Steve Bevington, Melbourne not-for-profit housing founder, up for Australian of Year
Steve Bevington has gone from sleeping in graveyards, parks and alleyways to being named a finalist in Victoria’s 2021 Australian of the Year awards. Take a look at the man behind the fight against housing poverty.
Melbourne City
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Community Housing Limited (CHL) founder and managing director Steve Bevington has spent years proving affordable housing for our most vulnerable, now he is being acknowledged for his 27 years of dedication.
For almost 15 years he experienced unstable housing first hand while staying on friend’s couches and sleeping in graveyards, alleyways, abandoned buildings and parks in England.
The Australian of the Year nominee said the nomination had helped others realise helping those at risk was everyone’s problem.
“I am humbled to be given the opportunity to represent CHL and those struggling to find housing security as a Victorian nominee in the running for the 2021 Australian of the Year,” he said.
“Housing affordability is not a low-income problem, it’s everyone’s problem.
“There are more than 116,000 people estimated to be homeless in Australia, that is enough to fill all the seats at the MCG plus 21,000 more.
“This demonstrates just a fraction of Australians who need support and does not include those who are at-risk of homelessness and those who are disadvantaged in the private rental market. “This issue has unfortunately only grown dire since CHL was established.”
After moving to Melbourne, he turned his life around and founded CHL in a small Commercial Rd office in Melbourne in 1993 when he was 37 years old.
The last 27 years has seen the housing group grow to become 400 staff strong aiming to house to vulnerable Australians from all walks of life, including the elderly, those with disability, domestic violence survivors and people living with mental illness.
Safe and affordable housing is provided across every state in Australia through more than 11,000 properties.
The past three years has seen CHL tackle yet another challenge.
Having worked closely with Indigenous tenants since 2004 including those in remote and regional areas, Mr Bevington saw a need to better service Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Although great strides have been made the not-for-profit believe there are still enormous housing challenges in Victoria to overcome and COVID-19 has made the need more urgent.
In May council announced a $2m plan to help Melbourne’s rough sleepers through the COVID-19 pandemic by providing emergency accommodation in hotels and access to healthcare.
Mr Bevington said the “bandaid” fix for homelessness in Melbourne proved with more funding it could be prevented saying he was “dumbfounded that governments for decades said (being homeless) was something that happened and now have resolved it, but it took a pandemic to do it … It is a temporary bandaid solution and more housing solutions need to be produced in the immediate and longer term.”
Housing groups in Melbourne have predicted the economic fallout and unemployment rates after the pandemic will push the most vulnerable out of the rental market and onto the public housing waitlist.
The Melbourne City News named the founder as one of Melbourne’s most influential people.
Winners will be announced live on the Australian of the Year Facebook page on October 27.
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Contact Grace at grace.mckinnon@news.com.au