If you were reaching out for help, what kind of response would you hope to receive?
Every day, Eve Giles works with people seeking support at a vulnerable moment in their lives. The senior homelessness practitioner at @juno.org_ says structural barriers can make it tough to offer people the response they need.
"It is impossible to truly promote safety while working in the existing system.
“For the people we work with, feeling safe relies on the knowledge that when adversity strikes, they will not be forced into homelessness and isolated from supports but instead nurtured by governments who invest in accessible support services and robust public housing."
Eve is joining our Darebin #WalkInHerShoes community forum, shedding light on how we can build stronger homelessness responses in the area and across Victoria.
Come along on to hear more from Eve, alongside local MPs, service providers and people who have lived through homelessness.
📅 When: Monday 25 May, 6:30pm
📍 Where: Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre
👉 Register: link in bio!
Big thanks to @darebincouncil , @juno.org_ and @merrioutreach for supporting us to bring the event to the area.
#WalkInHerShoes #EveryHomeIsAFuture
We’re very appreciative that, so soon after taking on her new portfolio, Victoria’s Minister for Youth the Hon. @lubagrigorovitchmp made it a priority to meet with us yesterday to discuss the need for a new Victorian Youth Homelessness Strategy.
Young people are needlessly suffering right now because our homelessness system was not built with young people in mind, and because all the other systems young people interact with - like health, education and justice - aren’t properly integrated with the homelessness system.
We see the costs of that in young people being turned away from hospital emergency departments when presenting in acute mental health crisis (or being seen and discharged back into homelessness). We see it in young people leaving family violence only to then be disbelieved or bounced between services. We see it in the lack of transitions when young people leave out-of-home care. And we see it in so many other ways.
Victoria can fix this by developing a youth strategy for the homelessness sector, just as other sectors like justice have their own youth frameworks. We call on the Government to make it an election commitment to fund and develop a Youth Homelessness Strategy in partnership with the sector and young lived experience experts, if elected.
Let’s make the 2026 Victorian Election the election where, as a state, we choose to put young people first.
#EveryHomeIsAFuture #youthhomelessness #endhomelessnessnow
Fantastic news coming in tonight's federal budget, with pre-announcement of a $60 million new National Youth Housing Supplement, that will unlock social housing from more than 4000 young people around Australia.
CHP has been a proud member of the Home Time campaign, which has advocated hard for reform like this to fix the flaw in our housing system that makes it less financially sustainable for housing providers to offer social housing to young people than to other applicants.
There's still more work to do, but with this change thousands of young people get the foundation they deserve to rebuild their lives and thrive.
Punishing people already traumatised by a broken system is inhumane. This approach to rough sleeping also risks undermining the excellent assertive outreach programs currently operating in Port Phillip, funded by both the State Government and the local community. Not to mention that it's an approach that 76% of the local community oppose.
CHP urges the @cityofportphillip to reverse its decision and work with the homelessness sector and its local residents experiencing rough sleeping on collaborative, compassionate responses that ensure the safety of the entire community.
“The true anti-social behaviour is policy responses that blame people forced to live on the streets rather than offer them the support they desperately need," said CHP's Chief Executive Deborah Di Natale. "Don't forget, people sleeping rough are far more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators. We must ensure their safety."
On this cold and wet Melbourne day, spare a thought for those who don’t have a stable, comfortable home to head back to.
Tonight from 6:30pm, we’ll be at Manor Lakes Community Learning Centre for a #WalkInHerShoes community forum that discusses how we can build a stronger response for people experiencing homelessness in @wyndham_city and across Victoria.
If you’d like to join us, there’s still time to register to come along. Link in bio 💚
CHP is proud to support the Home Time campaign, which is calling for the Government to fix an adult-focussed housing system that often fails to ensure young people experiencing homelessness can access safe, affordable housing
Home Time is asking you to to help show the strong community backing for creating fair outcomes for young people.
Head to the Home Time website and add your voice, using their simple widget to send an email to the Federal Treasurer. It only takes a few seconds. Link in bio!
The campaign is urging the Government to include a targeted Youth Housing Supplement in the 2026-27 Federal Budget, helping to close the rental gap that currently prevents many young people from accessing available homes.
#HomeTime #FixHousingForYoungPeople
What does it feel like to be homeless? If you’ve never been there personally, it’s hard to truly get it.
#WalkInHerShoes gives you the chance to walk alongside those who have lived through homelessness, to listen and learn a bit more about what it can be like.
The exhibition is now showing in Wyndham and a very special community forum is on this Thursday night!
