Community Connections program

Accommodation targeted by the Community Connections Program(CCP) include pension-level SRS’s, rooming houses and low-cost private hotels.  It also includes some residents of public housing.  The service will provide proactive and immediate support to clients who become homeless as a result of closures to their accommodation.

Key purposes of the Community Connections Program are to:

• Enable coordinated access to mainstream and specialist services for people in the target group
• Avoid early loss of independence or institutionalisation for the target group

Key elements of the service:

• Assertive outreach (this involves proactive case finding, providing services where the person lives, (including on the street, being a mobile information, assessment and referral service)
• Engagement
• Practical Assistance
• Referral
• A case management approach  
• Flexible care funds to overcome a pressing need or crisis (ie a purchasing/brokerage capacity)

The service also has an advocacy and community development function with respect to identifying gaps and barriers within service systems and working with local and regional service networks to address these issues.