Agenda of Homelessness Advisory Committee - Thursday, 1 February 2024

Homelessness Advisory Committee

Meeting Date: Thursday, 01 February, 2024

Location: Jervis Bay Rooms, City Administrative Centre, Bridge Road, Nowra

Time: 2.00pm

Please note: Council’s Code of Meeting Practice permits the electronic recording and broadcast of the proceedings of meetings of the Council which are open to the public. Your attendance at this meeting is taken as consent to the possibility that your image and/or voice may be recorded and broadcast to the public.

Agenda

1. Meeting Conduct Statement

2 Acknowledgement of Country

3. Apologies

4. Confirmation of Minutes

· Homelessness Advisory Committee - 30 November 2023.......................................... 1

5. Declaration of Interests

6. Presentations

HT24.1........ Homelessness NSW - Ongoing Item - State-Wide Update

Staff from Homelessness NSW will provide an update to the Committee regarding Homelessness issues across the State and developments within the Homelessness NSW organisation.

7. Reports

HT24.2........ Homelessness Advisory Committee - Reduce Quorum................................ 3

HT23.21...... Action Table Report 30 November 2023...................................................... 11

HT23.22...... Mobile Medic................................................................................................. 14

8. General Business

Homelessness Advisory Committee – Thursday 01 February 2024

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Membership

Clr Findley - Chairperson

All Councillors

CEO (or Nominee)

Dan Harmelin – Community Member North Shoalhaven

Keith Davis – Community Member South Shoalhaven

Jenifa Fowler – Community Member North Shoalhaven

Representative - SALT Care

Representative - SAHSSI

Representative - Southern Cross Housing

Representative - Vinnies

Representative - Legal Aid NSW

Representative - Waminda

Quorum – 8 provided that a minimum of one Councillor with voting rights, two community members, and one crisis/homelessness support are present

Purpose

The purpose of the Homelessness Advisory Committee is to provide advice, guided by lived experience and expertise, to Shoalhaven City Council on homelessness and related issues that can be dealt with at Council level. The Committee will work with Council to address issues and identify strategies to assist Council in their decision making processes.

Strategic Plan Alignment:

Community Led Plan For Homelessness

1. Early Intervention & Collaborative Support

2. Community Awareness & Education

3. Advocacy and Lobbying

4. Housing & Accommodation

Role

· Provide Council with advice, guided by lived experience and expertise on homelessness and related issues that can be dealt with at a Local Government level.

· Work with Council to address issues and develop strategies to assist Council in their decision making processes.

· Advise on the development, review and implementation of The Plan.

· Provide comment on relevant Council policies and strategies.

· Advocate for community needs on issues relating to homelessness in the Shoalhaven.

· Continuous monitoring and evaluation of The Plan.

Minutes of the Homelessness Advisory Committee

Meeting Date: Thursday, 30 November 2023

Location: Jervis Bay Rooms, City Administrative Centre, Bridge Road, Nowra

Time: 2.00pm

The following members were present:

Mayor Amanda Findley - Chairperson

Clr John Kotlash (Remotely)

Clr Evan Christen

Clr Gillian Boyd – (Joined at 2.21pm)

Mr Keith Davis (Remotely)

Mr Peter Dover – Salt Ministries

Ms Julie Bugden - SAHSSI & Shoalhaven Homelessness Hub (Remotely)

Others present:

Ms Coralie McCarthy – Director – City Futures

Mr Gordon Clark – Section Manager – Strategic Planning

Mr Michael Paine – Manager – Community Connections

Ms Marsha Makary - Community Capacity Builder – Homelessness

Mr Alexander Dy (Remotely)

Ms Melissa Jones SEARMS (Remotely)

Ms Julie Heffernan – Nowra Community Mental Health Team (Remotely)

Ms Ruby Hansen-Tarrant – Age Matters (Remotely)

Mr Matthew Sutcliffe – The Salvation Army (Remotely)

Ms Coralee Rough – ROCC

Ms Amy Haines – Homelessness NSW (Remotely)

Mr Carlo Di Giulio (Remotely)

Ms Sarah Date - Safe Waters Community Care Inc (Remotely)

Ms Natalie Allan (Remotely)

Ms Maria Lopez – Gran Pacific Health (Joined Remotely at 2.33pm)

Ms Nicky Sloan – CI Group (Joined Remotely at 2.31pm)

Mr Blake Richards – My Best Life

At 2:35pm the Committee was advised that quorum had not been reached, and therefore the meeting lapsed. The Committee received two presentations and noted that the remaining items will be deferred to the next meeting.

