Homelessness

Waverley Council acknowledges the existence of homeless people in the Waverley area. People are considered homeless when they are without accommodation that is safe, secure, appropriate and affordable. Homelessness can result from a range of factors including unemployment, poverty, cultural disadvantage, ill health and particularly poor mental health.

Stages of homelessness - Tertiary, Secondary and Primary - are terms used to describe the degree of homelessness people are subject to.

Council recognises that the most vulnerable of these groups are Primary homeless, being people without any conventional accommodation who sleep rough, mostly outdoors. This Protocol has been developed to assist all Council Officers in providing support to the Primary homeless, ’ rough sleepers’, to increase their access to services and to minimise the negative impacts homelessness has on their lives.

This document is driven by Waverley Council’s commitment to “sustain all the members of its community, contributing to their safety and security and their social and cultural enrichment". (Management Plan 2004-07)

Download the full homeless persons protocol here