Homelessness support services are crying out for more support and reform ahead of Homelessness Week, starting Monday 4 August.
Analysis from Homelessness Australia has highlighted a rise in women and children experiencing homelessness, Everybody’s Home has shone a light on drastically increasing rental pressures and the Council to Homeless Persons is continually concerned by a lack of social and affordable housing in Victoria.
These pressures and concerns are being felt on a local level too by local homelessness support services Anchor, Holy Fools and Stable One.
Anchor chief executive officer Heidi Tucker said the statistics and experiences raised by homelessness peak bodies provide a stark reminder that far more urgency and funding are required to address this national emergency.
“Despite an ambitious and considered housing strategy, the Albanese Government’s efforts are still being outpaced by the severity and scale of the homelessness crisis, rental affordability and accessibility are beyond the reach of most Australians and social housing stock is minimal with unmanageable waitlists in Victoria,” she said.
“What is troubling is the number of families seeking support where there are two full-time working parents, who are still falling into experiences of homelessness,”
“In the Yarra Ranges, there are very few emergency accommodation options because rental affordability and availability have gotten so challenging. It’s driving more people to seek help, while at the same time, organisations like ours have less ability to connect them with options for stable accommodation.
Homelessness Australia’s recent snapshot analysis found that the number of women and children experiencing homelessness in Australia has risen 20 per cent (from 24,517 to 29,449) between May 2022 and March 2025, with those at risk of homelessness up by 8 per cent. 45 per cent have also experienced domestic and family violence.
Stable One chief executive Katherine Kirkwood said they are so saddened by the recent statistics released, and through walking alongside their guests at the Yarra Valley Winter Shelter, are acutely aware of the difficulties faced by those without stable accommodation.
“The lack of social and affordable housing leaves people with no safe options- whether it be returning to a violent home, sleeping in a car, or living in a tent,” she said.
“We would love to see bold, intentional action from all levels of government to increase the supply of affordable housing, invest in wraparound support services, and prioritise long-term, person-centred solutions that restore dignity and hope,”
“We are certainly hearing stories from our guests that reflect growing need in our region, our partners at Anchor – who manage all guest assessments – are well-placed to see these trends more clearly, and they’ve noted increasing complexity and pressure across the homelessness sector locally.”
Everybody’s Home’s Out of Reach report highlighted that rents for houses and units have risen a combined 56.8 per cent nationally over the last 10 years, including 33.5 per cent in the last three years and 2.5 per cent in the last year.
Ms Tucker said the Yarra Ranges urgently requires more social housing options, particularly for young people.
“With over 45,000 children in the Victorian care system and more than 28,000 young Australians
experiencing homelessness on any given night, this is a national crisis that we believe doesn’t get the attention it demands,” she said.
“The difference for the Eastern region is that it is not a growth corridor, so we are not seeing a similar level of new social and affordable housing builds being allocated to this region. A lot of the planned social housing builds in the outer-east only come out as far as Box Hill,”
“We are advocating for long term housing and homelessness policies that shift away from crisis
response into prevention and early intervention – like Housing First programs, it is much more
expensive to work in the crisis space than prevention and early intervention.”
One positive piece of news in the sector was recently confirmed by the Council to Homeless Persons, with 18 homelessness programs renewed in the State Government’s May budget set to be fully indeed to keep up with inflation and wage increases.
Ms Kirkwood said building projects take time, so one of the most urgent actions needed is for governments to cut through the red tape that currently makes it difficult to provide simple, safe housing options – particularly tiny homes, caravans, and other movable dwellings.
“There also needs to be greater flexibility and clearer provisions for homeowners who have a bungalow or granny flat and are willing to informally house someone experiencing or at risk of homelessness,” she said.
“At present, the legal and regulatory barriers can discourage people from stepping in to help, even when they have the space and the heart to do so,”
“Stable One is currently working on developing a new initiative that seeks to support homeowners willing to offer their accommodation spaces to individuals or families experiencing or at risk of homelessness, in our recent experience, many people are open to sharing their accommodation but are unsure how to do so.”
Anyone interested in Stable One’s proposal can express their interest by contacting info@stableone.org. If the project gets off the ground, Stable One will aim to properly equip property owners with the tools and support to offer accommodation to people experiencing housing insecurity.
Holy Fools founder Neal Taylor said he’s very concerned that the situation is getting drastic here in Australia.
“We seem to have a lot of words about it from not only the government but also the sector and no one seems to want to admit that we’re struggling and we need to do better,” he said.
“We’re seeing people who are on the verge of homelessness because of rental stress and also food stress, asking do they pay rent or do they buy food, we’ve referred a lot of people to Anchor for help because they’re in danger of being evicted,”
“I would encourage if anyone is wanting to do something, if they don’t want to get involved locally, there is always the campaigns that Homelessness Victoria and Homelessness Australia are running about advocating the government for changes… orthey could make donations because we’re always struggling to keep this place going, but the need for our place is phenomenal.”
Some upcoming events for Homelessness Week include:
The Homeward Bound Walk held by the Eastern Homelessness Network on Tuesday 5 August at Ringwood Lake from 10am-12pm.
A fundraising barbecue at Holy Fool’s Felix House, 19 Hutchinson Street in Lilydale on Monday 4 August with more details to be confirmed.
Mr Taylor said he thinks addressing the issue is a community effort, not just an effort from the government or agencies.
“It affects everyone from the fact that it costs the government, it costs the society, it’s a health issue and we need to be doing something more about it than we are,” he said.
“Short-term there needs to be a freeze on rent increases,particularly since we’re supposed to be in an economic crisis, because it just seems unfair that people who are struggling already and then suddenly they get their rent increased, it just seems ludicrous,”
“In the next 10 to 20 years, we need some more of the Big Build out this way, considering that the Yarra Ranges has no crisis accommodation or even short or long-term affordable accommodation, it just makes sense that we need something out here.”
