The new National Housing and Homelessness Plan (NHHP) provides us with an opportunity to focus on improving access to housing and decreasing the rates of homelessness across Australia. National consistency in the provision of housing policy and homelessness services is vital for successful outcomes in Australia. 

Our recommendations for the new plan include: 

• Identifies ways to capture unmet need for the growing cohort of people not able to access support from a Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS) 

• Recognises the need to urgently increase the amount of available, affordable and accessible housing stock. 

• Supports the identification and additional resourcing of early intervention and prevention services to ensure dedicated services are established and federally funded to prevent people from entering the homelessness system and requiring the support of SHS’s.