Housing and Homelessness in Bunbury

As many are aware, homelessness is a complex issue that requires a multi-agency approach. We know this is an important issue in our community, so we wanted to share an update on what the City is doing in this space.

The City is providing support and collaborating with the relevant service providers and organisations such as those involved in the Housing First strategy, with the State Government as the lead.

Homelessness is an issue being experienced around the State, country and world, it is not unique to Bunbury.

Locally, some of the City’s Community Wellbeing team members are part of the Bunbury Rough Sleepers Coordination Group – a grassroots-style group meeting fortnightly to collaborate and share information to help vulnerable people in our community.

The City is also part of a WA Alliance to End Homelessness strategic group, which meets regularly to discuss ideas and actions on current issues. The group’s current focus is mental health within the homelessness space.

We are excited to have a City representative be part of a panel at next month’s Western Australian Alliance to End Homelessness (WAAEH) summit in Fremantle. The Australian Zero Homelessness Summit 2024 brings together organisations, communities and individuals committed to ending homelessness.

The Council has formed the Homelessness and Housing Solutions Working Group, which aims to advocate for State Government funding to help increase housing in Bunbury.

Just this week, the Council endorsed the City’s strategic advocacy priorities, which include advocating for increased investment in infrastructure, services and land releases to enable housing options in Bunbury. Work is continuing on actions within the City’s Community Safety and Crime Prevention Plan which includes advocating for investment in emergency accommodation for rough sleepers and collaborating with organisations that assist those experiencing homelessness.

The City is dedicated to continuing partnerships and discussions with local support services such as Anglicare WA, the Salvation Army, InTown Lunch Centre and Doors Wide Open – just to name a few – around working together. These support services are doing incredible work in our community.

All of these initiatives, partnerships, groups and discussions are resulting in tangible actions in our community. While there is a lot of work to do to address homelessness in Bunbury, the City believes it is working hard on behalf of its community and supporting relevant agencies to the best of its ability.

We know that community safety is one of our community’s highest priorities with both the 2021 and 2023 community scorecards identifying this as an area of improvement for our residents and ratepayers. The City is proud to continue to address this community priority through work being done in the homelessness space.

We also acknowledge the State is working hard to address homelessness, not just in Bunbury, but across WA, and we thank them for their ongoing support. More information can be found on the Department of Communities website here, or the WAAEH website here.

Crisis Accommodation

If you require urgent housing please call Crisis Care on 1800 199 008 or Entry Point on 1800 124 684 for assistance.
The City of Bunbury does not provide crisis or emergency accommodation services.