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Assistance with Care and Housing for the Aged (ACHA) Program overview

Overview of the ACHA Program.

About the Program

The Assistance with Care and Housing for the Aged (ACHA) Program was established in 1993 as a three year pilot program to trial approaches aimed at assisting financially disadvantaged older people who are homeless or in insecure accommodation, to meet both their accommodation and care needs.

The objective of the ACHA Program is to help eligible clients, who are at risk of becoming homeless or are homeless, to remain in the community through accessing appropriate, sustainable and affordable housing and linking them where appropriate, to community care.

Services under the Program can include:

• identifying frail older clients with support needs;
• linking clients to suitable care options;
• linking clients to housing services;
• advocacy; and
• linking clients to other relevant services (e.g. Aged Care Assessment Teams, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities).

The type of assistance provided for ACHA clients varies to suit the needs of the individual. ACHA is a linkage program, not a program that provides ongoing care.

ACHA providers are largely charitable or religious not-for-profit organisations.

ACHA providers work with state government housing authorities to assist eligible clients to obtain better, more stable accommodation. Once this is organised, the client is linked to appropriate community care services.

As part of the 2007–2008 Federal Budget, the Australian Government committed an extra $5.6 million over four years to expand the ACHA Program.

Funding from the Australian Government for 2011-2012 is $4.637 million.

• ACHA Service Data for 2010-11
• ACHA Service Data for 2009-10

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ACHA Program Manual

The ACHA Program Manual outlines in more detail on how the program operates.
Note that the current ACHA guidelines 2008 will be replaced with the ACHA Program Manual 2012 (PDF 1412 KB) which come into effect from 1 July 2012. Organisations receiving funding from 2012- 13 onwards must refer to the ACHA Program Manual 2012.

Note: A HTML version of the ACHA Program Manual 2012 is currently being prepared. If you are having difficulty downloading the PDF, please email acc@health.gov.au

Further information can be obtained by calling 1800 200 422*, this number can provide information on a range of aged care services and supports available locally and nationally. Coordination and advice can also be provided to access respite services, counselling and emotional support for carers.
*(calls from mobile phones charged at applicable rates)

Target groups

The ACHA Program targets frail, low income, older people who are renting, are in insecure housing arrangements, or who are homeless.

The Program helps these people to remain in the community by helping them to access housing that is linked to community care services.

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Service providers

ACHA providers are mostly charitable or religious not-for-profit organisations, many of which are also providers of community care services.

These providers work closely with state or territory government housing authorities to help eligible clients to obtain better accommodation options. When more stable accommodation is arranged, the ACHA provider links the client to the community care services which best meet their needs.

There are currently 41 providers engaged in the Program. The current spread of services across Australia is:

• 13 in Victoria;
• 10 in NSW;
• 2 in Queensland;
• 5 in South Australia;
• 4 in Western Australia;
• 1 in Tasmania;
• 3 in the ACT; and
• 3 in the Northern Territory.

A list of these providers can be viewed on the ACHA providers page.

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Other care options

The provision of direct care and services to clients is not a priority of the ACHA Program. Instead, ACHA services develop links and provide a referral service to agencies that offer the care and support services that the client needs.

Some of these care and support services include:

• Home and Community Care (HACC) Program services;
• Community Aged Care Packages (CACP);
• Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) and EACH Dementia (EACH D);
• Local government services;
• Veterans' Home Care (VHC);
• Commonwealth Carelink services;
• Residential care options as appropriate.

Feedback

We welcome your comments about this Assistance with Care and Housing for the Aged Program website. If you would like to provide feedback, please email acc@health.gov.au with your comments.
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