Frequently asked questions
When is someone homeless?
The obvious answer is that if a person doesn't have accommodation they are homeless. A person is officially considered to be homeless when they do not have safe and secure accommodation or are at risk of losing their accommodation. For our purposes a person must have the ongoing long term legal right to use the accommodation for it to be considered secure. This means that if a woman is living in a domestic violence situation she is considered homeless even though she has accommodation. This is because it is not safe. A young person who is moving from one friend's home to another and staying a few days doesn't have secure accommodation and is therefore considered homeless. It should be noted that a person staying in a Refuge is still considered to be homeless because it is not permanent accommodation.
What causes homelessness?
The causes of homelessness are complex and varied. Addiction to Alcohol, Drugs and Gambling are commonly listed as a cause, as is domestic violence and family breakup. But it can also be as simple as a person's house burning down. Homelessness often results from some catastrophe in a person's life which is the reason that the staff at Coast Shelter Refuges not only assist the people to find accommodation but also assist them and support them in seeking solutions to the problems that have caused them to become homeless.
Who can apply for assistance?
Anyone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless is eligible for our assistance. A phone call to 02 4324 7239 will enable you to discuss the situation with one of our trained staff who will be able to suggest possible solutions to the problem being faced.
Why do I keep getting told there are no vacancies?
We have a limited number of beds and the number of people seeking accommodation far exceeds what we have available. Only about 25% of all the people requesting accommodation can be offered accommodation in our refuges simply because we don't have enough room. The other 75% have to be referred to other refuges, often out of the area, for assistance. Regrettably most of the time all of our beds are taken.
How long are people allowed to stay?
In our refuges the staff work with each individual person staying there to help them find their own safe and secure accommodation as soon as possible. The shortage of affordable housing on the Central Coast is one of our biggest problems. This causes families in our refuge to stay longer than they would normally need to. The result is that the people we are trying to help often have to stay with us three to six months.
Why not provide more accommodation?
Coast Shelter is using the Wyong Outreach Program to significantly increase the number of beds that are available and try to reduce the time that people have to stay in our refuges. Unfortunately there has been no increase in the amount of accommodation provided through the Governments Supported Accommodation Assistance Program in the last fifteen year on the Central Coast. It is only as a result of Coast Shelter seeking funds from the community and keeping administrative costs low that it able to actually provide up to 120 beds every night.
