Charity services group, Dignity is set to close in Goulburn and Queanbeyan, affecting people in the Southern Highlands. Dignity provides emergency accommodation for people in need.

This means emergency accommodation houses will be forced to shut, giving people experiencing homelessness no temporary accommodation options in these areas.Withdrawal from the Southern region may also mean that Nowra houses may have to close.

The closures in Goulburn and Queenbeyan will mean that a number of jobs will be lost, including a newly appointed indigenous support worker. While the Southern Highlands branch will remain open, Dignity has placed many people from the Highlands in Goulburn in the past for safety reasons.

Suzanne Hopman, CEO of Dignity said the NSW minister for Family and Community Services had written to the charity, informing them that they are no longer able to provide funding to keep doors open.

"It's really distressing," she said.

"We provide more than a bed for a night. We provide care and concern, food, clothing and advocacy along with a warm and welcoming place to stay. Now people will be on their own.

"The NSW Government is shutting this excellent and successful service down as of June 30, which means that the people who need it most in rural and regional NSW miss out."

Dignity is asking for the funding of these two centres to be re-introduced. Dignity has four houses providing emergency accommodation for men and for women and children in Queanbeyan and Goulburn.

A spokesperson from FACS said while they worked with Dignity in Goulburn and Queenbeyan to provide options to support people facing homelessness, there were a number of rooms that were vacant

"We worked with Dignity to find a solution, which was to prepay for rooms. However, two-thirds of the rooms were empty on average per night," they said.

"Ultimately, money for homeless people should not be spent on empty rooms, it should be spent on accommodating homeless people and that's why we took the decision to discontinue the funding. It should be noted that FACS continues to fund Dignity in other parts of NSW."

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