In nineteenth century London, the existence of slums was generally attributed to the “laziness, sin and vices of the lower class”, Centacare Director Tony Pietropiccolo told those at the Shelter WA Forum on May 20, and he is concerned Australian society is heading down this same erroneous path.
Mr Pietropiccolo was one of the keynote speakers at the event, at Burswood, which drew representatives from 80 organisations working with those effected by homelessness.
It was the advocacy of middle and upper class women, he said, that allowed society to eventually overcome this misconception and recognise the problem as a social ill rather than a social choice, but recent funding cuts indicated a regression to nineteenth century attitudes.
“Without advocacy for the homeless today, nothing will change”, Mr Pietropiccolo said, setting what was effectively the theme of the day.
Chantal Roberts, Executive Officer of Shelter WA, said the aim of the forum was to bring the sector together to begin a dialogue with the government about what future services in homelessness may be like.
“It was also about getting information about the emerging issues in a public forum where government representatives, the minister (Helen Morton MLC) and the Director General from Department of Child Protection and Family Services can hear about them from people providing services,” she said.
Ms Roberts said that the role of Shelter WA was to collaborate with housing consumers and community based organisations so they could provide an informed and independent voice committed to the principle of accessible, affordable, appropriate and secure housing for low income and disadvantaged people, including those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Minister Morton, in her speech, said that despite recent growth and services in the sector, substantial challenges lay ahead and more needed to be done.
She promised participants that she would take arguments and assessments raised at the event, to Parliament.
Ms Roberts said that Shelter WA had held forums on homelessness in the past, but this one, titled, “The Future of Homelessness”, was the first involving the Minister and CEOs from the major NGOs and government agencies.
“In the past, our forums have centred around consumer issues and have been mostly directed at people at risk of, or experiencing homelessness and direct service providers,” she said.
Several panels where convened throughout the day, with members sharing information about their agencies, outlining challenges and future directions and discussing ramifications of recent policy and funding changes before fielding questions.
Ms Roberts said her organisation had been overwhelmed with the response to the forum and with the positive feedback received.
“The event was a huge success, in large part due to the high calibre of speakers and the interest shown by everyone present to participate in this vitally important dialogue,” she said.
“There may be a need to repeat the forum in future, particularly with a repeated theme on the day being the need for advocacy for more and different services.”