Action plan to help rough sleepers and homeless in CBD and across Victoria

ROUGH sleepers in Melbourne’s CBD and across Victoria will be helped from the street and into housing with a $45 million action plan announced by the state government today.

ROUGH sleepers in Melbourne’s CBD and across Victoria will be helped from the street and into housing in a $45 million action plan announced by the state government today.

The 1100 people who sleep on the street and in parks, cars and abandoned buildings every night will be targeted in Victoria’s Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Plan.

A quarter of the funds will focus on inner Melbourne and the CBD — where the last street count in 2016 found 247 people sleeping rough on a single night — with $5.7 million for outreach teams and $4.5 million for health and wellbeing services in crisis care.

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A man takes shelter from the cold in the CBD. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Areas of greatest need will be highlighted for $19 million in assertive outreach teams, including Melbourne’s CBD, Dandenong, Frankston, Warrnambool, Ballarat, Geelong, Bendigo and Swan Hill.

The teams will search for and speak with those experiencing homelessness and connect them to services.

A total $13 million will go on 106 accommodation units with on-site support, including for Kids Under Cover in Geelong, Ballarat and North Melbourne.

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A further $9 million will develop six teams to support people once they’re housed.

The plan will target three cohorts of rough sleepers: the recently homeless, those who have slept rough for an extended period and those at risk of chronic homelessness.

Areas of greatest need will be highlighted for $19 million in assertive outreach teams, including Melbourne’s CBD, Dandenong, Frankston, Warrnambool, Ballarat, Geelong, Bendigo and Swan Hill.

The workers will search for and speak with those experiencing homelessness and connect them to support, accommodation and health services.

People who sleep on the street and in parks and cars will be targeted. Picture: Eugene Hyland

A homeless camp in Elizabeth Street in October. Picture: Ian Currie

The announcement comes after the Herald Sun revealed almost 12,000 Victorian schoolchildren accessed homelessness services in the past financial year — up 13 per cent on the year before.

New figures released last month also showed the number of Victorians seeking homelessness help in a single year wouldn’t fit in the MCG.

Minister for Housing Martin Foley said the government wanted to “break the cycle of homelessness in Victoria”.

“That means intervening early and connecting rough sleepers with the services they need to turn their lives around,” he said. “Through our investments in assertive outreach teams and additional rapid housing, we will give vulnerable Victorians a pathway out of homelessness.”

Melbourne Acting Lord Mayor Arron Wood said: “We welcome the Government’s leadership on this complex statewide issue and its commitment to helping rough sleepers in suburban and regional areas, as well as the city,” he said.

The action plan follows a $799 investment in housing and homelessness and $2.1 billion social housing package.

The plan is available at dhhs.vic.gov.au/towards-home

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