Presentations

HT23.19 Shoalhaven Community Led Plan for Homelessness Annual Review

HPERM Ref: D23/431423

Ms Marsha Makary - presented to the Committee outlining the distribution of funds from the Office of Responsible Gambling, project timelines and key milestones of the Community Led Plan for Homelessness and related projects. The presentation is attached to the Minutes.

Ms Amy Hains from Homelessness NSW, Mr Peter Dover from Salt Ministries, Ms Coralee Rough from ROCC for Women, Mr Blake Richards from My Best Life and Ms Roslyn Poole from ISLHD all raised interest in participating in various projects from the Community Led Plan, funded by the Community Development Fund.

Mayor Amanda Findley advised the Committee she had a meeting with Ms Hayley Basset from NSW Coalition of Aboriginal Peaks for the First People’s Disability Network. This organisation is arranging a community outreach day event in Ulladulla in early 2024 for Aboriginal Mob’s facing disability and particularly around disaster response. Mayor Amanda Findley clarified this is a possible opportunity to partner with them and will provide contact details to Ms Marsha Makary.

Other opportunities for the Community Led Plan for Homelessness ‘Focus Area 2 Education and Awareness’ include Safe Waters partnering with Minister for Homelessness, Ms Rose Jackson, to conduct a mental health and homelessness consultation in Ulladulla. The focus is to identify commonalities in lived experiences and gaps in services. An update of this consultation will be discussed at the next Homelessness Advisory Committee meeting.

HT23.20 Homelessness NSW - Ongoing Item - State-Wide Update	HPERM Ref: D23/393626
Ms Amy Hains - Homelessness NSW presented to the Committee an updated to the Committee regarding Homelessness issues across the State and developments within the Homelessness NSW organisation. The presentation is attached to the Minutes.

Confirmation of the Minutes

Note: This item will be deferred to the next Homelessness Advisory Committee meeting.

Reports

HT23.21 Action Table Report 30 November 2023	HPERM Ref: D23/448888
Note: This item will be deferred to the next Homelessness Advisory Committee meeting.

HT23.22 Mobile Medic	HPERM Ref: D23/477360
Note: This item will be deferred to the next Homelessness Advisory Committee meeting.

Mr Peter Dover

CHAIRPERSON

Homelessness Advisory Committee – Thursday 01 February 2024

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HT24.2 Homelessness Advisory Committee - Reduce Quorum

HPERM Ref: D23/520027

Department: Business Assurance & Risk

Approver: Jane Lewis, Director - City Lifestyles

Attachments: 1. Homelessness Advisory Committee - Amended Terms of Reference - Track Changes ⇩

Reason for Report

The purpose of this report is to recommend that the Homelessness Advisory Committee reduce quorum to six (6) and the required number of community members to one (1) by amending and adopting the Terms of Reference.

Recommendation

That the Homelessness Advisory Committee accept and amend the Terms of Reference to reduce quorum to six (6), and the community member requirement to ‘one community member’.

Options

1. As recommended

Implications: The Terms of Reference is amended and adopted, quorum is reduced to six (6) and community member requirement is reduced to one (1). This will help to ensure the Committee meets quorum more consistently.

2. Adopt an alternative recommendation

Implications: Unknown.

Background

The current Terms of Reference (adopted 14 September 2021 MIN21.638) underwent an amendment on 17 July 2023 (MIN23.352), and as part of that amendment the following clause regarding quorum was included: Eight provided that a minimum of one Councillor with voting rights, two community members, and one crisis/homelessness support are present. No proxy votes are permitted. If a quorum is not present within 30 minutes of the scheduled commencement time, the meeting lapses.

Prior to this amendment, quorum was eight (8) with no community member requirements. This was changed as part of the Committees role is to ‘provide Council with advice, guided by lived experience’, and to ‘advocate for community needs on issues relating to homelessness in the Shoalhaven’, and therefore, staff felt it appropriate that quorum should partly depend on community members being present.

The proposal to reduce quorum to six (6), and the required number of community members to one (1), has arisen for the following reasons:

· Two (2) Community members recently resigned from the Committee, leaving three (3) vacant community member positions of the six (6).

· Council has advertised the vacant positions but have had no uptake since the last EOI round in March 2023.

· At the last Committee meeting, the meeting failed to achieve quorum due to lacking one (1) community member required to meet quorum.

