The meeting reignited critical discussions regarding Australia’s housing and homelessness crisis. Photo: Phil Bayne. A recent meeting between Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA) CEO Dr Jerry Nockles and Ben Rimmer, Director-General of the Housing Group in the Federal Department of Treasury, has reignited critical discussions regarding Australia’s housing and homelessness crisis. Du...

An invitation to listen and to act. Image: Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. Australia’s Catholic bishops have urged courage and tenderness in addressing the nation’s cost-of-living crisis in their latest social justice statement, The Cost of our Living: Economic and Social Justice for the Common Good. “Across Australia, many of our sisters and brothers are burdened by the rising c...

SVDP WA President Danny Cloghan speaks at the 160th Anniversary Mass on 25 October at St Mary’s Cathedral. Photo: Supplied. By Jamie O'Brien Twenty-twenty-five marks a remarkable milestone for the St Vincent de Paul Society in Western Australia in celebrating 160 years of steadfast service to those in need. The celebrations culminated with a moving Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral on 25 Oc...

This revitalisation month includes a heartfelt invitation for those not yet involved in the Society to consider how they might be able to put their faith in action and in a practical way show a profound commitment to the dignity of every human person and the call to solidarity.

The majority of Australia’s homeless are not sleeping in doorways or tents in parks, but in less conspicuous settings, such as cars, couch-surfing or low-cost boarding houses or motels.

The Australia Institute’s report found people were overwhelmingly supportive of government measures to reduce child poverty, with four-in-five (81 per cent) agreeing that household income support payments should be set at a rate that did not cause any child in Australia to live in poverty.

St Vincent De Paul Society National President Mark Gaetani has said the annual report by the AIHW is further confirmation that the country’s homelessness situation is exceedingly bleak and shows few if any signs of improving.

The $24.4 million Program will help financially vulnerable WA tenants remain in their private rental homes.

Under the Program, community service organisations like St Vincent De Paul Society WA will identify tenants in need through their existing services and networks and will assist those tenants in applying for relief.

This year’s Anti-Poverty Week, which took place from 15 to 27 October, shone a light on the children of families who receive inadequate social security payments and depend on emergency support from charities such as St Vincent de Paul Society.

Work should be, the statement from St Vincent De Paul Society explained, for the common good, with employees treated as people first and not units of labour to be used for purely economic ends.