LC LSIC Inquiry into Homelessness Submission 144 Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria Ms Sarah Philpott Organisation Name:Mildura Rural City Council Your position or role: Chief Executive Officer SURVEY QUESTIONS Drag the statements below to reorder them. In order of priority, please rank the themes you believe are most important for this inquiry into homelessness to consider:: Public housing,Housing affordability,Services,Family violence,Mental health,Indigenous people,Employment,Rough sleeping What best describes your interest in our Inquiry? (select all that apply) : Public sector body Are there any additional themes we should consider? CALD community issues YOUR SUBMISSION Submission: Do you have any additional comments or suggestions?: FILE ATTACHMENTS File1: 5e322c11088ac-Submission - Inquiry into the State of Homelessness in Victoria FINAL.pdf File2: File3: Signature: Sarah Philpott 1 of 32 LC LSIC Inquiry into Homelessness Submission 144 Mildura Rural City Council In Partnership with Local Homelessness Services Submission to Parliament of Victoria Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria January 2020 Mildura Rural City Council PO Box 105, Mildura VIC 3500 2 of 32 LC LSIC Inquiry into Homelessness Submission 144 Table of Contents Overview of Mildura Region 2 Background – Partnerships 3 Our Data 4 General Community Data 4 Our Local Rental Data 5 The Mildura Region’s Homelessness Data Story 6 Community Wide Homelessness Data 6 Local Homeless Services Data 8 Organisational Data 8 Department of Health and Human Services Local Data 11 Hands Up Mallee Systems Mapping 13 First 1000 days 14 Best Start to Life 15 Local Homelessness Service Mapping 16 TOR 1 & 2 Community Consultation 17 Domestic Violence 18 Mental Health 20 Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Clients 22 Jobs Network Feedback 24 Local Literature Review Community Consultation Findings 25 TOR 3 Opening Doors Framework & Local Area Service Networks 27 Summary & Recommendations 29 1 3 of 32 LC LSIC Inquiry into Homelessness Submission 144 Overview of Mildura Region Situated in Victoria’s north west at the intersection of South Australia and New South Wales, Mildura Rural City Council covers around 10 per cent of the state’s area or 22,000 square kilometres and incorporates the major regional centre of Mildura and a number of outlying communities. The region has a population of over 53,000 people. This includes 2,065 Aboriginal people making up approximately 3-4 per cent of the population and the region is culturally diverse with people from 74 different countries living locally. Mildura is the major service centre for towns and communities in our region including those across the border into New South Wales. In comparing our Local Government Area’s (LGA’s) level of overall social advantage and disadvantage compared to all 79 LGAs in 2015, Mildura is ranked fifth highest in regards to disadvantage. 2 4 of 32 LC LSIC Inquiry into Homelessness Submission 144 Background – Partnerships Mildura Rural City Council have partnered with Hands Up Mallee and local organisations who deliver homelessness services in the development of this submission, to provide a comprehensive overall picture of the state of homelessness in the Mildura region. The organisations involved in this submission process were: Action Team (Homeless Service providers) . Mildura Rural City Council (lead) . Hands Up Mallee (secondary lead) . Mallee Accommodation and Support Service (MASP) . Haven Home Safe . Mallee District Aboriginal Services (MDAS) . Department of Health and Human Services – Housing . Mallee Sexual Assault Unit- Mallee Domestic Violence Service (MSAU-MDVS) Services We Consulted With (Organisations working with homeless clients) . Mildura Base Hospital – Mental Health Unit . Sunraysia Community Health Services . Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic Communities Council (SMECC) . Job Active Networks Consultation has been limited to the timeframe available to prepare this submission. Other organisations such as Victoria Police, Department of Justice and Regulation, Headspace, Mallee Family Care and Legal Aid could have been included to gain an even deeper understanding of the impacts of homelessness on our community and the services. Consultation could also have been undertaken in the disability housing space including conversations with Sunraysia Residential Services and The Christie Centre. A critical component of consultation moving forward would be speaking to our local community including those with lived experience of homelessness and regrettably the timeline did not allow us to include their voice in this submission. We would invite the Parliamentary enquiry to visit Mildura to hear from our community and local organisations and understand further the issues impacting our unique community in regards to homelessness. 