Last week, Shelter NSW had the privilege of joining Ms. Donna Davis MP, Member for Parramatta, on a tour of a state-of-the-art ‘housing first’ facility managed by Mission Australia in Camperdown.  

Common Ground is a purpose-built facility combining a ‘housing first’ approach – meaning clients are not required to address other issues affecting their lives before entering secure, affordable housing – with best practice ‘wraparound’ services supporting residents to pursue their goals and aspirations.  

One of these services that stood out was the impressive Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) Hub; it offers support to residents – as well as to local community members – and access to a range of drug and alcohol services including counselling, rehabilitation, medical, and psychological rehabilitation.  

It was an honour meeting with the hard-working, passionate, and kind team at Mission Australia. Being an advocate for systemic change, it can be easy to get lost in numbers, graphs and reports. Spending time with the team at Common Ground provided an important reminder as to why we do what we do: the people.