The areas first in line for Victoria’s new homelessness scheme

People at risk of sleeping rough in Melbourne’s north and west and on the eastern fringes will be among the first to access the Allan government’s overhauled homelessness-to-housing pathway.

The government insists this version will have stronger wraparound services and be more prescriptive with the type of housing available to participants despite fewer people being placed in secure accommodation compared with an earlier iteration established during the pandemic.

The Age revealed before the May budget that the From Homelessness to a Home scheme, which had a 90 per cent success rate and at one stage housed people in hotels during the pandemic, would target hundreds of fewer people in the coming years.

It can now be revealed that residents in the Melton, Brimbank, Hume and Merri-bek local government areas – as well as the outer-eastern suburbs – will be the first in metropolitan Melbourne to access a new-look program called Homes First.

Instead of housing people in hotels, an emphasis will be placed on social and affordable housing. Participants will also be matched with a multidisciplinary team that can help them with mental health, alcohol and other drug issues as well as family violence.

The areas to first access the program outside of Melbourne include the Goulburn, Ovens Murray, inner Gippsland, Loddon and Wimmera south-west regions.

Melbourne City Mission manager Lisa O’Brien, whose organisation will be the service provider for Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs, said pairing wraparound services with a roof over someone’s head in growth suburbs was best practice.

“The cost of living has brought out a whole new cohort,” O’Brien said.

“Long gone are the days of thinking of an older person sleeping under a bridge. The amount of young people coming through the doors is huge. And the gender profile is shifting.

“The No.1 reason why people come into the system, unfortunately, is family violence. And we know family violence is a gendered issue.”

At least 10 per cent of funding for Homes First will be aimed at Aboriginal community-controlled organisations.

Housing Minister Harriet Shing said the new-look program was an opportunity to break the cycle of homelessness.

“We know that having secure, stable housing with wraparound supports leads to better outcomes across the board,” she said.

The state government has come under growing pressure this year on housing and economic management.

Housing Minister Harriet Shing.Credit: AAP

Opposition housing spokesman Richard Riordan has accused the government of demolishing too many social homes before building new ones, while the Greens have campaigned against the plan to knock down and rebuild Melbourne’s more than 40 public housing towers.

This year’s state budget forecast that Victoria’s net debt would rise to $187.8 billion by June 2028. This would leave taxpayers with a daily interest bill of about $25 million – money the Coalition says could have otherwise been funnelled into government services.

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