Don’t Close the Door! Save Homelessness Services.
The Federal Government is set to cut funding to homelessness services by over $50million.
This is because they are refusing to continue to cover the costs of Equal Pay for homelessness workers that union members won in 2012. Funding that the Federal Government has agreed to provide since 2012.
If this support is withdrawn, hundreds of workers in frontline homelessness services will lose their jobs and many critical services will be cut. This at a time when homelessness services are experiencing a surge a demand due to the impact COVID-19 on jobs and on our economy.
Why is this important?
In the last year 290,500 Australians sought help from specialist homelessness services.
These critical services support people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, including vulnerable groups such as women and children escaping domestic and family violence.
If the Federal Government goes ahead with this $50m cut, critical services will be closed and jobs lost across Australia.
Homelessness services were not meeting demand pre COVID-19 and are now under extreme pressure due to the impact of COVID-19 and economic recession.
To rebuild out of this crisis and be able to support our most vulnerable Australians we cannot afford to lose hundreds of critical frontline homelessness workers.
We call on the Morrison Government to ensure it continues and indexes its existing level of funding for these critical community services so workers are paid properly and able to continue to focus on supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our community.
Don’t close the door on homelessness services!
