Tuesday, 13 August 2019

Homelessness policy

Ms VALLENCE (Evelyn) (19:08): (880) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Housing and Minister for Planning. The action I seek is for him to urgently intervene to clarify how section 64 of the Building Act 1993 is to be applied in relation to churches providing short-term shelter for homeless persons. I ask the minister to take action to allow churches to remain places of temporary shelter for the homeless. Victorian lives are depending on it.

A truly remarkable community volunteer organisation in my electorate of Evelyn called Stable One runs a winter night shelter with over 150 volunteers and eight participating churches that provide temporary refuge for homeless people locally during the cold winter months, providing nutritious meals, wash facilities, counselling and fellowship in a warm and safe environment. I have supported Stable One for years and have seen firsthand the sheer commitment of volunteers in making their guests feel valued, ably led by the amazing Jenny Willetts and Trevor Ingamells.

However, Stable One has been dealt a serious blow by the mindless bureaucracy of this Labor government. After consulting with the Victorian Building Authority (VBA), local council staff have told Stable One that they will not issue temporary occupation permits for church buildings to house the homeless unless—and at major cost—they pay architects and draftspersons to draw up new plans for each individual church, submit countless policies and applications for review and extensively upgrade facilities, just to name a few requirements. This is despite these very same buildings being used to shelter the homeless for the last three years without any such requirements.

Minister, it seems these requirements are completely disproportionate and unnecessary to the services this charitable organisation is trying to provide to those who are the most vulnerable in our community. A night of shelter in a local church is by far a better option than being exposed to the elements in a local park, outside public toilets or in a car. Minister, I urge you to make clear the application of section 64 of the Building Act 1993, because this whole scenario is made worse by the homeless people in my electorate knowing that councils in other parts of Victoria are interpreting this section of the Building Act completely differently and issuing occupation permits to churches and volunteer groups without imposing such onerous requirements.

The Labor government and the VBA stand by and let people live in apartments and attend childcare services in buildings that are wrapped in combustible cladding but will not let churches in Evelyn provide shelter for the homeless. It is just another example of how this Labor government is failing on the serious challenges of homelessness.

Minister, when Stable One wrote to you in May you had a junior departmental officer respond with government propaganda that failed entirely to address the issues and their requests. Minister, it is time to stop hiding behind this bureaucracy. Make clear the application of section 64 of the Building Act, and enable the most vulnerable in our community to access these winter night shelters at these amazing local churches.