Tuesday, 17 February 2026

 Will FOWLES (Ringwood) (15:19): On census night more than 30,000 Victorians were recorded as experiencing homelessness. We know that number is conservative. The census undercounts rough sleepers and hidden homelessness. People sleeping in cars, on couches, in unsafe and unstable arrangements are routinely missed. The real figure is higher, and behind every number is a human being failed by the system. For years governments have managed homelessness rather than ended it. We have funded crisis beds, commissioned reports and issued strategies. Yet rough sleeping persists, and the housing register now exceeds 67,000 households.

Advance to Zero offers a serious alternative. It is not rhetoric; it is a carefully calibrated program to help. Communities come together around a formal action plan that aligns councils, housing providers, health services and outreach teams. They set clear targets, assign responsibility and measure progress relentlessly. They maintain a live by-name list of every person sleeping rough – a real-time, person-specific record that tracks inflow, outflow and housing placements so that no-one is invisible and no-one falls through the cracks. Grounded in Housing First principles, it drives month-by-month reductions in rough sleeping, working toward what is known as functional zero, where homelessness is rare, brief and not repeated. If Victoria is serious about addressing rising rough sleeping and the growing housing register, then we must scale what works. Ending homelessness is achievable. What is required now is nothing more than the political will.