ABSTRACT
While governments are heavily engaged in developing social policy responses to address intractable, complex, “wicked” issues, such as poverty, homelessness, drug addiction and crime, resolving these issues in the long-term through government action has been problematic. Homelessness is a critical area to develop new approaches for securing better outcomes for members of society, as housing is considered a basic right for citizens (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 2008) and homelessness is a problem that has outweighed the resources and policy intent dedicated to it by traditional “emergency” service delivery approaches (Culhane and Metraux, 2008; Gladwell, 2006). Not only is homelessness a social issue that affects many individuals, including young people, those with mental illness, drug and alcohol problems or a history of family violence, recent research that identified those who are without shelter has expanded to include new categories, such as family homelessness brought on by rental shortage and financial stress.
