Ending Rough Sleeping Collaboration Byron Shire

When it comes to ending rough sleeping in the Byron Shire, we believe in the power of collective actions:

Amplifying the voices of people with lived experience

The Collaboration is guided by the voices of our paid Lived Experience Consultants. These are people with lived experience of homelessness, who inform how solutions are designed and implemented.   

 Local Leadership 

Our Local Leaders Group is made up of representatives from member organisations. They meet regularly to provide strategic direction to the Collaboration.

They bring their lived experience, community perspectives and technical knowledge to the work and champion the initiative.  

Speaking with one voice 

We speak with one voice to create positive change. Our collective advocacy has resulted in the creation of:  

• Assertive Outreach Byron Program 
• Homeless Health Outreach Team
• Byron Shire Council Public Space Liaison Officers
• Northern Rivers Zero 

Other collective advocacy efforts: 

• Joint Submission to the Draft NSW Homelessness Strategy 2025-2035(PDF, 211KB)
• Member of the Homelessness NSW Temporary Accommodation Working Group 
• Addressing barriers for people with pets who are homeless – with Northern Rivers Zero 
• Advocacy during Extreme Weather Events  

Bringing services together  

Our Service Coordination Group meets monthly to improve support and housing outcomes for people sleeping rough in Byron Shire.

The group includes members from over 25 organisations such as:  

• Local Specialist Homelessness Services  
• Community housing providers  
• Outreach teams such as Assertive Outreach Byron and Homeless Health Outreach Team  
• Byron Shire Council Public Space Liaison Officers  
• Health services 

Investigating alternative housing models  

Our Housing Working Group is focused on finding alternative housing models.

Listening to local community voices  

Our 1000 Voices Project is helping us deeply listen to the hopes, challenges, and ideas of the Byron Shire community on local homelessness.  

Coordinating efforts  

The Ending Rough Sleeping Collaboration Byron Shire Backbone Team supports and coordinates the Collaboration and is based at Byron Shire Council.

The Backbone Team is co-funded by Byron Shire Council and the Siddle Family Foundation.  

• Assertive Outreach Byron  
• Australian Alliance to End Homelessness  
• Byron Shire Council
• Bruns Brekky
• Bangalow Byron Bay Uniting Church
• Charles Sturt University  
• Community Solutions  
• End Street Sleeping Collaboration  
• Fletcher Street Cottage  
• Healthy Hub Connect  
• Healthy North Coast  
• Homeless Health Outreach Team  
• Homelessness NSW
• Homes NSW  
• House You  
• Liberation Larder  
• Momentum Collective
• Mullumbimby District Neighbourhood Centre  
• Northern Rivers Community Foundation  
• Northern Rivers Housing  
• Northern Rivers Zero  
• NSW Health
• Open Minds  
• Orange Sky
• Safe Haven  
• Social Futures  
• The Buttery  
• The Family Centre  
• The Shift Project  
• Uniting
• Uniting Church  
• Vinnies  
• Women’s Village Collective 

As a collective we have identified the following solutions that may help to address the homelessness crisis in Byron Shire:   

• Legislate a right to housing at National and State levels, including the need for a National Housing and Homelessness Plan. Let’s recognise housing as a human right, not a commodity.  
• Increase public and social housing in Byron Shire. Social housing makes up just 1.8% of total local housing stock in Byron Shire, compared with the 4.71% State average. Let’s increase it to at least 10% of local housing stock.   
• Increase the number of Temporary Accommodation providers in Byron Shire. Despite having the second highest number of people sleeping rough in NSW, there are only 3 Temporary Accommodation providers in Byron Shire and without housing pathways, these vacancies become bottlenecked.
• Provide sufficient funding for local homelessness and other services so they can support everyone who comes to them for help. The services that support people in need of a home are under increasing pressure. Homelessness NSW says one in two people are being turned away from services due to lack of resources. 
• Provide permanent housing with wrap around support services in Byron Shire, as some people require support once they find a home. Successful permanent supportive housing models which have a strong social return on investment include Common Ground, Youth Foyers and Haven. 
• Regulate Short Term Rental Accommodation (STRA).  As part of Byron Shire Council’s Residential Housing Strategy 2041 and with help from the NSW Planning Minister, we have put a new cap on unhosted Short-Term Rental Accommodation to 60 days per year.  
• Increase affordable housing through land and housing initiatives. We are working on a variety of initiatives to address the chronic shortage of affordable housing in the Byron Shire.  
• Take a compassionate, respectful and proactive approach to issues arising from homelessness in public spaces. Our Public Space Liaison Officers work with the community, local businesses, service providers and people sleeping rough.  
• Support people who are sleeping rough to get the help they need. Local services and organisations (the Collaborations Service Coordination Group) meet monthly to coordinate care and support for people sleeping rough in Byron Shire. They use the By-Name List to support positive outcomes. Byron Shire now has now an Assertive Outreach Byron Program and Homeless Health Outreach Team.  
• Reform the tax system to abolish negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount costing the Government approximately $20 billion per year. Let’s redirect these funds into building public housing, so that everyone has a place to call home. Doing this would also reduce speculation on the property market.