About Us
We have an appreciation of different life situations and cultures…
The Founder, James Gibson, has been a self-employed exploration driller for most of his working life. This has taken him to some of the most remote and disadvantaged communities in the world. On returning to Australia, James started to take a greater interest in homelessness in Australia…
“The more I read about the issue, I realised that when growing up, my family and I were, in fact, homeless for several years. I found this very confronting and started to see how it had a significantly negative effect on my life.”
Coming from a very practical upbringing with the mantra “if it’s not working – try something else”, James has since developed a holistic business model that provides a practical and immediate regional response to some of the issues around homelessness.
The most compelling aspect of the First Step model is the mobility of the accommodation and the low cost of the solution. With a small investment, we can reduce the number of people sleeping rough with immediate effect.
The Problem
On any given night of the year in Western Australia – over 9,000 people are experiencing homelessness. In addition to this number, a further 7,000 people are living in insecure accommodation – one step from homelessness. Every day, crisis accommodation providers receive over 100 requests for short term accommodation and every night two thirds of these requests are unmet leaving people sleeping on the streets.
Royal Perth Hospital Emergency Department Physician Dr Amanda Stafford has estimated that 3% of Emergency admissions are attributable to the city’s homeless population and that 70% of the system’s frequent patients are drawn from this population.
Leading Criminologist Professor Elaine Baldry has highlighted the significant costs borne by society to support this homeless population. Its effects are felt through health, justice, social care and law enforcement systems.
The First Step Solution
The First Steps model is to work within the broader housing and community sector to address homelessness. Our model has been designed to operate synergistically within the system-wide initiatives proposed in Home: Western Australia’s 10-Year Strategy on Homelessness 2020 First Step has developed a suite of state-of-the-art mobile crisis accommodation units, each of which can accommodate up to eight people per night.
The units are easily transportable via a standard 4-wheel drive. The mobility aspect allows the accommodation to be delivered directly to homeless communities. Our vision is that several units are temporarily positioned into (or located close to) the Perth and Fremantle CBD during the evening and removed the following morning before the business day’s commencement.
Meet the Team
We believe that with our platform, systems, and funding/sponsorship methodologies that NFPs will be able, over time, to operate the units as a self-sustaining social enterprise.
Want to be a part of us?
We are always looking for new challenges and interesting partners. Also, we love to say hello.