Wednesday, 21 February 2024

Homelessness

Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:06): (727) My adjournment is to the Minister for Housing, and the action I seek is for the minister to tell my constituents what steps have been taken to address the concerns raised in the final report of March 2021 of the Parliament of Victoria Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee inquiry into homelessness in Victoria that are relevant to my electorate in Dandenong, Cranbourne, Frankston, Carrum, Narre Warren South and Narre Warren North.

I know that a report response has just been dropped, but in my electorate, in Dandenong, we have the highest level of homelessness in Victoria: 148 per 10,000 people, or 2366 people, according to the most recent figures obtained by the Dandenong Zero homelessness project, are currently homeless. There is simply not enough social and affordable housing in our city for everyone who needs it. Latest statistics provided by Melbourne Zero show that there were 61 actively homeless people recorded in January 2024 and 35 actively sleeping rough, but these are just the recorded figures, which do not take into account the temporary accommodation cases, hospitalisations and couch surfers who may move around. I can say that outside my electorate office I regularly see homeless people. According to my local St Vincent de Paul office, the challenging issue of homelessness being seen by their volunteers in Greater Dandenong, where 40 per cent of the population are from groups deemed most at risk of homelessness, is increasing.

In March 2021 the Parliament of Victoria Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee inquiry into homelessness in Victoria released its final report. According to the parliamentary inquiry, Victoria’s social housing stock is insufficient, has been steadily declining for several years and is well below the national average. Victorian social housing dwellings have dropped from 3.85 per cent to even less than that in recent years. Victoria has the lowest housing stock in Australia and is significantly below the national average of 4.5 per cent of total housing stock. Our most vulnerable Victorians are suffering through the lack of social housing and through the lack of access to the small numbers of places that are available.

The big build by the Victorian government is expected to lead to the construction of a whole lot of homes, but there are people that are desperately waiting on the list right now. And what happens to the 32,000 people? What happens to them? It found that social and affordable housing stock met only 31 per cent of the current need in the council areas. We know that children and young people make up a huge proportion of Victoria’s worsening homelessness crisis, and there was a 26 per cent increase between 2016 and 2021. According to our last census, 6798 children were estimated to be experiencing homelessness, which counts for 22 per cent of the state’s overall homelessness numbers. That is more than 4100 children under the age of 12.