3 5 of 32 LC LSIC Inquiry into Homelessness Submission 144 Our Data General Community Data relating to homelessness Indicator Mildura LGA Victoria Median weekly household income $1,064 $1,419 Young people aged 17-24 years in fulltime study and/or work 57.1% 71.8% Young people aged 16 to 24 receiving an unemployment 7.3% 2.7% benefit Unemployment rate 7.3% 6.6% Jobless families with children aged less than 15 years*, 2011 20.2% 12.3% People on long-term unemployment benefits 8.0% 4.1% (longer than 6 months) Children in low income, welfare-dependent families 14.8% 9.5% Households with housing costs that represent 30 per cent or 10.6% 10.4% more of household gross income Low income households (households in bottom 40% of 30.8% 27.2% income distribution) with rental stress Family violence incidents reported to police (rate per 100,000 2,568.1 1,129.2 population) Family violence incidents where children were present (rate 823.8 387.6 per 100,000 population) Children subject to child protection orders 15.0 5.2 (per 1,000 children aged 0–17 years) Proportion of children at school entry whose parents report 12.4% 11.0% high levels of family stress in the past month, 2014 Registered mental health clients (rate per 1,000 population) 24.0 11.9 Social housing as a percentage of total dwellings Mildura 6.0% Victoria 3.8% Ranked 13th Source: The State of Mildura Report 2018 https://www.mildura.vic.gov.au/Council/Major-Projects/State-of-Mildura- Report-2018 4 6 of 32 LC LSIC Inquiry into Homelessness Submission 144 Our Local Rental Data To understand the local real estate picture, this data is taken from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria’s (REIV) website which lists the median data for September 2019 Quarter for Mildura. Median Sale Price Median Rent per week Units $238,000 $240 Houses $310,000 $320 Source https://reiv.com.au/market-insights/suburb/mildura Mildura’s Rental Vacancy Rate New figures released by the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) have revealed that Mildura now has the lowest vacancy rates in the whole of Victoria. The number of vacant properties was 0.7 per cent in May, compared to 3.1 per cent the same time last year. According to the REIV, the vacancy rate needs to be at least three percent to present a healthy market, ensuring there is enough supply to meet the demand. We clearly therefore do not have a healthy rental market. 5 7 of 32 LC LSIC Inquiry into Homelessness Submission 144 The Mildura Regions Homelessness Data Story Community Wide Homelessness Data The Council to Homeless Person’s undertook an analysis on ABS data for the Mildura region and found the following; - 255 people are experiencing homelessness in this electorate (however this number needs to be investigated further after seeing presentation data from local organisations and DHHS data) - Homelessness affects 40 per 10,000 compared to an average of 27 people per 10,000 for regional Victoria - Mildura has the fourth highest level of homelessness in regional Victoria - 47 per cent are male and 53 per cent are female 6 8 of 32 LC LSIC Inquiry into Homelessness Submission 144 The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) provides quarterly Local Area Service Network (LASN) data. Below is an overview of some of the key data points from the December 2019 report for the Mallee Region. Outputs Measure YTD Number of Clients 2,773 Number of Households 2,452 Number of Support Periods 3,964 Number of Accommodation Nights 33,849 Number of Support Nights 286,815 Source: DHHS Dec 19 quarterly Local Area Service Network data report Client Groups Measure YTD Young people presenting alone as % of clients 17.56% Family Violence clients as % of all clients 52.90% Clients recorded as being Aboriginal as a % of all clients 33.00% Clients exiting custody as a % of all clients 1.91% Source: DHHS Dec 19 quarterly Local Area Service Network data report Housing Situation at Exit of Service Measure YTD % of Households who exit homeless 21.87% Number of households that exit homeless 446 % of households who exit housed/at risk 71.51% Number of households that exit housed/at risk 1,458 % of households whose housing situation is not stated/other at end of 6.62 support Number of households whose housing situation is "not Stated/other" 135 at end of support % of household exits to improvised/inadequate dwelling 2.94 % of household exits to temporary accommodation 6.28 % of household exits to couch surfer 12.11 % of household exits to "other homeless" 0.54 % of household exits to social housing 20.01 % of household exits to private rental 39.87 % of household exits to institutions 0.78 % of household exits to "other at risk" 10.84 % Presenting unit heads who are first time clients 39.28 Source: DHHS Dec 19 quarterly Local Area Service Network data report 7 9 of 32 LC LSIC Inquiry into Homelessness Submission 144 Local Homelessness Services Data As mentioned previously, this submission is a joint partnership approach between local organisations delivering homelessness services and the Mildura Rural City Council. As part of the submission process, three of the main local homelessness organisations (Mallee Accommodation and Support Service MASP, Haven Home Safe and Mallee Sexual Assault Service – Mallee Domestic Violence Service MSAU-MDVS) agreed to share their data with us to help support the submission and to tell the local story.