At the start of National Homesless Persons' Week, spare a thought for those people sleeping rough while the temperature dips towards freezing. While you whinge about the prospect of having to turn your gas heating down, think about those who would be happy just to have another blanket over them.

Mission Australia has thrown its support behind the Rudd Government’s ‘White Paper’ – the first in-depth and comprehensive review of homelessness in Australia in 25 years. The process is currently at the ‘Green Paper’ stage, with individuals and agencies now invited to make comment on the findings, including Mission Australia.

State Director Ross Kyrwood said that Mission Australia fully supports the strategy, which tackles the issue of homelessness up until 2020. “We believe it's necessary to set ambitious and achievable goals and targets for combating homelessness - for a start, let’s significantly reduce the numbers of rough sleepers and those in temporary, insecure or substandard accommodation,” Mr Kyrwood said. “We need to dramatically decrease the flow of people coming into homelessness and improve service quality for those who are, or at risk of being without accommodation.”

If you have any goods that could help the make the homeless people more comfortable this winter - from clothes and blankets, to toiletries and books, why not drop them off at the Mission Australia Head Office - 111 Wellington Street, East Perth.