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People experiencing homelessness around the country were housed in hotels and temporary housing at the peak of the pandemic.

Now the health risk has eased, service providers say governments need to find a long-term solution rather than turn people back out on the street.

ABC Radio National AM discussion featuring AAEH Board members Bevan Warner, CEO Launch Housing and Debra Zanella, CEO RUAH Community Services.

The Australian Alliance to End Homelessness is joining with Welcoming Australia and organisations from all over the world to demand the protection of people experiencing homelessness everywhere — refugees, migrants, and people who are ‘unhoused’. They must be protected to save lives and stop the spread of #COVID19.

The coronavirus pandemic provides an opportunity to get the nation’s rough sleepers off the street and into secure housing, social sector leaders say.

During an online forum to discuss rough sleeping responses to the crisis, homelessness groups spoke of the importance of long-term support for vulnerable people.

Karyn Walsh is CEO of Micah Projects, an organisation fighting to end homelessness in Brisbane. She took part in an online forum with other organisations to discuss ways to help homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A lack of personal protective equipment for workers and fewer volunteers to distribute food are just two of the challenges Australia’s homelessness services are grappling with during the coronavirus crisis.

The issues were raised at a forum on the responses to rough sleeping during the COVID-19 crisis held on Wednesday.

Public health interventions that have been implemented in an effort to slow the spread of novel coronavirus infections world-wide are nearly impossible to follow in the environments where people experiencing homelessness live.

An online forum, hosted by the Australian Alliance to End Homelessness on 7 April, provided organisations from each state and territory an opportunity to discuss how they are supporting people experiencing homelessness during the pandemic.

An independent advocate for the preventing and ending of homelessness in Australia is hosting an online forum on April 7, 2020.

The Australian Alliance to End Homelessness (AAEH) believes, "Despite the common misconception to the contrary, the scale of homelessness in Australia is both preventable and solvable."