Submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry Into Homelessness in Victoria
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Submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria January 2020 Greater Shepparton - context Greater Shepparton is home to a vibrant and diverse community, located in the heart of regional Victoria approximately 160-200km to the north of Melbourne. It encompasses a central urbanised area focused on Shepparton, Mooroopna and Kialla, and a number of smaller townships, as well as extensive rural agricultural land, creating a broad range of contexts and needs. Greater Shepparton City Council is governed by nine elected Councillors. As a local government authority, Greater Shepparton City Council exercises a wide range of government functions and powers for the ‘peace, order and good government’ of our municipal district. Greater Shepparton City Council is one of the largest regional Councils within Victoria and strives to achieve our community’s vision of a ‘Greater Shepparton’. Council endeavours to plan and build a connected regional community which is safe, easy to navigate and provides a healthy and prosperous lifestyle, now and into the future. Greater Shepparton has a large multicultural population and one of the largest populations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Victoria outside of Melbourne. Greater Shepparton’s unique demographics must be considered when contemplating homelessness and housing stress. A combination of factors contributes to a high level of disadvantage in Greater Shepparton, reflected in a SEIFA index of 948i, and the highest level of homelessness in regional Victoria (at 5.56 per 1,000 persons)ii. Council has become increasingly concerned at the extent of homelessness and housing insecurity across Greater Shepparton. While not funded to deliver direct homelessness support, Council supports a number of organisations providing ancillary support service and provides resourcing for a range of community facilities, services, grants, scholarships and activities. Council also advocates to the state and federal governments to provide increased, consistent and targeted support to housing agencies such as Beyond Housing, Rumbalara Aboriginal Co- operative, SalvoCare, Bridge Youth Service, Vincent Care, and Wintringham Housing. Council has also developed several Plans that highlight the importance of the provision of affordable and appropriate housing, including the Public Health Strategic Plan 2018-2028 and the Greater Shepparton Housing Strategy 2011. In its role as Planning Authority, Council has continually worked to ensure a consistent and appropriate supply of land or housing, to balance market supply with demand and maintain affordability, and to ensure the delivery of necessary infrastructure to new residential areas. However, high levels of homelessness and housing insecurity in Greater Shepparton have persisted, exacerbated by increasingly complex social and economic factors. Council is extremely concerned that other regional centres with both lower prevalence of homelessness and higher (better) SEIFA Index scores have been prioritised for funding allocations, before Greater Shepparton, as recently as October 2018.iii Greater Shepparton City Council: Submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria January 2020 M19/95999 The current situation – the changing scale and nature of homelessness in the Shepparton LGA Greater Shepparton City Council recognises homelessness and housing stress as significant issues in Greater Shepparton, and these issues are more significant than in other, otherwise comparable, regional centres. Indeed Greater Shepparton is estimated to have a rate of 5.56 homeless persons per 1,000 people – the highest in regional Victoria.iv v In June 2018, the Planning and Environment Act 1987 was amended to include the objective ‘to facilitate the provision of affordable housing in Victoria’, and to define ‘Affordable Housing’ as ‘housing, including Social Housing, that is appropriate for the housing needs of very low, low and moderate income households.’vi Greater Shepparton City Council successfully applied for a grant of $50,000 from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) to undertake the development of an affordable housing strategy, to support negotiations with developers to include Affordable Housing in new residential estates. Council’s vision for the Strategy is that: ‘All members of the Greater Shepparton community have access to safe, affordable and appropriate housing’. At time of writing, the Draft Strategy had concluded public exhibition and is under final revision. Council expects to endorse the Strategy at the Ordinary Council Meeting to be held in March 2020. Housing Need The first stage of the Strategy’s development explored the evidence of need for Affordable Housing in Greater Shepparton, drawing on a variety of data sources and extensive input from housing and building sector stakeholders and the community. Overall, Greater Shepparton was found to have a shortfall of 1,751 affordable dwellings for lower- income households. An estimated 42% of all forecast dwelling supply to 2036 would need to be delivered as Affordable Housing, to meet estimated demand at the current levels. Greater Shepparton City Council: Submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria January 2020 M19/95999 Acute housing need The following points provide a snapshot of housing need in Greater Shepparton, although figures are likely to be under-reported, due to the difficulty of gathering data from people without formal addresses, and the degree to which homelessness is socially stigmatised. • 355 persons identified as ‘homeless’vii, including: Persons in improvised dwellings, tents or sleeping out 37 Persons in supported accommodation for the homeless 110 Persons staying temporarily with other households 56 Persons living in ‘severely overcrowded’ dwellings 131 • A further 459 persons living in ‘other marginal housing’, including other crowded dwellings, improvised dwellings, or caravan parks. • 1,041 households were registered on the Social Housing waiting list for housing in the Goulburn (Shepparton) region in June 2019, with 485 in priority need of assistance.viii • An estimated 3,315 low income households required Affordable Housing in 2016, with only 1,564 of these households supported into Social Housing.ix • 1,704 households were recorded as clients of homeless service providers in the Greater Shepparton area in 2018-2019. Of these:x Gender 61.3% were female Household 41.8% were single, composition 23.1% were single-parent families 7.2% were couples with child(ren) Age 59.3% were aged between 26 and 45 years old Cultural 89.7% were born in Australia background 27.8% identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Employment 8.9% were in full or part-time employment Support 37.3% were in receipt of the Newstart payment Payments 20.7% were in receipt of a parenting payment 19.7% were in receipt of the disability support pension Previous 51.5% had been in permanent housing less than one week accommodation prior, 15.66% had not been in permanent accommodation for over 6 months Factors that contribute to homelessness and housing stress Council understands that there are a multitude of causes of homelessness. Greater Shepparton City Council: Submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria January 2020 M19/95999 Circumstances that lead to homelessness are a reflection of wider societal and institutional shifts such as the casualisation of employment, rising marital breakdown, and the increased cultural perception of housing as an investment asset, as well as the increasingly globalised and return- focused nature of the housing market. Local service providers indicate the below main reasons for presentation to local housing support services are summarised below: Main Reasons for Presenting Non-family violence Transition from custodial 30 53 49 arrangement 108 Employment difficulties 110 Problematic drug or substance abuse 862 158 Medical Issues 169 Unemployment 241 Lack family and/or community support Mental Health issues 248 Time out from Family 699 Housing Crisis 403 Relationship / Family Breakdown 447 430 Domestic and family violence Inadequate or Inappropriate dwelling condition Financial Difficulties Indirect contributors to housing stress and homelessness, which entrench the cycle of poverty and are pertinent to the Greater Shepparton Local Government Area, include: • An unemployment rate of 4.7%xi • Youth disengagement of 30% (or 2,300 young people)xii • Poor educational outcomes. In 2016, the proportion of 20-24 year-olds who had left school before completing year 11 was 20% in Greater Shepparton – approximately twice the level of 10.3% across Victoria.xiii • University participation rates among residents aged 20-24 are markedly lower than Victorian levels. • The number of people reliant on CentreLink payments is higher than the state average.xiv Housing support services are forced to turn people away due to a lack of adequate resourcing. In some cases, those on the Victorian Housing Register may wait up to 15 years for suitable accommodation. Greater Shepparton City Council: Submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria January 2020 M19/95999 Vulnerability to homelessness In addition to residents who are already experiencing acute levels of need, a substantial proportion of households in Greater Shepparton are in housing stress, defined as those in the lowest 40% of income levels who