EDSocialJusticeStreet2Home

= __Melbourne Street to Home Program__ =

===Australia's main cities have been conducting a program called Street to Home over the last year. This involves finding the 50 most vulnerable 'rough sleepers' in Melbourne's CBD and putting their lives back on track. The term 'rough sleepers' refers to those who physically sleep on the street. The program works to collects the homeless with a street advertised registration day.The 2011 registration day brought in 137 people who were all surveyed but unfortunately this program could only bring in 50 of whom they believed were the worst on the streets. The survey was quite diverse as it included 114 men, 22 woman and 1 transgender with ages ranging from a 14 year old girl to an 84 year old woman.===

===The survey showed that the average time for these homeless people to be sleeping on the street consistently was eight years and that average age for those in the survey was 41.The survey asked how long they had been on the street, living conditions and how they get by without a job.The program picked the fifty who they believed were going through the hardest times and put them in to the program.The 2011 program is expected to be great, due to the success of the 2010 program. The original program in 2010 ended up putting 36 of the 50 into permanent housing with jobs, health care and support services. Seven people were being given positive outreach to deal with the various addictions they may have, two were put into disability accommodation and three people were put into temporary accommodation. Unfortunately, three people passed away during this program.===

===This survey once again proved that being homeless is only one of the many problems for these rough sleepers. 72% of the people had serious medical conditions but 45% of them have regular hospital visits. Extremely regular in fact with 455 visits between the 45% this is possibly such a high number because it is off the street.===

These conditions are all extremely serious, with the highest rate of diseases within that 72% being:

 * ===75% have mental health issues===
 * ===37% have Hepatitis C===
 * ===32% have Heart Disease===

===This program of course does need funding and there is no shortage of that. There are 80 different people from 30 different organisations in and around Melbourne that contribute to the program in some way.These organisations are mainly those that deal with the major problems these people are dealing with, such as addictions,medical conditions and housing issues.===

===I am extremely glad that there is a program that specifically focuses on the 'rough sleepers' of Melbourne's CBD. I am glad that these rough sleepers are being helped from all sides of their lives. I hope that this years results are just as successful as last years.===

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