The first serious
mention of youth homelessness as a phenomenon independent of other Departmental
activities occurred in the Annual Report of 1984. An “area
of increasing importance” to the Perth division was the
presence of homeless, “street kids” in the city. A youth team was established to “look at
methods of increasing the effectiveness of service delivery to these young
people.” Greater liaison with other
agencies involved in service delivery to youth was undertaken in an attempt to
find and support appropriate programs.
The Department had had
a “special responsibility” for dealing with youth homelessness since March
1981, when it began to administer the Youth Services Scheme, which was funded
from State and Commonwealth budgets. The
Youth Services Scheme was “designed to encourage the development of services
which enable the movement of homeless youth out of shelter style facilities
into more appropriate forms of accommodation.”
Annual Report of the Department for Community
Services, June 30th 1984.
SAAP, jointly funded
by Commonwealth and State Governments, commenced on January 1, 1985. Its
stated aim was “to provide a range of supported accommodation and related
support services to assist men, women and young people, and their dependents,
who are either permanently, or temporarily homeless as a result of crisis, and
who need assistance to move towards independent living.”
SAAP commenced with
three sub-programs: the Youth Supported
Accommodation Programme, which assisted 17 organisations who provided “crisis
and long term accommodation throughout the State”; the Women’s Emergency Service
Programme, and the General Supported Accommodation Programme. The Department administered SAAP funds and
was represented on SAAP’s coordinating and sub-program committees. Annual Report of
the Department for Community Services, June 30th 1985.
Signposts identifies a number of facilities that have been funded during this
period by the Youth Supported Accommodation Assistance Programme
(YSAAP). This, like the other
sub-programs, has operated “with the close involvement of the non-government
sector”, which has participated in “various aspects of policy development,
priority setting, funding allocation and project management.” Annual Report of
the Department for Community Services, June 30th 1987
From 1 January 2009, SAAP was replaced with the NAHA. The NAHA combines the SAAP Agreement, Commonwealth State Housing Agreement and Indigenous Housing Agreement to work together to improve housing affordability and reduce homelessness. Services for homeless young people aged 15-25 years have been prioritised.” Annual Report of
the Department for Child Protection, June 30th 2009