Thursday, 4 August 2022

Neighbourhood houses

Dr CUMMING (Western Metropolitan) (20:52): (2040) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers in the other place, and the action that I seek is for the minister to make the non-recurring funding for neighbourhood houses permanent. The 401 Victorian neighbourhood houses across the state receive poor funding from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing known as the neighbourhood house coordination program funding. In 2018 the state government made an investment across four years in recognition of the inadequacies of funding for many underfunded neighbourhood houses, including a number in Western Metropolitan Region. At the time of this announcement it was not made clear that, unlike existing neighbourhood house funding, this new funding would be non-recurring and would lapse in four years time.

In the recent budget the sector was relieved to see that this funding had been extended for two more years up until June 2024. I have been contacted by a number of neighbourhood houses in my region, including Angliss Neighbourhood House in Footscray, Joan Kirner House, Spotswood Community House, Altona North community house, the Grange community house in Hoppers Crossing, Louis Joel Arts and Community Centre in Altona and the community and neighbourhood house in Deer Park, and I am surprised I have not heard from Yarraville or West Footscray neighbourhood houses, but I am guessing it is on its way.

The work of neighbourhood houses has a significant impact on so many areas that determine quality of life for Victorians, including combating loneliness and social isolation, mental and physical health and wellbeing, poverty and disadvantage. They support people from a diverse range of backgrounds, including people with a disability, people from migrant and refugee communities and people experiencing family violence, and they help people gain core skills for employment. Importantly they strengthen communities with pride and belonging. They employ over 5000 Victorians, the vast majority of whom are women, and around 200 000 Victorians access a neighbourhood house in an average week. In 2020 for every one dollar of the neighbourhood house core funding they received they generated $22.05 in community value. Without this funding on a permanent basis, there is a risk of the closure of 27 neighbourhood houses, including four Aboriginal-run neighbourhood houses and 12 in rural Victoria. It would also see the reduction of 77 000 hours annually of paid employment and the loss of 1 554 000 hours of neighbourhood house activities annually, impacting 189 communities. Neighbourhood houses certainly need their fair share of funding, and they need it now.