Convening the Melbourne Homelessness Service Coordination Program (MHSCP) through Homes Melbourne (City of Melbourne’s multi-disciplinary team created to reduce homelessness and increase safe, secure, and affordable housing in our city) and the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, the MHSCP  brings together 17 agencies to deliver coordinated tailored support and housing for people sleeping rough in the City of Melbourne. This includes integrating assertive outreach teams, coordinating specialist services connecting people sleeping rough with housing and support services, gathering and using By Name List data to link people to the right support and housing, and responding to structural and strategic issues to prevent and support people at risk of homelessness.

Key activities include:

Daily Support Team - linking people sleeping rough to support services, health and housing to find permanent pathways out of homelessness.

Australia’s first dedicated Library Social Worker providing support and referrals to people experiencing homelessness.

Supporting the By Name List (BNL), gathering data about homelessness and linking people to support and housing.

See detailed information on the City of Melbourne website.

State of homelessness in City of Melbourne

In recent years, there have been significant changes to the MHSCP and the broader homelessness service system in the Melbourne CBD and surrounds. This includes the introduction of a BNL in mid-2020 and in late 2022 endorsing an adapted Advance to Zero methodology to better respond to people sleeping rough and drive improved service and housing outcomes.

Sleeping rough and actively homeless 

People are added onto the BNL when we meet them and they are sleeping rough. This means that they are staying in an unsheltered living situation, a car or abandoned building or dwelling unfit for human habitation (eg a ‘squat’). Once added they become ‘active’ on the BNL. This chart shows the ‘active’ number since the project started. By showing the number of people who remain sleeping rough we can also see that people connected to the project gradually move into different living situations in the figure further below.

Actively homeless and changes in living situations 

Most people prefer not to sleep rough and these experiences are usually characterised by movement between different living situations as their circumstances change. The figure below shows this change over time as people connect to the network of services in the project. It shows that some people move into safer forms of sheltered emergency accommodation such as hotels, motels, or specialist crisis accommodations, or into other forms of temporary housing including Transitional housing (THM) or Head Lease housing.

They also move into community rooming houses or other forms of tenure but remain homelessness. These are not final housing outcomes and people remain ‘active’ even though their living situations may have improved. People could live in these for several years before an offer of social housing is finally made.

The most important reason people stay on the list and don't move into safe and secure homes is that there simply aren't enough homes in Victoria that people on low incomes can afford. If 10 homes are available and 50 people need homes, 40 people are going to remain without a home, no matter how hard everyone tries to house them. Based on our current estimates and in agreement with Council to Homeless Persons, we know that Victoria needs to build at least 6,000 homes every year for the next decade to meet current and expected future demand.

Partners 

• Anglicare
• Bolton Clarke
• cohealth
• Justice Connect
• Launch Housing
• Melbourne City Mission 
• Melbourne Health
• Ngwala Willumbong
• North Western Mental Health
• St Vincent’s Hospital
• The Salvation Army
• Unison Housing
• Vincentcare
• Victoria Police
• Wingtringham
• Youth Projects

• Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH)
• Homes Victoria
• Department of Justice and Community Safety (DoJ)

• Andrew McDougall & Frances Ilyine Foundation  
• Ballarat Foundation
• Collier Charitable Trust
• Creswick Woolen Mills (300 Blankets)
• Erdi Foundation
• Percy Baxter Charitable Trust 
• The Blueshore Charitable Trust 
• The Bowden Marstan Foundation 
• The Jack Brockoff Foundation
• William Angliss Charitable Fund
• Many generous individual donors