$5.4million to build and maintain new centre for Perth’s homeless men

Western Australian Child Protection Minister Robyn McSweeney and Premier Colin Barnett today announced $5.4million funding to build and operate a new homeless men’s shelter in Perth’s CBD.

The announcement has been made during National Homelessness Week as part of the Liberal-National Government’s strategy to deliver quality services and investment in social reforms to support those in need.

The ‘Acute Homeless Night Shelter’ is a partnership between the State Government and St Vincent de Paul Society and is expected to nightly house up to 10 men who would otherwise be sleeping on the streets.

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Swiss pioneer shelter for newly separated husbands

(Reuters) - A trickle of newly separated Swiss fathers looking for shelter and help after marital breakdown have been finding a warm bed and a sympathetic ear from a pilot project on the shores of Lake Zurich.Protestant pastor Andreas Cabalzar has founded Switzerland's first shelter for newly separated fathers in the Swiss village of Erlenbach, not far from Geneva.Unique in Switzerland, the project has seen the numbers of applications to stay in the house increasing every week."80 percent of the time it is the wife asking for a divorce and the children stay in the family home while the father leaves with his suitcases and becomes more vulnerable," Cabalzar told Reuters.The project began in September 2009 when four men visited Cabalzar to ask for help after separating from their wives. After leaving home, the men initially needed temporary shelter and a place to reflect on their situations."At the first moment everybody needs a roof and a bed and no man is prepared for this step," Cabalzar told Reuters.He said the problem pervades all sections of society and that he sees men from all walks of life hit by the problem.