Northern Project Zero Solving System Gaps

A coordinated effort to make homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring has expanded to address “system gaps” in the Northern Rivers region. 

Northern Rivers Zero, a regional collaboration under the End Street Sleeping Collaboration (ESSC), is targeting practical barriers that have historically kept people stuck in rough sleeping.

One key focus is the growing number of people experiencing homelessness with pets, a factor that often forces a choice between keeping an animal or accessing emergency medical care or accommodation.

Northern Rivers Zero Project Coordinator Sacha Zunic said the project’s strengths lies in breaking complex problems into smaller, achievable reforms.

“Rather than trying to change everything at once, which is almost impossible, you tackle one bit at a time and adapt to the shifting environment,” Mr Zunich said.

Work is underway to develop a memorandum of understanding between animal welfare groups and service providers to ensure access to services is not limited by pet ownership, including temporary care for animals.

“This gives people confidence that their animal will still be there,” Mr Zunich said.

The region, along the NSW-Queensland border, faces additional challenges supporting people who move between states, prompting new cross-border collaboration to address gaps in jurisdictional funding rules.

Northern Rivers Zero is also working to prevent people being discharged from hospitals or correctional facilities directly back into homelessness. Future work will focus on improving understanding of deaths among people sleeping rough, where limited data has made prevention difficult.

“This work has been really crucial, and there’s still more to emerge,” Mr Zunich said.

Northern Rivers Zero aims to end rough sleeping by 2034 in the coastal region of New South Wales, bringing together homelessness, housing, health and community organisations through the shared database By-Name List, enabling a coordinated, real-time response.

PAYCE Foundation Director and ESSC Co-Chair Dominic Sullivan said PAYCE, the founding philanthropic partner of ESSC, was proud to support an approach delivering better outcomes for those experiencing homelessness.

“Northern Rivers Zero shows what’s possible when services, government and communities work from the same information and toward the same outcomes,” Mr Sullivan said.