Homelessness

With our community partners, we've developed an information card. The card is helpful for people experiencing homelessness or housing stress.

Printed copies of the card are available through key local support services. Community-facing Council staff (Customer Service, Libraries, Rangers, and Coastal Works) also share the card when it can help.

(PDF, 734KB) 

Council has endorsed a Homelessness Policy. The Policy establishes vital principles that support our work preventing and reducing homelessness and its impacts in our local area. 

The Policy informs actions aimed at:

a. Preventing, reducing and managing homelessness

b. Supporting and building capacity within the community to address homelessness

c. Developing the equity and prosperity of the city

d. Designing, developing and managing public space

e. Encouraging collaboration, community partnerships and evidence-based practices to prevent, reduce and manage homelessness. 

View Council's Homelessness Policy(PDF, 229KB)

We're working with the local Homelessness Service Sector to develop a Homelessness Sector Action Plan (HSAP). The HSAP aims to address the growing challenges relating to homelessness within the Coffs Harbour Local Government Area (LGA) and work towards solutions. 

City of Coffs Harbour provides the backbone support to the Coffs Harbour HSAP. This involves:

1. Developing an evidence-based research report to identify the critical local issues and themes relating to homelessness « We are here.

2. Preparing an action plan with activities to address the identified issues.

3. Facilitating regular action-based meetings with sector representatives for each theme identified in the research report. Meetings are an opportunity to monitor progress, build partnerships, and for Council to advocate for positive outcomes.

The HSAP is based on Collective Impact principles. Collective Impact is a collaborative approach to addressing complex social issues. Issues that no one agency, government department or organisation can solve on their own. 

For further information regarding the Homelessness Sector Action Plan, please contact the Community Planning team:

Phone: 02) 6648 4000

Email: coffs.council@chcc.nsw.gov.au

We have connected the End Street Sleeping Collaboration and By-Name List to the Homelessness Services Sector in Coffs Harbour.

End Street Sleeping Collaboration

The NSW Government has partnered with the End Street Sleeping Collaboration and homelessness services in New South Wales to halve street sleeping by 2025. Visit the NSW Government website to find out more about the NSW Government's priority to reduce homelessness

By-Name List

The By-Name List (BNL) is a database of important information on people who are street sleeping in NSW, provided with their consent. The database helps organisations match people with the most appropriate support. It also ensures that people do not have to repeat their stories to different agencies and service providers.

For more information, visit the End Street Sleeping Collaboration website

To increase understanding about Affordable Housing in our Local Government Area, we've signed up for a housing monitor service. Visit the Housing ID website to access the monitoring service and learn more about local housing

We recognise that a lack of affordable housing in the Coffs Harbour area is a significant issue.

We are currently developing Council's Affordable Housing Strategy

Safe and affordable housing is a human right. Affordable is defined in relation to income. A standard benchmark is rent costing no more than 30% of a low or moderate household's gross income.

Street Counts are conducted annually by the NSW Department of Communities and Justice to determine the number of people experiencing homelessness in towns and local government areas throughout NSW.

Gathering accurate data about the number of people experiencing homelessness is essential to deciding where to target resources and support.

In 2021, 43 people were counted in the Coffs Harbour area – down from 51 in 2020. 

Visit the NSW Government, Communities & Justice website to download the 2021 NSW State-wide Street Count Technical Paper