Standing up for safe homes: Partnering with Homelessness Australia to shape a stronger future

Australia is in the midst of a housing and homelessness crisis. Every night, over 122,000 people are without a safe and stable home – families, young people, First Nations communities, women fleeing violence, people living with disabilities. As housing costs skyrocket and services buckle under pressure, the peaks – national advocacy organisations like Homelessness Australia (HA) are stepping up, giving voice to the sector and demanding systemic change.

Yet peaks like HA are under immense pressure themselves. They operate with scarce funding, rising expectations, and the relentless urgency of a worsening crisis. Their survival, and ability to lead, depends on clarity of direction, strong strategy, and a team united behind a common mission.

At Right Lane Consulting, we believe organisations doing good deserve the best support. That’s why we offer low bono services to for-purpose organisations like Homelessness Australia. It’s not just professional, it’s personal.

Our Principal, Gemma Pinnell, knows what it means to grow up without a safe home. ‘Me at 16. I’d left home, because home wasn’t the stable and secure home I needed,’ she wrote in a powerful LinkedIn post from last year. ‘I never had somewhere to return to if things got too hard — I was independent too young.’ That lived experience shapes her deep commitment to housing justice — and our firm’s shared purpose.

Supporting Homelessness Australia’s mission

Homelessness Australia is the national peak body working to end homelessness. Led by Kate Colvin and supported by a passionate and deeply experienced Board, HA is a voice for the sector — and for every Australian without a safe place to sleep.

Their work is critical. They influence policy, connect the sector, champion evidence-informed programs like Housing First, and advocate for under-resourced groups — from young people to First Nations communities.

But the forces acting on HA are immense:

• Funding pressures put their very operations at risk beyond 2027.
• Rising service demand leaves frontline workers exhausted and systems overwhelmed.
• Workforce shortages jeopardise capacity and effectiveness.
• The philanthropic landscape demands strategic positioning and powerful storytelling.

In this context, HA needed space to reflect, recalibrate, and realign.

The role we played

In February 2025, Right Lane Consulting facilitated HA’s Board Planning Day. Our aim: To help this essential organisation align on its future — and build the strategic clarity needed to navigate what lies ahead.

Together with the HA Board, we:

• Reflected on the key external forces shaping the sector and HA’s work: Political change, funding uncertainty, pressure on services, and the urgent need for systemic advocacy.
• Worked through the organisation’s objective, advantage, and scope – sharpening HA’s role as an evidence-informed, unifying national advocate.
• Looked back at 2024 progress — from new sector funding to outcomes in youth housing – and forward to 2025’s big goals: sustainable funding, continued advocacy, and stronger sector collaboration.
• Defined early thinking for a Homelessness Impact Hub, a proposed initiative to generate, translate, and embed evidence into frontline practice.

We didn’t just guide discussion during the workshop. We helped HA unlock the collective intelligence of its deeply committed Board – leaders from across the country who work daily with young people, women and children, First Nations communities, and others pushed to the margins.

Through this workshop, HA found renewed focus and energy. They aligned around a clear strategy statement. They strengthened their commitment to building sector capacity. And they reaffirmed their belief that homelessness can, and must, end.

Why it matters

Peaks like HA don’t just lobby and coordinate. They lead – drawing from the frontline, from research, from lived experience. They show what’s possible. And in a sector this stretched, leadership matters more than ever.

As Gemma often says, ‘every single person deserves a safe, secure home. That’s not negotiable. And we all have a role in making that a reality.’

For us at Right Lane Consulting, that means stepping up. Offering time, thought, and care to the causes that matter most. And partnering with people – like the HA team and Board – who spend their lives making a difference.

We’re grateful for the chance to work alongside Homelessness Australia. And we’re committed to continuing this kind of work.

Kate Colvin, the CEO of Homelessness Australia reflected:

‘Thanks to Right Lane for generous support for a fabulous Board Planning day. This was a stellar session that has set the course for the next exciting period of peak body action. With Gemma Pinnell’s excellent support planning the session, understanding of the sector challenges, and great facilitation on the day, we have nailed a strategic direction that will service us well in our mission to support best practice and end homelessness.

Take action

If this story moved you, don’t stop here.

• Support HA’s campaign to resource homelessness so no-one is turned away https://homelessnessaustralia.org.au/nooneturnedaway/#
• Reach out to us at Right Lane Consulting to explore how we can help your organisation contribute to supporting the housing crisis

And there’s good news too. In a major step forward, Homelessness Australia has recently secured part of $6.2m in federal peak body funding – crucial win that will help sustain their advocacy, amplify their impact, and keep the spotlight on ending homelessness in Australia. As CEO Kate Colvin said, ‘This support recognises the vital role that peaks play in listening to services and communities, and working to improve outcomes for people experiencing homelessness.’ https://homelessnessaustralia.org.au/homelessness-australia-welcomes-peak-body-funding-in-federal-budget/

It’s proof that the work matters. That it’s working. And that when we show up together — as consultants, campaigners, board members, policy makers, and people with lived experience — we can make real change