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COVID-19

Oct 18
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Anti-Poverty Week – We should all fight to end Poverty

By Community Grants, COVID-19, Homelessness in the news, Making a Home, StreetSmart News

In Australia, there are more than 3.24 million people or 13.6% of the population living below the poverty line. That includes 774,000 children or more than 1 in 6. In a country like Australia, this doesn’t have to be the case, but successive Governments have ignored the warning signs and continue to ignore the policies that could drastically improve the lives of people on low incomes. Poverty, hunger, homelessness and domestic violence are all interwoven, and all impact someone’s health, well-being, life expectancy and opportunities. It’s very bad for the person, and for us all, yet our Governments chose not to act. Read More

Sep 07
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Community Grants Providing Immediate Impact

By Community Grants, COVID-19
Our network of Emergency Relief (ER) and Material Aid community organisations provide a crucial safety net for people experiencing a crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how critical these organisations are in supporting the health and wellbeing of vulnerable people. To reflect this, our recent Community Grants, made possible through a philanthropic partnership, have focused on providing $80,000 of support for immediate impact. Read More

Sep 01
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SleepSafe – A safe night’s sleep for 37,000 vulnerable Australians

By COVID-19, Grant Impact, News, SleepSafe
Our SleepSafe campaign launched in August 2019, so has just turned two. We have been blown away by the support from donors – in particular over the past 12-months – where we have almost tripled (+274%) our impact, raising $410,000.

To date, the program has raised more than half a million dollars, which will help over 37,000 vulnerable Australians who are at risk or experiencing homelessness. Read More

May 31
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150,000 Meals Delivered, Training and Jobs Secured

By COVID-19, SmartMeals, Winter Appeal
SmartMeals was launched back in March 2020, responding to food insecurity of vulnerable people, as COVID restrictions hit community meals programs. This week we deliver our 150,000th meal, powered by our generous supporters. Currently we are collaborating with 13 food based social enterprises, in 5 States, to cook 4,000 meals per week, and we want to keep delivering…. Read More

May 19
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StreetSmart delivers $40,000 in grants to support Youth Services

By COVID-19, Homelessness in the news, Recovery Fund
At the same time as youth services have seen a significant rise in demand due to COVID-19, many smaller independent organisations have seen a fall in fundraising revenue as their community fundraising came to a halt.  In line with Youth Homelessness Matters Day in April, the team at StreetSmart raised funds from our supporters to provide funding to youth services and assist young people experiencing the fall out from the pandemic. All six youth programs we supported through our Recovery Fund have seen fundraising income fall over the past 12 months. One organisation lost $1 million of critical fundraising revenue, another had seen revenue drop to $0:

“Our community  fundraising income for the 2020 calendar year was zero, missing our target of $85,000 per annum. Our social enterprise income for the 2020 calendar year was also down 50% on our forecasted income.”

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Mar 26
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SmartMeals Evolves to Provide Meals. Training. Jobs.

By COVID-19, SmartMeals, StreetSmart News
Banner
Our original SmartMeals program was established in March 2020 as an emergency response to COVID-19, providing nutritious meals for people impacted by the COVID-19 economic and health crisis, while also keeping vulnerable hospitality workers in jobs. SmartMeals used the under-utilised capacity of local cafes, restaurants and food based social enterprises, devastated by the pandemic, to provide 111,000 ready-made meals for their local overstretched homeless and community groups. Many meals went to feed people, moved rapidly off the streets, accommodated in hotels and motels.

Introducing the evolution of SmartMeals – Meals. Training. Jobs.

All meals will now be made by social enterprises, meaning vital job training, readiness and pathways programs for vulnerable people in a difficult jobs market. Read More

Oct 14
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The inextricable link between homelessness and poverty

By COVID-19, Homelessness in the news
Centrelink line
Homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked.

If we want to end homelessness, we must also end poverty. Two major policy responses to substantially reduce poverty, and homelessness, have been put forward strongly for at least a decade. Both could also have a substantial impact as an economic stimulus as we navigate the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Firstly, immediately lift Job Seeker payments permanently and secondly, build more public and social housing. Read More

Aug 06
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Pandemic paves the way to solving homelessness

By COVID-19, Homelessness in the news

People facing homelessness leave a shelter for a hotel. (ABC News: Scott Mitchell)

It’s Homelessness Week and we are at a pivotal time for homelessness and housing policy in Australia. What we have seen happen since late March has been nothing but monumental and presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform the country’s homelessness system. We need to make sure we continue this revolution for the homelessness sector and not go back to the way it was before the pandemic hit.

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