Youth Housing and Homelessness Alliance: Joint Statement to government response to Homelessness Inquiry

Recently, the Victorian Government finally responded to the Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria, which was tabled 4 March 2021. The Youth Housing and Homelessness Alliance commends the Victorian Government Response for supporting 45 of the 51 recommendations in full or in principle.

But in offering no new funding to meaningfully implement these recommendations, the response goes nowhere near far enough to address the scale of young people experiencing homelessness, and relative investment required.

With 7,628 young people experiencing homelessness in Victoria on census night, they make up 25% of all people experiencing homelessness.¹ And in the context of our worsening housing crisis, cost-of-living crisis, and increasing demand for services, this number continues to grow.

While the Inquiry called for important changes – including more social and affordable housing, prioritising early intervention programs, and more funding for youth-specific housing solutions – the government has only pointed to existing investments, such as Victoria’s Housing Statement.

Since the Committee tabled its final report, the government has rolled out much-needed initiatives to support young people at risk of or experiencing homelessness – including more youth crisis refuges, and housing options for 130 young people through the Youth Capital Grants program.

Yet, Victoria’s policy response to housing and homelessness continues to fail young people.

Initiatives targeting youth homelessness are not rolled out state-wide, meaning many young people living in outer metro, rural and regional areas miss out on access to youth-specific support. Further, current responses do not consider the developmental life stages of young people – who often need extra support to transition to adulthood and housing independence.

To support all young people to maintain safe and secure housing, we call on the Victorian Government to:

• Revise last year’s Housing Statement to fully fund the Inquiries recommendations beyond 2023-24.
• Develop a Victorian specific youth housing and homelessness strategy to coordinate services, supports and interventions for young people, including 5000 youth-specific social housing properties to meet rising demand.
• Design and develop a dedicated fit-for-purpose new youth housing model for young people (15-24) in the homelessness system – to empower young people with the skills and resilience to transition to housing independence.  
• Increase investment in dedicated funding for prevention and early intervention services to address the needs of a young person before they experience homelessness.
• Honour the government’s commitment to roll-out 500 new medium-term supported housing places for young people (between 18 and 25) who are living with a mental illness and experiencing unstable housing or homelessness, as part of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.   

Mary Nega, Chief Executive Officer at YACVic, on behalf of the Victorian Youth Housing and Homelessness Alliance.

About the Alliance

The Victorian Youth Housing and Homelessness Alliance is a group of leading specialist organisations in the youth housing and homelessness sector.

Alliance members: Anglicare Vic; Brotherhood of St Laurence; Centre for Multicultural Youth; Council to Homeless Persons; Hope St; Kids Under Cover; Launch Housing; Melbourne City Mission (MCM); Meli (formerly BCYF); Quantum; Salvation Army; Uniting Vic; VCOSS; Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVic); YSAS.