The Victorian government is being urged by a peak homelessness group to restore funding to a “life-changing” program to permanently end rough sleeping, with planned cuts leaving hundreds in limbo.
The Council to Homeless Persons’ state budget submission, released on Tuesday, calls on the government to spend $47.5m in the next financial year to extend the Homelessness to a Home (H2H) program beyond its 30 June end date and a further $224.4m to expand the program to 2,400 households over four years.
The program was launched by the government in mid-2020 to support about 2,000 homeless Victorians who, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, had been put up in hotels.
But now, as reported by Guardian Australia, the government has significantly scaled down funding for the program. As at 24 February, 550 people were yet to be permanently housed, with others unhappy with the accommodation that has been provided.
The program was based on a “housing-first” model, a successful approach adopted overseas to tackling homelessness that ties housing with services such as drug and alcohol counselling, mental health support and case management.
About 1,845 participants joined the H2H program, including mother-of-two Hayley*, who on the eve of the pandemic fled an abusive relationship and slept rough for about 17 months before she was offered housing and support from provider Uniting Vic.Tas.
“It’s completely changed my life. I went from having a job and a home to losing everything,” she told Guardian Australia. “I left everything behind.
“Now, I’ve got my little family and my little house and I’m all set up. I’ve got hobbies, I garden. I’m just a completely different person. The support workers, in particular, they healed me in a lot of ways.”
The government has secured permanent housing for 1,295 H2H participants – including Hayley – ahead of the program winding back at the end of June. But about 550 participants remain in limbo.
This includes participants placed in transitional housing rented by the government from the private market – a practice called head-leasing.
The rented properties were intended as transitional housing until permanent accommodation could be secured, but many tenants have been issued notices to vacate as their leases end, in some cases with no appropriate long-term home to go to. Some have been offered interim hotel or rooming house accommodation, effectively returning them temporarily to homelessness.
It has prompted both the Coalition and the Greens to urge the government to continue fully funding the program until all participants are found a permanent home.
The government committed about $43m to the program last year, but from 2023/24 the funding scales back to $12m.
The Council to Homeless Persons’ chief executive, Jenny Smith, said the eviction notices were a result of the time-limited funding of the H2H program and a historical underinvestment in social housing.
“Housing providers are in an absolute quandary about what to do about leases that are expiring when the funding is ending and the social housing hasn’t turned up.”
Smith said the program held the promise of maturing to deliver an almost 90% housing sustainment rate.
“It’ll take a number of years to bed this program down properly. I’m not saying we’re delivering it perfectly but we need the opportunity for it to mature and reach its full potential and impact.”
Smith said the council’s suggested investment would be cheaper in the long run than allowing people to constantly cycle between high-cost government services, such as emergency departments, crisis accommodation and the justice system.
“We keep expanding our emergency departments, building more police cells and more prisons, but we have large numbers of people for whom that is not the appropriate outcome, but they have to be because they haven’t got a home to go to,” she said.
Also among the council’s budget submission is recommendations to spend $2.7bn over four years to build social housing for young people and $323.4m in capital grants to build 600 properties for First Nations people leaving prison.
A Homes Victoria spokesperson said last week there were just 203 H2H households remaining in head-leased properties, who would “continue to be supported as they transition and settle into their long-term housing option by the end of this year”.
“By June 2023, most people assisted with From Homelessness to a Home’s housing and supports will be able to sustain their housing without the wrap-around supports they needed at the program’s start,” they said.
“Other clients have been supported to access tailored services … that suit their long-term needs.”
*Not her real name
In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org
