 month period • Brokerage Funds for each area will be approximately $83,000 each year (approx. $711 per person) • Obtain a Tax Invoice with approved cost of service including ABN and GST information from the service provider – attach this invoice with a Purchase Order and Costing Code for payment by the lead agency with in a turn around time of up to 2 weeks.

14. Support and Assistance May Include: • Financial Counselling and Budgeting • Rent Arrears (Use Housing NSW assistance first) • Personal and grief counselling • Referrals to government and non government services • Development and costing of coordinated case management plans by Tenancy Support Coordinators (TSC’s) and referral to the Coordination Group • Counselling • Links to life skills programs; • One-off cleans; • Anger management and advice • Referral to support groups and services including domestic violence support services

15. What the Tenancy Support Far North Coast isn’t • Tenancy Support Far North Coast initiative is not a Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) service • The (TSFNC) program does not provide direct case management for families – it is about coordination and delivery of brokerage funds to purchase services and/or items which support families to maintain their tenancies • Coordination Group is made up of a range of community support services and government agencies and not restricted to current SAAP services • The (TSFNC) program does not provide crisis support for families or individuals who are already homeless or who require long – term case management support (it is designed to provide support for up to 16 week period)

16. Key Components of the Project Include: • The project will identify key referrals for tenancy support from: Housing NSW (Far North Coast Regional Offices) Community Housing Providers; Office of Fair Trading Tenancy Advice and Advocacy Program; Homeless Persons Information Centre; DoCs Domestic Violence Line, NSW Police, Community Housing providers and other non-government organisations such as local Neighbourhood Centres. • Provide a multi-disciplinary case management support (up to 16 weeks) to enable a client to sustain a tenancy at risk. Support to be provided through a cross-agency and cross-sector partnership model • Support provided to Housing NSW tenants will be provided under an Accord Framework. • Partnerships with the private housing sector (real estate agents and private landlords) providers to increase pathways into private accommodation • Identify and resolve impediments to the effective provision of tenancy support services and make recommendations to reform the existing service system in the longer term • Access to legal services. General Tenancy issues would be referred to relevant tenancy advice and advocacy services at first instance.

17. Partner agencies Government Services Community Services Housing NSW & North Coast Community Housing NSW Health Office of Fair Trading Ageing Disability and Home Care Legal Aid Department of Aboriginal Affairs Varied Non Government Services across the North Coast

18. Project Deliverables & Data/Reporting • Number of clients maintaining stable accommodation (number of clients assisted) – 350 per annum • Average length of support provided – 16 weeks • The project will be required to report to Community Services through the existing performance monitoring framework, and against agreed service specifications, through the collection and reporting of the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program National Data Collection. Thank You