Wesley Mission in Ringwood asks for more government money after homelessness service inundated

A RINGWOOD homelessness service is so stretched it has had to ask for extra money to put people up in crisis accommodation.

Homeless couple Paul Thomson and Debbie Rakip recently shared their story about living in a Boronia bus shelter.

A RINGWOOD homelessness service is so stretched it has had to ask for extra money to put people up in crisis accommodation.

Wesley Mission’s Ringwood branch had more than 10,000 requests for help last financial year — a nine per cent increase on the previous period.

Couple forced to live in bus shelter just want someone to give them a chance

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Crisis and homelessness manager Janene Evans said the branch had to ask for more money from the State Government in May — two months before the end of the financial year — because it had exhausted its money for crisis accommodation.

“It’s the first time we’ve ever run out of money since I started here seven years ago,” she said.

“Nearly every (homelessness) agency in the eastern region ran out of money at the same time.

“It shows how stretched services like ours are. The funding for crisis accommodation has not increased over time in line with demand.”

Housing affordability was the main reason people were seeking help from the branch, she said.

Most were those sleeping rough (32.6 per cent), followed by people struggling to meet private rental payments (25 per cent) and then people in rooming houses (8.6 per cent).

Ms Evans said financial stress was becoming more widespread in Melbourne’s east, particularly in Maroondah where median rental prices were about $350 a week.

“Someone on Newstart receiving $250 a week living on their own is not going to be able to afford a rental property,” she said.

“So where do they go? Rooming houses are often the only place for them. Even then, they’re barely affordable either.”

Ms Evans said homelessness cut across all age groups, with one in 40 of those seeking help from Wesley Mission last year aged over 65.

Welsey Mission crisis and homelessness manager Janene Evans. Picture Yuri Kouzmin

“It’s pretty scary. I don’t know what sort of society we are if we think that’s OK; that people that age are experiencing homelessness,” she said.

Ms Evans said there was “never enough” money for crisis accommodation which was forcing agencies to carefully choose who could access it, with priority given to families and women with children.

That is forcing some outer east residents such as Paul Thomson and Debbie Rakip to fend for themselves on the streets.

The couple, aged in their 50s, has been living out of a bus shelter behind Boronia Mall for the past fortnight after being turned away from various agencies.

Both are diagnosed with bipolar disorder and on disability pensions, which they said made it almost impossible to rent privately.

Ms Evans said more housing was desperately needed to respond to the problem.

“It’s a supply and demand thing,” she said.

“When there’s more demand for houses, people can charge whatever they like (for rentals). When there are more houses available, the prices drop.

“If we don’t have more funds put into building more affordable housing then I don’t think we’ll ever eradicate the problem.”