What does it take to truly end homelessness for people seeking asylum?  Gabrielle Leafe, Capacity Building Manager at JRS Australia, shares reflections from the HomelessnessNSW Conference.

Attending the HomelessnessNSW Conference in March highlighted both the progress and gaps in how New South Wales addresses homelessness. While most, if not all, in the audience recognised that homelessness is a systemically manufactured issue, its solution requires a fundamental understanding that everyone counts, including those holding temporary visas.  

In her keynote address, Leilani Farha, Global Director of the Shift and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, grounded the concept of ‘home’ in something deeply personal, her sofa. Leilani reminded us that home is not abstract; it is intimate, essential, and a fundamental human right. Leilani highlighted the urgent need to reframe our collective thinking from a world where housing is treated as a commodity to one where home is everything.  

A key theme emerging across discussions was the shift toward a whole-of-system, Housing First-oriented approach, reflected in the NSW Homelessness Strategy 2025–2035 and its associated Action Plan. This Strategy articulates a clear ambition: to make homelessness “rare, brief and not repeated” through coordinated, person-centred, and prevention-focused responses.  

This tension between aspiration and reality was particularly evident when considering the position of people seeking asylum and other temporary visa holders. Despite living, working, and contributing to communities across New South Wales, this cohort remains largely excluded from housing support products due to their visa and income status. As a result, those experiencing acute housing stress are often left without access to the very systems designed to respond to homelessness. 

While the Strategy acknowledges this gap and calls for a ‘coordinated approach to address and fill the gap caused by the exclusion of people in these demographics from mainstream support services like Centrelink, public housing, and emergency accommodation’, it does not provide clear pathways for how this inclusion will be operationalised in practice. 

From a practice perspective, this creates a fundamental contradiction: the system aspires to end homelessness yet continues to exclude people based on visa status. Homelessness among people seeking asylum is often not episodic, but is structurally produced. Raising the question: can homelessness ever be “rare, brief and not repeated” if entire cohorts are systemically excluded from housing pathways? 

The conference’s second keynote speaker, Juha Kaakinen, reflected on Finland’s success in reducing homelessness through a sustained Housing First approach. During the presentation, an audience member asked whether people seeking asylum were included within this model. Juha explained that their needs are addressed through a separate but coordinated system. 

While this is not a detailed analysis of the Finnish asylum process, it is significant that the housing needs of people seeking asylum are still explicitly recognised and planned for within the broader system. In Finland, people seeking asylum are initially accommodated through state-supported reception centres, with access to housing, financial support, and services while their claims are processed. Once granted residency, individuals are supported to transition into municipalities, where Housing First principles apply. Learn more here. 

While the New South Wales Homelessness Strategy 2025–2035 and its Action Plan articulate a commitment to Housing First, implementation remains constrained by eligibility-based systems. Encouragingly, Homes NSW has indicated it is in the early stages of exploring reforms, including reviewing private rental products, developing person-centred funding packages, and strengthening local care coordination models in consultation with frontline agencies working with people seeking asylum and other temporary visa holders. 

In New South Wales, while there is growing recognition of the issue, people seeking asylum remain largely dependent on under-resourced frontline services, with limited access to the structural supports required for long-term housing stability. A Housing First approach that is needs-based (rather than one determined by visa or Centrelink status) would allow for targeted support, delivered in partnership with frontline agencies, without placing undue strain on the system. 

Ultimately, if New South Wales is to realise its vision of ending homelessness, it must extend beyond reforming services to addressing structural exclusion. The conference reinforced that progress is being made, but also that without deliberate inclusion of people seeking asylum, the system risks leaving some of the most vulnerable behind. 

Want to learn more?

You can read JRS Australia’s submission regarding the NSW Homelessness Strategy Action Plan 2025–2027 here.