It’s Homelessness Week and the nation’s peak body, Homelessness Australia, is calling for action, as the housing affordability crisis continues to push more people out of stable accommodation.

Homelessness Australia released a report this week which found more than 76,000 children under the age of 18 sought help from homelessness support services across the nation annually. Almost 16,000 of these children were alone - unaccompanied by a parent or caregiver - and many were fleeing domestic violence, abuse or neglect at home.

In Kiama, on any given night, 139 people are experiencing homelessness and 1282 households are on a waiting list for social housing according to the ABS census and NSW Parliamentary data. A further 2297, or 39 percent, of households are in rental stress.

Peter Dover, founder of Salt Care, a charity providing services to those who are homeless or socially disadvantaged, says more and more people are relying on support services like Safe Shelter Shoalhaven, run by Salt, and sister charity Safe Waters Ulladulla, for food, shelter and basic needs.

The NSW Regional Housing Needs Report, released by Shelter NSW last year, found that the Shoalhaven scored 9/10 for people experiencing financial stress associated with housing. According to the report rental stress primarily affects low income earners, with many paying more than 30 percent of their income to cover their mortgage or rent.

But service providers are also doing it tough with Salt Care and the soon-to-be opened Safe Waters Shoalhaven, missing out on funding promised by the NSW Government in its most recent budget, according to Kiama MP Gareth Ward.

In August last year Safe Shelter Shoalhaven and Safe Waters Ulladulla each received $250,000 in funding from the NSW Government to continue to deliver services to help break the cycle of homelessness.

Member for Kiama Gareth Ward says Minister for Homelessness Services Rose Jackson failed to deliver on her promise of an additional $250,000 for Salt Care and Safe Waters Shoalhaven.

Mr Dover says the services will now have to put in a tender application through the NSW Government’s Homelessness Innovation Fund - a new funding stream announced in the May budget as part of the government’s social housing and homelessness investment strategy. 

Mr Dover is “disappointed the government hasn’t come good on its promise”.

“These two services have now been advised that a Homelessness Innovation Fund has been established and they can apply for that once it comes out,’’ he says. “Without knowing the timeframe of when these funds will be available or how much will be available, it places these services in an extremely vulnerable position. We only have enough money in the bank to last us four months and then we will need to close our shelter if we can’t receive funding.”

However a spokesperson for Member for South Coast Liza Butler said the funding was delivered “in full” following the election of the Minns Government. 

“During the 2023 State campaign, the Minister for Housing, Rose Jackson and the Member for South Coast, Liza Butler, made a commitment to Salt Care and Safe Waters, that if elected we would provide a one-off funding injection of $250,000 to each service,” says the spokesperson.  

“Following the election of the Minns Labor Government, this commitment was delivered in full. In the most recent budget, the Minns Government established the Homelessness Innovation Fund; this fund is to ensure that homelessness service providers such as SALT and Safe Waters, have a streamlined process going forward to help with securing government funding.



“The homelessness sector's peak bodies are in the process of establishing the funding application criteria, including how much and how often money could be allocated to individual services. It is imperative that the process is fair and also ensures that services receiving Government funds, especially those that deal with the most vulnerable in our communities, are accredited and have stringent policy and procedures.”

Safe Waters, who have a shelter in Ulladulla, planned on opening a second shelter in the Shoalhaven in the coming months. But Mr Dover said the uncertainty around funding “places us in a difficult position”. 

“Current staff are already over capacity in their workload, a rapid growth period and an upcoming shelter to be opened – we were relying on these funds and now we have nothing,’’ says Mr Dover.

“This is totally unacceptable,” says Mr Ward. “This means that two Shoalhaven Homelessness services will no longer be able to provide the level of care they have previously provided to our region.”