Household Organisational Management Expenses (HOME) Advice Program: evaluation report 2007

The Household Organisational Management Expenses (HOME) Advice Program is an Australian Government early intervention initiative designed to assist families who are at risk of becoming homeless. It is a highly flexible early intervention program with the capacity to respond to the broad range of issues which may contribute to a family's housing instability. The program uses a holistic, strengths based, family centred practice approach to provide support to the whole family unit including parents, children and other household members. A unique component of the program is its capacity to respond quickly and effectively to a family’s income support issues through a dedicated Centrelink HOME Advice social worker specifically designated to work with the program and its client families. Family homelessness has become a major issue for homelessness policy and practice and families make up a significant group within the broader homeless population. The precursor to the HOME Advice Program was the Family Homelessness Prevention Pilot (FHPP) which began in 2002 with the Australian Government committing $5 million over 3 years. The program is an initiative under the National Homelessness Strategy and signified the first national early intervention effort directed specifically to family homelessness prevention. In the 2004–05 budget the Australian Government committed $10.4 million over four years to the HOME Advice Program. The HOME Advice Program represents an important national level strategic partnership between an Australian Government department (FaCSIA), an Australian Government agency (Centrelink) and non-government service providers. Currently, there are eight HOME Advice Program sites, one in each state and territory.