The Salvation Army Australia National Homelessness Stream

From the amalgamation of the Australian Eastern and Southern Territories, and the establishment of The Salvation Army's Australia Territory in 2018, and following the restructuring of the Social Mission department into four distinct national streams - Homelessness, Alcohol and Other Drugs, Youth, and Family and Domestic Violence - each stream has been tasked with producing a Model of Care.

The Homelessness Stream Model of Care brings together in a single foundational document the evidence, research, practice wisdom, learnings, and experience to provide a consistent and informed approach to homelessness service provision, across the range of programs and services that make up Homelessness Stream.

In developing this Model of Care, the Homelessness Stream National Team has adopted a consultative approach within the Homelessness Stream and has worked with the other Social Mission streams to produce one in a group of related documents: recognisably Social Mission; distinctly Homelessness Stream. It is anticipated that this Social Mission suite of Models of Care will not only underpin practice and service development in each stream but, through wide availability of each Model of Care to each stream workforce, contribute to a sound understanding of related areas of work for The Salvation Army's workforce as a whole

The development of the Homelessness Stream Model of Care is part of The Salvation Army's commitment to ensure that practice wisdom, the voices of those with lived experience, and contemporary evidence-based research and literature, guide and inform our response to those experiencing or at risk of homelessness. It is acknowledged that, as good practice and research is ever evolving, there is a commitment to ongoing review and evaluation of the Model of Care.

Together with other supporting documents, the Model of Care will enable the Homelessness Stream workforce to provide consistent, quality, innovative services that place individuals and their flourishing at the centre.

Our vision is for the Model of Care to sit within a Homelessness Toolkit, available to all of our workforce to learn and grow from, be supported by, and contribute to.