The Western Australian government has launched the second five-year Action Plan under its 10-Year Homelessness Strategy, establishing a updated roadmap for service delivery and early intervention across the state.
The five-year plan builds on the foundations of the All Paths Lead to a Home framework. The second phase focuses on four key priorities: sustaining current momentum, expanding preventative measures, intervening earlier, and rigorously measuring long-term success.
As part of the initial rollout, Homelessness Minister Matthew Swinbourn has directed the Department of Communities to establish a dedicated Lived Experience Advisory Panel. The panel aims to ensure that people who have directly experienced homelessness play a central role in guiding state policy and service design.
The Action Plan maintains support for flagship state initiatives, including the ongoing rollout of Common Ground supported housing facilities and Aboriginal Short Stay Accommodation services.
The strategy addresses challenges unique to regional, rural, and remote areas, seeking to strengthen localised support networks outside metropolitan Perth.
Swinbourn pointed out that the updated plan reflects extensive community engagement across local councils, sector peak bodies, and individuals with lived experience.
“Over the course of the first Action Plan, we invested significantly in initiatives that supported people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, and this second Action Plan ensures that momentum continues,” Swinbourn said.
“The priorities identified reflect what we have heard from service providers and people with lived experience, whose insights remain essential to delivering effective responses to homelessness, and why it is important that one of my first actions is to imbed their voices in what we do through a Lived Experience Advisory Panel.”
