Combining homeless and accommodation services, assertive case management and eleven specialist allied health and support services, The Michael Project is described as a nationally significant service innovation.

This study aims to increase our understanding of the ways in which homelessness, mental health and drug and alcohol services can be coordinated or integrated to provide services to homeless people, the extent to which system and service integration is occurring in Australia at present and the effectiveness of various integrated service delivery responses.

In late 2009, Australian Centre for Child Protection researchers surveyed staff from 107 specialist homelessness services operating across Australia. Of these services:• Almost half had fewer than five staff members• The main client group of half of the services were women and women with children escaping domestic violence• Many accommodated more children than adults

Although government-funded specialist homelessness agencies accommodate large numbers of people every day, they cannot always meet all the requests for accommodation. This report provides information about the level of unmet demand for this acommodation, including how the estimates are calculated. Click here for the full report and here for the summary.

The purpose of this project is to foster cross-disciplinary discussion amongst researchers, policy makers and practitioners from which research directions and ultimately research questions can be formulated in the area of child protection.