The Hon Scott Morrison, MP

Minister for Social Services

PO Box 6022

House of Representatives

Parliament House

Canberra ACT 2600

CC: The Hon Tony Abbott MP, Prime Minister

9 February 2015

Dear Minister Morrison,

Re: you do your budget planning on  a four-yearly cycle; please let us do the same

We know that the Federal Government cares about ending homeslessness; the $115 million investment in the National Partnershp Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH) is evidence of that.

The annual suspense as we await confirmation that the NPAH funding will be extended for a further 12 months leaves our clients and workforce anxious, and our homelessness services hamstrung. This year is the third year in a row that homelessness services have been on tenterhooks as to whether we can continue our work.

We cannot negotiate with our staff whose contracts soon expire. We cannot tell clients that the programs they have relied on will continue. We must carefully deliberate whether to accept new clients into those programs which have a long-term delivery model.

Women and children fleeing domestic violence, young people who can't stay with their families and long-term rough sleepers looking for a bed for the night are all affected by the lack of certainlty that a one-year funding cycle creates.

You do your budget planning on a four-yearly cycle, please let us do the same. Please commit to a four-year National Homelessness Partnershp Agreement and give homelessness services the certainty we need to deliver housing and support to vulnerable people.

Yours sincerely

signatories of 59 Peak housing and homelessness services across Australia