In an effort to deliver better outcomes and prevent homelessness in South Australia, the South Australian government has run a competitive tender of homelessness services in the state under a new structure. It sought responses from alliances of social service organisations to work together to address problems in the homelessness system under a single funding contract for an entire region covering all homeless cohorts. The previous system for the Adelaide City and South region was a series of separate funding agreements across 15 different agencies without a common outcomes framework or formal methods to interconnect between services.

Latitude Network supported the Toward Home Alliance to develop a ground up homelessness strategy and program logic based on prevention. With the team, we identified the wide range of cohorts with differing needs across the homelessness system. We zeroed in on those at risk of entering the homelessness system and identified a way to capture data and shift resources towards preventing entry into the crisis accommodation system. 

The alliance partners developed a professional and mature way of collaborating which provided a strong platform for development of a more ambitious program design. This represents one of the most significant changes to the homelessness system in some years, and provides a pathway for better collaboration, use of data, and continuous improvement with transparent sharing of outcomes between the social sector partners and government. 

​The new outcomes–oriented approach helps to align government and social service organisation interests more directly with client interests.  The achievement of client outcomes and prevention of entry into high cost homelessness services provides benefits for all parties.

Congratulations to the alliance partners that will now deliver integrated, outcomes-based homelessness services for the Adelaide City and South region - 

• Aboriginal Community Services
• Baptist Care SA
• Lutheran Care
• Mission Australia
• Sonder
• The Salvation Army

Also see - 

• ​SA Premier's Statement
• Lutheran Care announcement

The Living Learning program was launched on Wednesday, 28 April 2021, at the Hester Hornbrook Academy (HHA) in Sunshine in Melbourne’s west. HHA is an independent school run by Melbourne City Mission for young people disengaged from the traditional school system. The program is funded as an impact investment under the Victorian Government’s $30m ‘Partnerships Addressing Disadvantage’ (or PAD) program (also known as Social Impact Bonds, or SIBs).

The program is important not just because of the social impact on young people, but also because of the way this impact investment is structured. We co-developed a new finance structure that makes it easier for philanthropic trusts to invest in social impact investments. This structure provides opportunities for social service organisations to develop investable projects in collaboration with their philanthropic partners.

The Living Learning social impact investment was fully funded by these five philanthropic Investors:

• Gandel Philanthropy
• Helen Macpherson Smith Trust
• Lord Mayors Charitable Foundation
• Paul Ramsay Foundation​
• The Ross Trust

​To learn more about the project structure  download the fact sheet below. You can also get in touch with us if you are considering developing a Philanthropic Impact Investment project.

 You can also sign up to attend a Webinar we are running with our capital advisory partners Social Enterprise Finance Australia (SEFA) and Gandel Philanthropy through Pro Bono Education on 27 May 2021. Sign up to our newsletter to receive the registration link for the webinar.