Young changemakers step in to co-create a solution to homelessness
NSW has the highest rates of homelessness in the country. A third of homeless resulting from domestic violence and relationship issues, a third resulting from accommodation issues ( including people leaving care) and 22% resulting from financial difficulties.
Vibewire’s #Hack4Homelessness brings Australia’s leading technology, engineering, data and social impact students, social entrepreneurs and startups together to tackle the challenge of homelessness.
Into this mix, we bring:
- Leading experts in the field of homelessness
- People with the shared or lived experience of homelessness
- Local and international leaders seeking to address the myriad challenges that face those dealing with homelessness.
“This is not just a political issue and it can’t be solved in isolation without speaking to people who are or have experienced homelessness. Our hack brings people and organisations together whether you’re in tech development, social policy, finance or architecture. We’re determined to drive change”, says Susan Shi, Executive Director of Vibewire.
“Young people are disproportionately represented in these figures.” explains Susan Shi. “It often starts as couch surfing away from a family conflict before falling into a cycle of homelessness and stressed mental health. We need to refocus on early intervention”.
Big names, real people
You can’t create real solutions at a distance. Vibewire has been co-creating innovative solutions to social challenges for almost two decades, and it has learned that co-creation – working with the people who experience the problem is the fastest way to a lasting solution.
Jewish House came on board early – helping us frame the challenges that we wanted to work on. Telstra Foundation, QBE Insurance and St George Community Housing are sponsoring and providing expertise and support. Our friends at the Minerva Collective will help with data analysis and expertise feeding into the hackathon teams.
Why a hackathon?
“Hackathons and innovation techniques solve massive international challenges every day. There is no reason we can’t take the same approach to the challenge of homelessness – after all, the current approaches are abject failures.”
Today we are calling out for Hackers, Hipsters, Hustlers and Humanitarians to join us for the weekend 15-17 September. People can sign up on our Eventbrite page. Those who register will receive more detailed information over the coming weeks.