Overview
- The Victorian government announced this week a $27.8 million, ten-year rollout of assertive outreach teams to find rough sleepers, build a statewide by-name list and connect people to housing and services.
- Advocates say the model has worked locally: Launch Housing’s Advance to Zero has housed about 850 people since 2019 and St Kilda’s 26-unit Madden House is credited with sharply reducing rough sleeping in its area.
- Frontline services warn shelters and crisis beds are already full early each day, meaning outreach will create more demand for temporary and long-term housing than current capacity can meet.
- Providers estimate the practical cost of delivering full wraparound support may exceed the announced funding and call for additional investment in emergency beds, support staff and housing placement services.
- Victoria has the highest per-capita rate in Australia of people seeking specialist homelessness services after decades of falling social housing to around 3 percent, and the state’s 11,000-unit Big Housing Build is viewed as helpful but not enough to meet demand.