On the night, we’ll be discussing solutions for ending homelessness in the region and across the state. Come along to hear from an incredible line up of panellists:
• Dee Loader - Program Manager - Homeless Persons Program, @boltonclarke
• Brett Murphy - Director - Mental Health and Homelessness, @cohealth_ch
• Vanessa Heart - Lived experience expert
• @johnforwerribee , Member for Werribee
• @trung.p.luu_mp , Member for Western Metropolitan Region
• Amber Maihi - Executive Manager for Housing and Homelessness, @ngwalawillumbong
Big thanks to @wyndham_city for supporting us to host the event in the area.
There’s still time to register! Book your free spot via link in our bio 💚
It’s one week until the #WalkInHerShoes closing night forum in Wyndham! Have you booked your spot?
Register to attend the forum at Manor Lakes Community Learning Centre (from 6:30pm) at the link in our bio 💚
We’re thrilled to have Amber Maihi, proud Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Kahu Māori woman from Aotearoa New Zealand, joining the panel on the night.
Executive Manager for Housing and Homelessness at @ngwalawillumbong , Amber will lend her insights into how we can back responses to homelessness that keep self-determination at the core. Amber says:
“Ending homelessness in Wyndham means backing community-led solutions that centre self-determination, cultural safety, and the wellbeing of our families, not just systems and outputs.”
Thanks again to @wyndham_city for supporting us to bring the event to the area.
Fantastic to meet with @stevemcghiemp , the Member for Melton yesterday. Melton, like many areas of Victoria, is experiencing increasing homelessness at the moment. But it is also a city undergoing a profound transformation, with booming population growth seeing a need for 109,000 extra houses over the next 20 years.
It was heartening to hear Steve agree that with that size build under way, there’s no reason the State Government shouldn’t be able to provide the 200-300 social housing homes that need to be built every year to meet local need.
We also discussed the lack of State Government-funded assertive outreach in the western suburbs, with the community-funded Melton Rough Sleeper Initiative demonstrating the need for more assertive outreach in the area.
And last but far from least, we discussed the need for better collaboration and sectors, and in that context it was great to hear Steve’s enthusiasm for our recommendation that the Government establish a Victorian Homelessness Prevention Taskforce.
You can read more about that and CHP’s other budget recommendations in our Pre-Budget submission - link in bio.
#EveryHomeIsAFuture #endhomelessnessnow #vicpol #socialhousing #assertiveoutreach
The State Government's announcement on the weekend that it will build 7000 additional social housing homes is a fantastic investment that will change the lives of thousands of Victorians. It's a big win for all the communities and organisations who have been working so hard with us to advocate for a social housing building blitz in Victoria.
But Victoria still needs many more investments of this size, to make up the huge deficit in social housing that is leaving tens of thousands of people with nowhere safe to call home.
Keep making your voice heard. Together, we can end homelessness.
#EveryHomeIsAFuture #EndHomelessnessNow #Homelessness #socialhousing
As leader of the Homeless Persons Program at @boltonclarke , Dee Loader sees firsthand the wide-ranging impacts of homelessness.
She’ll be adding her expert perspective to the #WalkInHerShoes community forum at Manor Lakes Community Learning Centre next Thursday 7 May, from 6:30pm.
Dee says:
“Walk in Her Shoes is important as it highlights that homelessness is a problem that goes beyond ‘rooflessness’.
“Homelessness may mean being socially isolated, without the support network of family and friends.
“It may mean the absence of a roof over one’s head or living in unstable or unsafe conditions. It means receiving a low income, lack of access to health resources and having reduced autonomy, life choices and prospects of self-support.”
To learn more about Dee’s work and how we can build a better response for those living through homelessness, come along next Thursday.
Book your spot via link in bio 💚
The Victorian Government today announced a commitment to build 7,000 additional social housing homes over the next decade.
This is great news. A social housing commitment nearly as large as the significant investment made in the Big Housing Build.
Every home is a future, and this investment will provide more than 7,000 people with the safety, security and stability to build happy, fulfilling new chapters in their lives.
But it needs to be just the first of many such commitments, in order to help the 39,000 Victorians languishing on the priority waiting list right now, and to get us to the 80,000 additional social housing homes needed to lift Victoria up to the national average.
We also call on the government to ensure a significant proportion of public housing is included in this build. Public housing is the best support for people with complex needs, but the proportion of public housing has dwindled disturbingly in recent years. In fact, reporting from the Productivity Commission this year showed there was only a net increase of 36 public housing homes in Victoria in the last 9 years.
#EveryHomeIsAFuture #socialhousing #homelessness #endhomelessnessnow #vicpol
