Presentation at the AHRUI Australian Homelessness Conference 2024 Gathering Momentum 13-14 August 2024 Adelaide Convention Centre
By Dr Sonia Masciantonio PhD and Duncan Bainbridge of the SYC Sponsored Lived Experience Engagement Service for THE SA Housing Trust
It’s a new way of working from the sector in SA and requires a shift in power dynamics that have not been seen before in SA’s homelessness sector.
How do we navigate a cultural shift? – the cultural shift being the inclusion of the voice and expertise of people with Lived Experience of homelessness into system reform – policy, service, and practice.
It means facilitating the transition from traditional approaches to more inclusive, human-centered practices that value the insights and perspectives of people who have directly experienced homelessness.
The Lived Experience Engagement Service or LEES, has been facilitated by SYC since Sept 2022 – and it attempts to navigate the cultural shift journey of embedding Lived Experience into the sector.
I’m Duncan Bainbridge. I’m part of the Lived Experience Reference Group and have been involved in LEES’s work since its inception in 2020.
I have intimate knowledge of the homelessness system that only a person with Lived Experience can bring.
My role in the group is as a System Advisor, which enables me to utilize my unique expertise as someone with Lived Experience.”
In October 2020, the South Australian Housing Trust (previously SAHA) announced the 10-year reform of the housing and homelessness system.
A vital pillar of the reform was providing housing and homelessness services through an Alliance model – a new way of delivering services through a joined-up approach focusing on early intervention and prevention.
At the same time, the Lived Experience Engagement Service (or LEES) was commissioned to embed Lived Experience across the housing and homelessness sector.
We’ve been doing this work since then… and it has been quite the journey.
As with any journey, it needed to start with a plan. – Something that would guide the sector on how Lived Experience can be brought into system reform.
Mapping new terrain
The first step in the journey was to co-design the Lived Experience Framework for SA’s Housing and Homelessness system.
The Framework provides a shared language and approach to this work.
Informed by Lived Experience expertise, representatives of SA Housing Trust, Directly Contracted Services, and the Alliances, the Framework includes key definitions, enabling conditions, principles, and the functions of Lived Experience, alongside practical resources, that are needed to enable this work.
The framework outlines how people with Lived Experience can participate, and in doing so, it will:
- Build understanding of people’s needs and perspectives to improve experiences.
- Build trust within the sector.
- And help people using the system feel more connected to the people delivering services because there’s true understanding rather than assumptions of people’s needs and wants.
This will ultimately lead to better outcomes for all.
Through the co-design of the framework, the Lived Experience Reference Group was first created.
Since 2020, I have reflected on my experiences of unemployment, Complex PTSD, Addiction, Housing Stress, and Homelessness and my interactions with the Homelessness system.
As someone who has first-hand knowledge of the system, I bring a unique perspective of the system that can’t be learnt from books or working in the sector.
I can speak to the impacts of policy decisions shaping people’s experiences.
I use this knowledge to advocate for Systemic change.
Anyone who has travelled will tell you that if you want to know about those places, it is best to ask the locals.
In a similar vein, those with Lived Experience are akin to locals who possess intimate knowledge of the homelessness system.
We have firsthand knowledge about the impacts of policy decisions and can speak to these experiences and what could be done to improve them.
Our insights are like lighthouses.
Guiding the way and warning of potential hazards, ensuring a safe passage through the reform process.
We can provide crucial input into Discussion papers, Policy Advice, and Letters to Ministers and can create resources that enable Lived Experience participation.
The inclusion of Lived Experience participation needs clearer strategic guidance from our funding body to ensure alignment with the work that we’re doing for meaningful systemic change.
More recently, we were invited to represent the inclusion of the Lived Experience lens in a state-wide homelessness strategic group.
This was an incredibly great step forward, finally allowing Lived Experience to have a seat at the table.
Unfortunately.
It was cancelled at the last minute and is yet to be rescheduled.
Navigating Uncharted Waters
While the inclusion of Lived Experience is more mature in other sectors such as mental health, alcohol and other drugs and disability, it is relatively new to the housing and homelessness sector, particularly in SA.
The work we are doing is like sailing through uncharted waters… so we’re learning and adapting to the environment as we go.
It has been incredibly challenging work for several reasons.
One is that we’re working with a sector that is dealing with high rates of homelessness and a rental crisis.
Homelessness services work is focused on helping people in crisis, so Lived Experience work often takes a back seat.
Services are also not often appropriately resourced or funded for meaningful Lived Experience work.
Lived Experience work is built on trust and relationships… so it takes time.
Projects don’t always follow strict project timelines when we’re working with people who may be traumatised by their experiences, and sector staff who don’t have dedicated Lived Experience roles may not have the capacity to focus on this work.
Adding to that, we’ve found it difficult to find people with Lived Experience who want to participate.
We’ve tried a number of different methods…. And we’ll keep trying.
While the Lived Experience Engagement Services’ remit is to work with the sector to embed Lived Experience, the maturity of Lived Experience practice for homelessness in SA is still in its infancy.
I feel genuine Lived Experience participation requires a strategic structural investment to enable its success.
Shifting the balance of power in decision-making
The Framework articulates the shift in power in decision-making that is needed to embed Lived Experience into the reform, where people who have Lived Experience of homelessness are recognised for their expertise and are not considered drains on the system but hidden resources that are valued.
LEES has taken the approach of leading by example by initiating projects and having staff in the specialist homelessness services involved in designing research questions, developing resources to share with Lived Experience participants, involved in recruiting/referring Lived Experience participants for research and also involved in interviews if they are interested.
This has not been particularly successful so far for the reasons I mentioned earlier – the sector is dealing with crisis on a daily basis, and I feel they aren’t appropriately resourced to support Lived Experience work.
In SA, I believe we have areas where consultative decision-making (second set of scales) is happening and pockets of participatory decision-making.
But we still have a way to go to reach self-determined decision-making.
Lived Experience participation goes beyond merely having a seat at the table. It serves to amplify voices, influence systemic change, and empower those with lived experience to lead and drive transformative change.
Anchoring change is our collective responsibility.
Although embedding Lived Experience is our remit, it is not something we can do on our own.
The sector needs to make a significant cultural shift in order to truly embed Lived Experience at all levels of the reform and embrace the rich knowledge that Lived Experience can bring to service design, delivery, monitoring, evaluation and improvement activities.
The ultimate goal is to reach a place where housing and homelessness are not just issues to be managed but challenges to be solved through collective effort and shared understanding.
The role of the Lived Experience Engagement Service is to lead the way, ensuring that every voice is heard, and every step is taken with purpose and direction.
We need to work with the South Australian sector to build their capacity for Lived Experience practice so they can join us on this journey, and we can start to see people with lived and living experience of homelessness in decision-making roles and workplaces that are inclusive and value the expertise that their knowledge brings.
We are united in our belief that Lived Experience participation at all levels of decision-making will guide us to our ultimate destination – a system that is inclusive, equitable, and informed by the needs and insights of people who use it.
Anti-Poverty Network SA 