Another driving factor for reducing quorum is that there is a large presence of local service providers and relevant government agencies on this Committee that attend meetings who are not voting members and do not contribute to quorum. Staff propose that to ensure that the Committee can consistently meet quorum and draw from the expertise of these many organisations in those instances where only one community member and other voting members are unable to attend.

Council staff will continue to advertise the vacant positions through social media and via other relevant networks, however, in the interest of ensuring quorum is met for future meetings it is recommended by staff to make the proposed amendment.

Internal Consultations

This Committee sits under the City Lifestyles Directorate, and therefore, Manager – Community Connections, and Community Capacity Builder – Homelessness, have both been consulted.

External Consultations

As this is considered to be a minor amendment that will not affect or change the Committees Purpose or Role, it was not deemed necessary to undertake any external consultation, noting that the Committee will review this report before the meeting.

Homelessness Advisory Committee – Thursday 01 February 2024

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HT23.21 Action Table Report 30 November 2023

HPERM Ref: D23/448888

Department: Community Connections

Approver: Jane Lewis, Director - City Lifestyles

Attachments: 1. Homelessness Advisory Committee Action Table 30 November 2023 ⇩

Reason for Report

The purpose of this report is to provide the Homelessness Advisory Committee (HAC) with a progress report on outstanding actions.

Recommendation (Item to be determined under delegated authority)

That the Homelessness Advisory Committee:

1. Accept and receive the Action Table Report for information.

2. Consider the following action as complete and remove from the Action Table:

a. CL23.146 Membership - Homelessness Taskforce Shoalhaven - Appointment - Thrive Together Fair 2023.

b. HT23.16 - Homelessness Advisory Committee Terms of Reference Implementation - Voting Aboriginal Organisation - Seek Consensus

Options

1. Adopt the recommendation as written.

Implications: The Homelessness Advisory Committee is updated on progress of actions and recommendations made at previous meetings.

2. Request more information.

Implications: Members of the Homelessness Advisory Committee request further information.

Background

This report is to update the HAC on outstanding actions from previous meetings. Attachment 1 provides information regarding the status of actions and resolutions made at previous meetings, including the following update:

· CL23.146 Membership - Homelessness Advisory Committee - Appointment - Thrive Together Fair 2023.

Part 1 and 2 were endorsed and closed during the HAC meeting on 17 August 2023.

Part 3 to be closed as recruitment has taken place at the Thrive Together Fair and Thrive Together Pop Ups. Recruitment for a community representative with lived experience will continue to take place through self-referrals and referrals from service providers. The HAC community membership registration page will remain open on the Council website until this position is filled.

Should HAC members require further information on the status of the actions in the table attached, Council staff will provide as requested.

Homelessness Advisory Committee – Thursday 01 February 2024

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HT23.22 Mobile Medic

HPERM Ref: D23/477360

Submitted by: Peter Dover

Recommendation (Item to be determined under delegated authority)

That the Homelessness Advisory Committee form a focus group to research the establishment of a Mobile Medic Program in the Shoalhaven.

Details

I would suggest that the Homeless Advisory Committee of Shoalhaven City Council would look at exploring the possibility of establishing a service similar to "Street Side Medic" in the Shoalhaven area. This service would aim to provide medical assistance and advice to individuals living on the streets.

To initiate this endeavour, the Committee could propose the formation of a focus group. The focus group would collaborate with local medical providers to gather valuable insights and information. By involving these stakeholders, we can better understand the specific needs and challenges faced by the homeless population in terms of accessing medical care.

Working closely with medical professionals and taking their expert opinions into account, the focus group would then develop a comprehensive plan. This plan would outline the necessary steps and strategies for setting up the service effectively. It would include considerations such as staffing, resources, outreach methods, and coordination with existing healthcare services.

By implementing this proposed approach, the Homeless Advisory Committee would aim to create a tailored and efficient service that addresses the unique healthcare needs of individuals living on the streets in the Shoalhaven area.

Delivery Plan / Operational Plan – Reference Heading

Focus Group Establishment.

Budget Implications and Resourcing Strategy Implications

Budget would be created with grant funding options.

Terms of Reference / Delegation

The Homelessness Advisory Committee would nominate members for the focus group.

Policy Context

Nil

CEO NOTE

A service such as the one described could be scoped and developed by the committee and would need to be led by an appropriate Medical Service or Community Service provider. The funding for such a service would require external funding. The committee will need to consider potential external funding sources, such as grants to establish and deliver such a program.