LMH chief Ken Marchingo said the Rudd Government’s The Road Home white paper put an end to the “tit-for-tat over the bones of homeless people” that had been going on for too long.

The Government aims to halve the number of people affected by homelessness over the next decade. By 2020, the Government has committed to building 50,000 affordable rental homes for low and moderate income earners, and around 3000 homes for people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness. The white paper delivers a 55 per cent increase on the current investment in homelessness, which equates to an extra $800 million over four years.

It also includes a $400 million commitment to additional social housing for homeless people during the next two financial years. The paper addresses the causes of homelessness and provides a framework for preventing homelessness from occurring in the first place. It also sets out ways to strengthen the provision of services for homeless Australians, and aims to bring together services to ensure people who become homeless get the full range of support they need, rather than leaving them to navigate a complex system alone.

More than 100,000 people are homeless each night and about 16,000 sleep rough. Mr Marchingo said he was pleased with the depth of the white paper, and that it identified the causes of homelessness while proposing a wide range of solutions.

He said encouraging mainstream services to work together was a positive step forward.

“There was some risk from the cynics that it would be a short term knee-jerk reaction but we haven’t got that . . . we’ve got a plan to 2020,” Mr Marchingo said.

“To me this is very exciting.

“It’s exactly what we’ve been trying to do for 10 years and confirms the direction our service has been taking for more than a decade” It’s about turning off the tap of demand and getting to the cause of it. “When you get people of good will who are prepared to have a crack at a problem, and back it up with systemic responses and put money into it, anything is achievable.” Mr Marchingo said the white paper was influenced by the thinking behind an innovative pilot project - YP4 - that has been running for four years and involves Melbourne City Mission, the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Hanover Welfare Services and Loddon Mallee Housing.

YP4 looks at how organisations assisting homeless people can work together. “It’s finding ways in which services can link up in a more cohesive way and have a common approach,” Mr Marchingo said.