Going Home, Staying Home review released

The Department of Family and Community Services has this week released the Going Home, Staying Home Post Implementation Review undertaken by KPMG and the Specialist Homelessness Services Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy.

The Strategy aims to inform ongoing improvements to the homelessness service system and will include input from peak bodies, experts, service providers, mainstream services and consumers, including NCOSS.

The Going Home Staying Home Reform review focused on reform timing and timeframes, stakeholder engagement, planning and procurement but it was disappointing to see a lack of recommendation come out of the report – only summary findings and lessons learned after homelessness peak bodies raised concerns about this.

There are lessons to be learned from the Going home, Staying Home reform but it shouldn’t stop there. Those lessons should be used to inform and improve future reform processes.

NCOSS is now starting developing a set of recommendations in consultation with the sector to strengthen and enhance the way the sector and government work together and ensure reform processes allow the sector to deliver effective, stable and quality services to people experiencing poverty and disadvantage.

This is part of our A fair deal for our community services campaign which we announced with the release of our 2015 State of the Sector report. The launch of the campaign will happen later this year once the recommendations are developed with the sector.

If you have any feedback on the Going Home, Staying home review and how we can progress a better partnership with government in the future contact Amanda Smithers on amanda@ncoss.org.au