Transitional Housing: Reach Home

Please note that the Reach Home program is currently at capacity and not accepting further referrals at this point in time. We encourage you to contact Onelink directly on 1800 176 468  for all matters relating to housing support.

Are you homeless or at risk of homelessness? Looking for Emergency Accommodation? For all such enquiries, please contact  Onelink.

Please note that all referrals for the Communities at Work transitional housing program, Reach Home, that is discussed below, are managed by Onelink. You must contact Onelink in the first instance to seek support for housing, accommodation and transitional housing in Canberra.

Additional crisis accommodation support can be found in this Volunteering ACT Guide.

If you are homeless, or at risk of being homeless, and are looking for crisis support or emergency relief (such as payment of medical scripts, showers, food relief etc), please visit our Crisis Support page here.

We welcome the opportunity to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as well as people from diverse backgrounds.

Contact OneLink to link into Housing options: 

Website: onelink.org.au 

Phone: 1800 176 468 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm; Saturday and Sunday, 12.30pm to 5pm)

Interpreter Service: If you require an interpreter, please call the Telephone Interpreter Service at 131 450 and ask them to call OneLink on 1800 176 468.

Email: info@onelink.org.au


Our Transitional Housing Program

Communities at Work provides transitional housing support for families experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness. All referrals for this program must come through OneLink.  Please contact them on 1800 176 468 or visit their website in the first instance if this is a service you need.

Communities at Work’s Reach Home program provides safe, rent-subsidised transitional accommodation in Canberra for families in need for 6-18 months while together we explore and support the search for a long-term housing solution.

We visit families in these homes to help work on goals, such as budgeting, rental applications, navigating other services and addressing issues that caused or impact on homelessness. We accompany clients to appointments and provide outreach support for a period of 3 months after secure housing has been found.

This program is one of a number of specialist services in the ACT. Referrals are received through OneLink.

Please note that the Reach Home program is currently at capacity and not accepting further referrals at this point in time. We encourage you to contact Onelink directly for all matters relating to housing support.


How do we help?

Alongside helping people in Canberra with safe and supported transitional accommodation, we provide families with hygiene items, a secure source of food, and other essential household items (such as disposable masks during the COVID-19 pandemic). We work through any questions the families have about their safety and government instructions. This is very important to families, especially those for whom English is not their first language. We also pass on rent suspensions received from ACT Government to our clients. All support provided to families are on a case-by-case basis.

If you are in crisis and need help, please visit our Crisis Support page. If you are looking for food access, please visit our Food Support (Community Pantry) page.

Get Crisis Support

Our Impact

There are various ways we can help someone who is or at risk of being homeless with our Reach Home Program. One such example of the story of our impact:

A single mother with four children was referred to our Reach Home Program by OneLink after being evicted from their property due to inability to pay the rent, following a marriage breakdown. The referral saved them from being homeless. The family had come to Australia as refugees from Africa, had very limited English and no family and community support.

We placed them in a large home with plenty of space, assisted them to gain access to regular food hampers and hygiene items, guided them through Centrelink, and organised a financial counsellor.  We supported her to maintain her housing by setting up direct debits and managing ongoing bills. The family were settled with schooling and other services.

We also worked collaboratively with their family support worker, visited them weekly, organised financial support to keep the family car on the road so that the children could continue to access stable schooling, and assisted them to negotiate living skills related to the threat of bushfires and the pandemic. By supporting the family to meet their goals, we helped them to advance to ACT Housing’s Priority waitlist. 

Communities@Work Homelessness Support

 

 

Contact Information

Please remember that you require a referral from OneLink to access our Transitional Housing Support. Contact OneLink on 1800 176 468.

There is no eligibility criteria to access our crisis support and food support. To make an appointment for crisis support or access the food/community pantry with Communities at Work, call us on 02 6293 6500 or submit an enquiry through the Get in Touch form here. 

 

Go to OneLink 

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