50 Lives 50 Homes
Building on the success of the innovative 50 Lives 50 Home project, Ruah is now a dedicated partner organisation of the Zero Project – Housing First Coordination for WA working with communities across the Perth metropolitan area, Geraldton, Mandurah, Bunbury and Rockingham.
As the lead agency in the 50 Lives 50 Homes campaign, Ruah brought together a raft of services and sector partners in a coordinated campaign which housed hundreds of Perth’s most vulnerable rough sleepers. The program provided holistic support to help participants find and maintain stable accommodation and to address other financial, legal, medical and social challenges.
The dynamic program coordinated housing agencies, health providers, mental health and community services, to identify vulnerable people, match them to appropriate housing – with round-the-clock support available, through the After Hours Support Service, to reduce their risk of returning to homelessness.
The project demonstrated the effectiveness of Ruah’s commitment to ‘Housing First’ – an internationally evidenced model that uses a recovery-oriented approach to ending homelessness. The model aims to quickly move people into independent and permanent housing and then providing supports and services as they are needed.
On average, most participants had been without homes for more than five years. The concept has shown outstanding results, with significant reductions in hospital admissions, a 45% reduction in re-offending and an 80% reduction in drug offences.
The program was awarded the Mercy Foundation Cath O’Leary Social Justice Award in 2018.
Funding support is provided by the Sisters of St John of God and the project is independently evaluated by University of WA researchers. Read the evaluation reports.
Thank you to our partner agencies
55 Central | Access Housing | AnglicareWA | Bethanie | Centrecare | Community Housing Ltd | Cyrenian House | Department of Communities | Department of Justice | Department of Human Services | Fiona Stanley Hospital | First Nations Homelessness Project | Foundation Housing | Homeless Healthcare | Homeless Outreach Dual Diagnosis Service | Links Youth Mental Health Support Program | Mental Health Homeless Pathways Project | MercyCare | Mission Australia | Mobile Clinical Outreach Team | Noongar Mia Mia | Nyoongar Outreach | Outcare | Perth Inner City Youth Service | Royal Perth Hospital | Rise Network | Salvation Army | Sisters of St John of God | St Bartholomew’s House | St Patrick’s Community Support Service | St Vincent de Paul Society WA | Tenancy WA | UnitingCare West | WA Alliance to End Homelessness | WA Police Force | WA Primary Health Alliance | Wungening Aboriginal Corporation
20 Lives 20 Homes
Based on the success of 50 Lives 50 Homes, Ruah has extended the program to house and support 20 of the most vulnerable street-present homeless people in Fremantle. The project is a collaboration between Ruah, St Patrick’s Community Support Centre, Foundation Housing and the Department of Communities, with generous support from a number of private sector organisations.