0.5% of Australia’s population is currently homeless.

That’s 1 in every 200 people who sleep rough every night. 1 in 200 who don’t have a place to call their home.

Year 10 High Resolves ‘Hope For Home’ wishes to address some of the issues surrounding homelessness at the local, state and federal level. Homelessness is a highly concerning issue in which any progress made benefits all communities. We have decided to focus on homelessness in the Parramatta area.

We appreciate the effort that governments have already put in, but many issues still remain.

Firstly, the extension of the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH) is still not in definite territory. This is severely detrimental to many of the programs that are structured for long-term change based from this agreement. We ask for it to be extended until homelessness figures reach 0.2%. We also ask for the continuation of the NSW homelessness action plan by the NSW State Government.

We furthermore implore the Parramatta council to take more action. Parramatta’s local council policy on homelessness explores many aspects of the issue but there is no concrete plan detailing how the goals will be achieved. We request a more thorough plan, as well as incorporation of educational services for the homeless.

Please sign our petition to show your support. We greatly appreciate the effort and energy that has already been put into the issue of homelessness but more needs to be done to solve this issue.