About Community Support Services

Our work

Our Community Support Services team creates connections between individuals, services and support networks, and advocates for needs that have been identified in the community.

Do you need immediate help?

There is always somebody available to listen.  Helplines are available 24/7 over the holiday season:

• Lifeline - 13 11 14
• Crisis Care Help Line - 9223 1111 or 1800 199 008
• Entry Point Perth - 6496 0001 or 1800 124 684

If you require police attendance, please contact 131 444 or in an emergency, call 000.

Homelessness Response Project - Expression of Interest

The Homelessness Response Project is a once-off funding opportunity of up to $100,000 (GST exclusive) to implement a project that will support the intervention, response or prevention of homelessness within the City of Rockingham.

Types of projects that may be considered include the provision of:

• safe night spaces
• crisis accommodation
• temporary accommodation
• permanent housing
• brokerage
• new programs to address gaps in case managers/counsellors/other professional specialists needed in the City.

The above are examples only and other projects may be considered for funding.

Additionally, the aim of this expression of interest process is to determine what projects or initiatives could be activated in the City to immediately support and reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness. Applications will be assessed by City officers against the assessment criteria (included in the Funding Guidelines and Information document) and a summary of all applications and a report of recommendations will be presented to Council to determine the successful applicants. 

Project applications must be submitted by 2pm AWST on 14 March 2025 via email to customer@rockingham.wa.gov.au.

An information session about this project and the expression of interest process will be available on Thursday 9 January 2025 at 1pm. Please request a calendar invite to this session by emailing customer@rockingham.wa.gov.au.

For more information including the eligibility criteria, important dates and application process, please see below the Funding Guidelines and Information document. The application form is also below. 

Please contact customer@rockingham.wa.gov.au with any questions. 

Interagency Networks

We facilitate and attend a wide range of interagency networks to support collaboration and initiatives across the community.

These networks include:

• Rockingham Early Years Network
• Kwinana Rockingham Action For Today's Youth (KRAFTY)
• Active Ageing Rockingham
• Project Zero Rough Sleeper Coordination Group and Improvement Team
• Mandurah, Cockburn, Kwinana and Rockingham Access and Inclusion Network (MCKRAIN)
• Safe Family Alliance (domestic and family violence)
• Mental Health Sub-Network (external network)
• Peel, Rockingham and Kwinana Suicide Prevention Collaborative (PaRK SPC)
• Rockingham Mental Health Professionals Network
• Rockingham Emergency Relief Network

Membership of these groups varies based on their feedback and can include professionals, volunteers, people with lived experience and community representatives.

To find out more about any of these groups, contact the Community Support Services team on 9528 0333 or email customer@rockingham.wa.gov.au.

Community Support Services Mapping Project - 2023

The 2023 Community Support Services Mapping Project provides an overarching view of factors influencing the community services sector in the City of Rockingham.

Its purpose is to:

• raise awareness of the prevailing trends affecting the community sector
• provide insights to guide the delivery of services, aligning them with the evolving needs of the community
• empowering collective action to address service gaps and challenges including sector advocacy, funding submissions, collaborative partnerships and similar work
• inspire new initiative and partnerships that leverage the strengths of the sector to respond to the community needs.

The City of Rockingham plays an active role in supporting the local community services sector and commissioned this report to gain reliable and current data on service need, demand and availability which is critical to ensuring local services can meet growing and changing needs and demand.

The picture painted in this report portrays a sector grappling with the escalating demand for services, addressing increasingly complex needs, mounting service delivery costs, insufficient investment in early intervention, and systemic underfunding in key areas of service demand.opens in a new windopens in a new windowopens in a new windowopens in a new windowopens in a new windowopens in a new windowopens in a new window

Advocacy 

We advocate State and Federal Government for a more even distribution of facilities, services and funding for not-for-profit support organisations that provide services to vulnerable people.  

Through interagency networks, partnerships, community mapping and resident feedback, we develop a picture of current and emerging needs across the City and advocate for innovative solutions to address these needs.

For detailed information on current demographic data, trends and projections for the City, visit the City of Rockingham Community Profileopens in a new windowopens in a new windowopens in a new windowopens in a new windowopens in a new windowopens in a new windowopens in a new window.