Homeless receive $77m funding
A new $77 million plan to tackle homelessness across Victoria will assist thousands of people, both young and elderly in the state. The plan, released last week by Victorian Minister for Housing, Wendy Lovell, includes a $25 million innovation fund to finance pilot projects that will provide services targeting different groups, including elderly people.
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A new $77 million plan to tackle homelessness across Victoria will assist thousands of people, both young and elderly in the state.
The plan, released last week by Victorian Minister for Housing, Wendy Lovell, includes a $25 million innovation fund to finance pilot projects that will provide services targeting different groups, including elderly people and women and children fleeing family violence.
Ms Lovell said the plan focused on helping vulnerable people before they became homeless.
“The new action plan involves focusing on early intervention with targeted assistance to help vulnerable people in Bourke Street, Melbourne,” Ms Lovell said. “This approach will reduce the risk of the homeless being trapped in a cycle of homelessness from one generation to the next,” she added.
The Victorian Homelessness Action Plan will: support innovative ways of tackling homelessness, investigate models that specifically focus on early intervention and prevention, and provide better targeted resources so they are available when and where they are needed.
Council on the Ageing (COTA) Victoria chief executive, Sue Hendy, told DPS News the announcement by Minister Lovell was “well received by all”.
“We are aware that housing vulnerability is growing across all age groups and gender… [and] we are very concerned about the increasing rates of older women experiencing homelessness; this includes women in their 70’s and older being faced with living in their cars or on the streets,” Ms Hendy said.
“We welcome this announcement and look forward to seeing older people part of the focus of this initiative,” she added.
Former Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Dr Kay Patterson, will chair a new Ministerial Advisory Council on Homelessness which will guide the government in developing policy.
The government will reportedly acquire 1,600 new public and social houses by the middle of next year. Almost 37,000 people are on the public housing waiting list in Victoria.
