Accordwest’s mission to make homelessness a rare, brief and non-recurring experience in the South West is riding a new wave of momentum with a partnership with the WA Alliance to End Homelessness (WAAEH).
Together, Accordwest and WAAEH will jointly deliver a local community coordinator for the Bunbury Zero Project, the latest in a series of roles designed to enhance local community efforts in ending homelessness.
This comes on the back of a historic $92.2 million funding boost from the State Government designed to bolster homelessness services across Western Australia. The grants have enabled Accordwest to scale up frontline support, expand services, strengthen partnerships, and advance ambitious projects.
“With the recent state government funding paving the way for our new focus headlined by the introduction of the local community coordinator, we’re excited about our enhanced capacity to work alongside local council, service providers, organisations and individuals to achieve our goal of functional zero homelessness in Bunbury,” said Simone Atkins, executive manager of programs at Accordwest.
The Advance to Zero campaign is a nationwide initiative supported by the Australian Alliance to End Homelessness that seeks to address root causes of homelessness by prioritising immediate, safe accommodation while supporting communities to work together, share knowledge, tools and resources and build capacity to respond.
The campaign aims to achieve “functional zero homelessness” in Bunbury and surrounding regions in the South West, starting with rough sleeping, which is achieved when there are enough services and housing for everyone who needs them, sustained over a period of time.
Under the Advance to Zero model, every community has a shared strategy for reaching and sustaining functional zero homelessness. The strategy has four evidence-based approaches – Housing First System Change, Person Centred & Strength Based, Data Driven Improvement, and Place Based Collaboration – with many ways to apply the four approaches locally.
Unlike previously accepted “head count” local practice for identifying homelessness, the Advance to Zero model is designed to provide communities with real time data of people experiencing chronic homelessness so they can tailor a fully coordinated service response. The local community coordinator role will drive a place-based approach to achieving the Bunbury Zero Project’s goals.
Leading Bunbury on the pathway to zero
Michala McMahon, director of practice and improvement at WAAEH, believes the local community coordinator role will drive a place-based approach to achieving the Bunbury Zero Project’s goals. “Since early 2021, our team has been dedicated to facilitating local community action by bringing organisations together to share resources through service coordination for individuals experiencing homelessness.
“We are committed to supporting individuals, organisations, governments, and local communities in working collaboratively across sectors to end homelessness in Western Australia,” she said.
“Partnering with Accordwest, the local community coordinator role will enhance already existing WAAEH work in the Bunbury community. An on-the-ground, dedicated, local representative will continue to identify and build relationships within the wider community, assist stakeholders to better understand local service gaps and barriers experienced by those people who experience homelessness, and bring together collective responses to effectively tackle issues and drive meaningful system change.”
The role comes as like-minded organisations and teams gathered at the Australian Zero Homelessness Summit held in Fremantle on Wednesday 16 October. The Summit provided an opportunity for people and organisations across a broad range of sectors, industries and levels of government to come together and work towards an end to homelessness in Australia.
International speakers shared global insights on a range of learnings including homelessness reforms, inspiration on the latest housing models demonstrating client centred outcomes, rounded out by bright spots and milestones from across the 29 active Australian Zero Projects.
Accordwest sponsored a WA Regional Highlights panel which featured Zero Project Members from Geraldton, Mandurah, Kwinana, Rockingham and Bunbury. Executive Manager of Programs at Accordwest, Simone Atkins, said the re-energised homelessness team is now in prime position to deliver the Advance to Zero objectives in Bunbury.
“Attending the Fremantle Summit was extremely inspiring, giving our homelessness team actionable ideas for how we can enhance our own strategy to achieve the Bunbury Zero Project’s 12-month goals while adapting to evolving needs,” she said.
“With the recent state government funding paving the way for our new focus headlined by the recent introduction of the Local Community Coordinator, we’re excited about our enhanced capacity to work alongside local council, service providers, organisations and individuals to achieve our goal of functional zero homelessness in Bunbury.”
Making every story matter
Evan Nunn, Accordwest CEO, is excited by what Accordwest is achieving in the wake of the funding and re-energised focus. “We’ve always believed there's not just one organisation or one solution to support those in our community with their journey toward long term, safe accommodation,” he said. “It takes a community, and we’re going to walk alongside our community to achieve zero homelessness.”
The campaign is an unprecedented approach that’s having far-reaching results in the community. By bringing local council and service providers together to talk and build relationships on the ground, individuals experiencing homelessness are no longer treated as numbers on a spreadsheet but as real people whose names, backstories and needs are known.
“We’re thrilled to be driving the Bunbury Zero Project forward through our partnership with WAAEH. With our newly expanded homelessness team and adoption of the housing first approach, we’ve never had greater capability to deliver the right supports to the right people when they need it,” Mr Nunn told Business News.
The flow-on effects are already disrupting the system and driving positive change. As communities continue to learn more, many policies and procedures surrounding rough sleeping have been improved and updated. Central to this is a new person-centred and trauma informed response that has decreased move on orders, fines, and police officer abuse by removing assumptions and delivering personalised, data-informed support they need.
“Accordwest continues to be at the forefront of initiatives that meet real homelessness needs unique to local communities in the South West,” he said.
“Our youth accommodation expansion project is tracking according to the project plan with no major setbacks, meaning by August 2025 Bunbury is set to welcome a game-changing transitional accommodation facility for up to eight young people experiencing homelessness.
“Meanwhile, exciting progress is being made on Accordwest’s vision to build 100 social homes, with the Symposium100 unearthing many innovative solutions, and a working group now forming as we speak to bring them to life.”
The Symposium100 is still open to the community and stakeholders. Accordwest invites all those interested to join this transformative journey.
PROGRESS UPDATES
Bunyap 2.0
- Over $5.844m of state government funding has greenlighted the build of Accordwest’s youth accommodation expansion project, Bunyap 2.0, a two-storey transitional youth accommodation facility. Designed by MCG architects, plans feature an upper-level home to 8 self-contained rooms, and a lower level foyer and reception, and open space work environment for Accordwest Homelessness Services team. Construction is underway.
Symposium100
- Following the Symposium100 in May 2024, a group of South West leaders met in Bunbury during Homelessness Week in August 2024 to discuss details on how to best work on innovative solutions needed to deliver 100 social homes. The working group comprises experts in funding applications and financial expertise to project management, construction and fabrication, government and community engagement, and housing and homelessness services. Accordwest openly invites the community and stakeholders to join this transformative journey to make homelessness a rare, brief, and one-off occurrence. More information: https://www.accordwest.com.au/symposium100/
Australian Zero Homelessness Summit
- Held on Tuesday 15 October in Fremantle, the Summit saw passionate, like-minded organisations and teams gather at Fremantle’s Esplanade Hotel to explore effective strategies for supporting efforts to end homelessness across Regional WA.
By Hearts and Minds
