Connecting Home
COVID-19 service delivery update - (click to close)
We understand that the current situation with COVID-19 can be overwhelming and cause additional housing stress.
All Social Futures essential services remain open. Our staff are working flexibly to continue to meet your needs while ensuring we keep our community safe. We are here to help young people and adults who are experiencing homelessness or risk of homelessness through our Connecting Home program.
To help minimise the risk of spreading COVID-19 we will primarily provide support over the phone with face to face appointments in exceptional circumstances only. If required to meet in person, we will practice physical distancing of at least 2 metres and will keep the meeting under 15 minutes.
If you or someone you know is experiencing or is at risk of homelessness, please call 1800 048 310 (Monday-Friday 9am-4.30pm).
Please note, many more people than usual are accessing our services at this time. If we can’t answer your call straight away, please leave a message with your number so we can return it as soon as possible.
In an emergency you can call Link2home on 1800 152 152 – this number is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year.
“Support for youth, men, women and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness”
Connecting Home works with people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, to achieve long-term housing goals. This might be through supporting people to reconnect with their families or by helping people to find secure accommodation options. Connecting Home is an early intervention and prevention service which engages people prior to crisis to ensure people stay housed. It also provides crisis response through emergency short-term accommodation in collaboration with Housing NSW and the state-wide Link2Home Service.
Connecting Home Youth Team also includes Northern Youth project which assists young people (16-24 years old) by intervening early to prevent homelessness, or assist people who are already experiencing homelessness to break the cycle of homelessness.
Where do we work?
Social Futures and the Communities North Consortium are delivering specialist homelessness services across the Northern District including Tweed, Byron, Ballina, Lismore, Kyogle, Richmond and Clarence Local Government Areas.
Who can we help?
Through Connecting Home we can work with youth (people aged 16-24 years old); we can provide accommodation support to people who are 18 years old or over and we can also provide specialist complex case management for people aged over 18 years old.
Our Consortium Partners
The Connecting Home Consortium brings together Specialist Homeless Services and mainstream services to provide an integrated, district-wide response to homelessness building on strong local/District presence and networks. Social Futures is Lead Agency of the Consortium. Members include:
- Byron Bay Community Centre
- Rekindling the Spirit representing Northern NSW Aboriginal Health Alliance
- St Vincent De Paul – Lismore Diocese
- The Family Centre Inc
- North Coast Community Housing company Ltd
Connecting Home supports young people, men, women and families who are homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness to: remain safely in their existing housing; find secure, stable housing; or sustain their accommodation once housed.
Contact
Phone:1800 048 310 (9am-4.30pm)Email: [email protected]
In an emergency call Link2Home
1800 152 152 (24 hours)
Connecting Home is delivered by the Connecting Home Consortium and is funded under the Specialist Homelessness Services program. It covers three key areas: Accommodation and support service, Youth homelessness and support service, Complex case homelessness support service.
Program resources
Download our brochure here:
Have a look at our Homelessness Exposed Photography Exhibition Homelessness Exposed: sharing the stories of people who have experienced homelessness was a photographic exhibition that aimed to raise awareness of the changing face of homelessness, challenge negative stereotypes and promote the Connecting Home program. It was held at the Lismore’s Dragonfly Café to raise awareness of Homelessness Prevention Week 2015 (August 3-9, 2015).
Read the ABC Article here: https://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2015/08/06/4287905.htm Listen to the ABC interview:
Related programs and services
Anita – I’m telling my story because more people need to know
Life took a dramatic turn in 2015, when 53-year-old Byron Bay woman, Anita Carden, went hiking in New Zealand with her husband. “We were walking back from a glacier. Easy. A really easy walk. And I rolled an ankle. That’s all. I didn’t sprain it,” Anita said. “I...
Green shoots for Michael as the drought breaks
The recent drought-breaking rain across central New South Wales has brought smiles at long last to the faces of long-suffering landholders and residents, among them Michael Beh. “One of my hobbies is photography and since I started getting support from the National...
Chesney flies the coop
For parents, Ross and Sandy Bailey the NDIS provided great relief when their 19-year-old son, Chesney had his first National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plan approved four years ago. Chesney, who grew up 50 kilometres outside of Forbes on his parent’s farm, has...
Dirty Laundry Day Project 2020
Today is White Ribbon Day. It is a day for difficult conversations. A day to talk about domestic and family violence, which is sadly inherent in our communities. We know that this kind of violence thrives in secrecy, so it is important to shed a light on it. To remove...
Rob’s come along in leaps and bounds
At 67, Broken Hill man Rob Lindsay has lived with an intellectual difficulty all his life. “There just weren’t assessments for that sort of thing when Rob was younger”, said his sister Joan. “At school, he didn’t keep up, that’s just the way it was. When he left...
Website survey – 2020 – promotional terms of entry
Fill out our survey for your chance to win one of 6 prizes sharing $300 in shopping vouchers! Our survey takes 2-3 mins and by answering all our questions you are automatically entered into the draw. Follow this link here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9MWVJTN to...
Jack’s Story: Gazing into a new future
Jack Pellizzer is in his last year of high school in Broken Hill. He likes school and, like most 18-year-old boys, he also likes music and movies. But until recently it was difficult for him to tell people what he liked and wanted. Jack has a number of undiagnosed...
Supporting regional transport solutions
There are lots of people working hard to improve transport options for our communities. Social Futures convene transport working groups throughout the Northern Rivers as a part of our Transport Development Project. The groups bring together public, private and...
Back to school vouchers for children affected by bushfires
Students affected by the 2019/20 fire season have been getting a little help with their school expenses thanks to a grant from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal. Social Futures, along with the Northern Rivers Community Foundation (NRCF), worked through 35...
Elise moves into a home of her own
Moving into your own home is a special milestone but for Elise Miller, it holds extra significance. Elise has finally had the birthday party she's dreamed of for so long, with friends, family and other supporters celebrating in her new purpose-built home. The sociable...