By Danielle Kutchel
Cardinia Shire Council has joined forces with the City of Casey to host a forum aimed at finding solutions to tackle the growing homelessness crisis.
More than 120 housing and homelessness workers, representing over 65 different organisations, attended the 2021 Casey Cardinia Housing Summit on Thursday 5 August.
Now in its second year, the summit was held in the middle of National Homelessness Week.
The number of people accessing homelessness services increased sharply in Cardinia between 2017 and 2019, according to ABS data.
Over the border, things look grim.
Census data from 2016 reveals around 1000 people are homeless in Casey each day – an estimate that service providers believe is in fact a vast undercount – highlighting the importance of holding the summit.
Attendees heard from a range of speakers, including Dr Andi Diamond from the Local Government Regional Charter Group.
Casey and Cardinia are among the 13 local governments to join the Charter Group, which released a best practice guide over National Homelessness Week called the Housing First for People Sleeping Rough Practice Guide for Local Government.
The 13 eastern and south eastern Council CEOs formed the Regional Local Government Homelessness and Social Housing Charter Group in late 2019 to end homelessness and advocate for more social housing.
Speaking at the summit, Dr Diamond said the councils had come together in 2019 to hear that “the single most powerful way councils can help end homelessness is to advocate for increased social housing”.
She said the councils had made join submissions into the Victorian inquiry into homelessness and were running a range of campaigns this week to highlight that homelessness is not limited to the Melbourne CBD, but rather impacts people across Victoria.
“Through Covid, we’ve seen increased vulnerability in communities,” she added, noting that councils were seeing “new demographics” appearing in their homeless populations.
In Casey, there is particular concern for the growing number of women and children without a roof over their heads, which is often due to domestic violence concerns.
Summit attendees also heard from Jessica Featherston from Launch Housing, who spoke about how service providers had responded to the pandemic to help house people as well as how people experiencing homelessness can participate in the upcoming Census.
Zara Msonda-Johnson from Homes Vic and Leslie Dredge CEO – Community Housing Sector Advocates Victoria spoke about the services currently available in Casey and Cardinia, including incoming public and social housing builds.
Laura, a young woman with lived experience of homelessness, shared her thoughts on how to best engage those living on the streets.
She is now a youth worker, helping others in the same position she was once in.
Laura encouraged housing providers to think creatively about how to reengage young people back into housing and the community.
“Connect and find different ways of engaging with them that don’t come with stigma,” she suggested.
After the summit, Cardinia Shire mayor Brett Owen said Cardinia Shire was committed to increasing stocks of social and affordable housing through its Social and Affordable Housing strategy.
The seven-year strategy outlines how the council will work with local agencies towards increasing access to diverse, high quality, sustainable and affordable housing responsive to the needs of a growing and diverse community.
“Council can have a direct impact in supporting the growth of social and affordable housing stock in our area,” he said.
“This might be through the planning scheme or leading the conversation in our community around why we need more social and affordable housing and who it benefits.
“For example, secure, stable and safe housing for children is absolutely vital to their wellbeing and ability to flourish,” he said.
If you’re experiencing homelessness and need support, please contact:
WAYSS – wayss.org.au
ERMHA – ermha.org
