I agree with divine_msm we are to soft and donot take care of our own people.

An encouraging and challenging article – a few thoughts follow.
The outcome for Jodie and her children was great – although applying for 60 properties before they found an agent prepared to give them a go is an indictment on many agents and landlords who just want to maximise rental income to pay off their investment loan.

There are, however, many other homeless, often single, people who could never afford a rental bond. As Saltpetre says, more opportunities for employment together with increased training, can only be of benefit to homeless people who want to get out of that terrible rut.

Rents are cheaper in country Victoria and in most of country/regional Australia, compared with the capital cities, but are there ways of attracting the city homeless to country towns?

Local churches, as described in Rob Evers’ article, have resources which can play an important role in providing practical support to people in need. Wesley Mission and other similar agencies, could, I suggest, enlist the help of many more local churches to jointly provide various means of support . Government funding to welfare agencies is no doubt necessary to help them tackle homelessness, but agencies must try harder to make the (likely shrinking) dollars go further in the current economic climate.