NFPs Receive Immediate Homeless Funding Injection
14 April 2016 at 10:19 am
Four homeless Not for Profits services will share in the immediate injection of funds as part of the Victorian Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Family Violence.
As part of the government’s half billion pledge to address the 227 recommendations of the Royal Commission, the government said an immediate injection of $152 million would go towards options for emergency housing.
The package includes $25 million for accommodation for the homeless being delivered to four major NFP services.
The redevelopment of Ozanam House in Melbourne’s inner city will provide 71 new units through a rebuild, expand crisis accommodation services and relocate the community centre.
The government said the project represented good value for money, costing $140,000 per unit compared to $319,000 per unit through government-led stock delivery.
“The aim of the project is to assist [the] government’s focus on keeping women safe at home by improving [the] availability of crisis accommodation for single males, for example perpetrators [who have been] removed from the family home,” Housing Minister Martin Foley said.
Funds will also go to the Specialist Support Refuge in Melbourne’s CBD as part of a Melbourne City Mission initiative to provide a 24 bed refuge for 17 to 25 year olds who have gravitated to the Melbourne CBD with wrap-around holistic services.
“The Royal Commission highlighted the high number of young people who become homeless as a result of family breakdown and family violence. There is currently no safe crisis accommodation in the CBD to accommodate young people who gravitate to the CBD as a result of escaping family violence or family breakdown,” Foley said.
Funds will also go to the McAuley Community Services for Women Accommodation Services to address the unmet demand for supported accommodation for single women, with a particular focus on women escaping family violence and/or with a mental illness.
The government said the commission highlighted a gap in accommodation for single women escaping family violence.
The project is expected to deliver 26 self-contained units and a range of services including education and employment services, health services, and social and recreational programs.
The Hope Street First Response Youth Service, in Melbourne’s outer west, will be funded to provide around 100 young people a year with emergency accommodation and wrap-around holistic support.
