100 Families Project To Tackle Entrenched Disadvantage

100 Families seeks to answer the questions: ‘What stops people moving out of poverty? What do we need to do differently to provide families in need? Where is the system failing them?’

It will be a collaboration between nine separate organisations, including the University of Western Australia, WACOSS, Anglicare WA, Ruah Community Services, Wanslea, Jacaranda, Centrecare, St. Vincent de Paul, and UnitingCare West.

The project will capture the lives of people with lived experience – those experiencing poverty, placed in vulnerable situations, and facing disadvantage – to provide a better understanding in order to drive more effective service design and delivery. The families involved will not just be subjects of the research; they will be research partners contributing powerful and compelling stories to enable more effective advocacy.

UnitingCare West CEO Amanda Hunt said the 100 Families project was very much aligned to the WA Alliance to End Homelessness’ (WAAEH) 10-Year Strategy to End Homelessness in WA.

“Around 9,000 people – men women and children – are homeless in this state on any given night, so this sort of investment in researching the underlying causes of entrenched disadvantage will be invaluable,” Ms Hunt said.