Better Together Housing - June 2022
As of 30th of June, Better Together Housing (BTH) will have reached the end of it’s first phase of funding in Mackay. Greater Whitsunday Communities acknowledged this with a Check-in event to review the year that has passed and to workshop ideas for the next 12 months with project stakeholders.
Coast2Bay Project Officer for BTH on the Sunshine Coast, Rebecca Grisman visited Mackay to be part of the review and to come along to one of our Get Togethers. Rebecca met women engaged in the project, members of our Regional Advisory Group and other community stakeholders.
The attendees were given an update of how Greater Whitsundays had delivered on their key obligations under the funding agreement and partnership benchmarks outlined at the commencement of BTH in Mackay.
There was great input from all participants, with suggestions of how to grow membership and support women into the program and identifying enablers to women’s housing security. There was consensus that streamlining the intake and induction process for women entering the program was a priority, with the suggestion of support from volunteers, development of FAQ’s and a matching tool. Furthermore, a layered approach was proposed to facilitate connections with crisis services to assist women requiring more immediate support. This would be useful in addressing the challenges we are seeing in both the Sunshine Coast and Mackay regions around the increasing number of women reaching out to BTH when their housing situation is reaching a more critical point.
Lobbying to all levels of Government to ensure that the issues and impacts are heard, and recognized, in our Region was identified as an important factor in enabling long term housing solutions and initiatives. Access full notes from the check-in here.
GWCommunities finished by stating our intention to use a co-design process with women participants of the program to identify how we can support them more fully in the suggested intake and induction processes. We also hope to start exploring the gaps to support in housing needs for their cohort. We look forward to another 12 months of working alongside the women and community partners of Better Together Housing in Mackay.
Read more about the Better Together Housing Project here