As people with higher and higher needs are allocated public housing in Redfern and Waterloo the need for integrated service delivery grows. It is necessary to ensure people have their complex needs addressed and can maintain their tenancies, and that they do not impact adversely on their neighbours.
Improving human service co-ordination has been a stated government goal for over 10 years. It was a focus following the Morgan Disney Review in 2004 and was a focus of the Redfern-Waterloo Authority (RWA) with its top-down Human Service Plans, Senior Officers Implementation Group and Ministerial Advisory Committee. On the ground, little changed. Many groups ceased meeting with the wind-up of the RWA.
Discussions have been underway over the last six months between REDWatch and key government and non-government services about the need for a new move to co-ordinate the delivery of government services especially into public housing. A number of meetings between agencies such as Health, Police, Housing NSW and Council have been held with encouraging signs. Recently, a wider meeting of government agencies including important agencies like Probation and Parole met and decided they will hold monthly Redfern-Waterloo service co-ordination meetings. The involvement of non-government representatives is also being explored.
