This Homelessness Week, the national theme is a call to action: ‘Homelessness Action Now’ – because we’ve learned what works.’ After decades of research and frontline experience, the solutions to ending homelessness aren’t a mystery. What’s missing is action proportionate to the scale the crisis demands.
The numbers make the urgency plain. In 2024–25, more than 370,000 requests for homelessness assistance across Australia went unanswered, were turned away, or couldn’t be met with the housing or specialist support people needed.
Unassisted requests have surged 18 per cent in just one year. Almost 4 in 5 of those unmet requests come from women and children, many fleeing domestic and family violence.
People seeking asylum in Australia live on temporary visas that cut them off from almost every mainstream support: no access to Centrelink, no public housing, often no Medicare, no NDIS.
A Way Forward
Internationally, Housing First is recognised as best practice for ending long-term and recurring homelessness: give people safe, stable housing first, then wrap support around them, rather than making housing something people have to earn through “readiness.” It’s evidence-based, and it’s worked across Europe, North America and Australia.
But it was built around mainstream safety nets: Centrelink, public housing, Medicare, the NDIS. For people seeking asylum, none of that exists.
House of Welcome’s Welcome Start Transitional Housing (WSTH) program adapts Housing First for people seeking asylum: safe accommodation paired with case management, tenancy mentoring, employment support and referrals to legal, health and education services.
A dedicated stream offers safe, shared housing for women seeking asylum who can’t access refuge services because of their visa status, including those escaping domestic violence.
In the last financial year House of Welcome programs have supported:
- 115 people housed every night
- 16 properties managed
- 52 tenancies sustained long-term
Over the past year, House of Welcome has pushed for structural reform through the Sydney Alliance Temporary Migrants team, advocating to Homes NSW to expand housing access for temporary visa holders in crisis.
In May 2026, House of Welcome joined the Refugee Council of Australia, Asylum Seekers Centre, Jesuit Refugee Service Australia and other partners in a coordinated push to the NSW and Federal Governments for expanded eligibility for people seeking asylum in crisis.
Source: House of Welcome