Feedback from end homelessness Geraldton workshop calls for council to build it into strategic plan

The City of Greater Geraldton has denied a request from a community organisation to officially include the issue of homelessness in its strategic plan, but vows to continue working with others to tackle the scourge. An meeting with relevant stakeholders in Geraldton allowed WA Alliance to End Homelessness to gauge what was needed in the city to help curb homelessness. Geraldton is hitting targets at the halfway point of a 10-year strategy to end homelessness in WA, with the city on track to cut the number of rough sleepers by 20 per cent. WAAEH’s strategy was released five years ago, and the organisation hosted a community workshop in Geraldton in October to hear from stakeholders. The workshop recognised five “primary drivers” to help end homelessness. The drivers included increasing housing, prevention measures, having a strong and co-ordinated response, data and applied learning. The final primary driver was building community capacity, done through increasing stakeholders contributing to finding a solution to homelessness. One of the key suggestions from the workshop was a call for the City to build homelessness into its strategic plan. The reason behind the request was to tie in with the primary driver of community capacity and engagement. City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Jerry Clune said the City acknowledged homelessness was a community issue. “Although there are no plans to incorporate this issue to the City’s current strategic community plan, we continue to work closely with the State Government and other support agencies to keep safe and better serve these vulnerable members of our community,” he said.