HomeGround Supportive Housing - HomeGround Services

Case study:660 Elizabeth Street, the first home ofHomeGround Supportive HousingIn April 2008, a site at the edge of theCBD was announced as the future homeof HomeGround Supportive Housing.A partnership between the VictorianGovernment, YCH and developer Grocon,will transform the site into a home foraround 120 people, with HomeGroundServices providing the associated health,training, support and employmentservices to be located on site.April 2008 site launchArtist’s impression>Grocon generously announced it wouldconstruct the facility at cost, a significantcontribution while HomeGround Serviceswill co-ordinate the provision of health,legal, educational, recreational, wellnessand support services together witharound-the-clock security andconcierge services.Further support for this pioneering initiativecame in the shape of a $3.1 million (overfour years) allocation to fund servicedelivery at 660 Elizabeth Street, partof the 2008-09 Victorian Budget.Making the modelwork in MelbourneHomeGround Supportive Housing representsa new approach to ending homelessnessthrough collaboration between state andlocal governments, business, philanthropyand agencies.An imaginative model, it looks to providesocial connectedness for the formerlyhomeless and provide a dynamic social mix.To achieve this, HomeGround Services isdeveloping a coalition of partners that willbuild on existing links between interconnectedservice systems and government, and willprovide a body of experience and expertisewithin Melbourne.Rosanne Haggerty founder and presidentof Common Ground, a leader in SupportiveHousing in the USA has an internationalprofile, successfully influencing government,business and philanthropy to create SupportiveHousing in various parts of the USA as well asin other part of the country.HomeGround Services has developed arelationship with its American counterpartand hosted Rosanne during her November2007 visit to Melbourne to address sectorforums, meet with government, and advocatethe benefits of Supportive Housing. A monthlater, several HomeGround Services staffvisited Supportive Housing projects inLos Angeles and New York. This informationsharing and knowledge transfer has clarifiedthe success and potential of SupportiveHousing and solidified HomeGround’s resolveto actively influence the development ofSupportive Housing models in Melbourne.In March 2008, on a visit to New York,Thére`se Rein, wife of the Australian PrimeMinister, Kevin Rudd, stopped in at theCommon Ground project. Impressed bythe facility and the benefits it delivered itsformerly homeless residents, she indicated hersupport for bringing the concept to Australiaand subsequently was announced Patron ofthe Australian Common Ground Alliance,a national network founded byHomeGround Services.The HomeGround Supportive Housing Modelis not just about the dwellings within whichpeople live but the support services theyreceive and the connections they maketo the community around them. It is aboutcreating a sense of belonging in a home anda community.12 13