The Greens will today launch their plan to end homelessness, offering every single one of the 37,800 people experiencing chronic homelessness across Australia access to a permanent home and wrap-around support services, with no strings attached. The plan has been launched a week after the Lord Mayor of Brisbane announced the council would be evicting homeless campers from parks without having provided any safe and secure housing alternatives.
The Greens housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather MP will launch the plan today alongside the CEO of Common Ground, a supportive housing provider in South Brisbane which has been proven to work, helping hundreds of people who were previously chronically homeless stay off the streets long term, improving their health, happiness and giving them a sense of home.
The Greens plan would see the Federal Government fund 50,000 ongoing supportive tenancies over the first four years, along with doubling housing and homelessness funding to the states. This would see every Australian suffering long term homelessness offered a good home, with supportive services. The extra places would be provided in anticipation of emerging new needs during the housing crisis.
Once in a secure home, participants will receive the wrap-around support services they need to stay there long-term, and are supported to manage complex personal, mental health or substance abuse issues.
The approach means homeless people are supported to stay in safe and suitable homes where they feel safe, rather than being dumped in motels with no supports or cramped boarding houses with poor ventilation where they may be exposed to drugs, violence or harassment, and eventually face eviction or choose to leave for their own safety.
The Greens will follow successful international models such as Finland's 'Housing First' program which has virtually eliminated chronic homelessness, and been successful in pilot projects in Australia. Housing First programs like Common Ground in Brisbane helps keeps residents out of emergency departments, hospitals and the justice system, saving the government far more than the programs cost.
The Greens plan to end homelessness will:
- Invest $5.2 bn over the first four years for:
- Providing 50,000 ongoing Housing First supportive tenancies nationwide, providing people experiencing chronic homelessness and at-risk youth with the support they need to build stable lives and stay housed long-term. 20,000 of the places would be set aside for at-risk youth.
- Building 40 new supportive accommodation buildings around Australia, such as Common Grounds and Youth Foyers, providing purpose-built supportive and affordable housing to permanently house and support thousands of adults experiencing chronic homelessness and provide stable, genuinely affordable housing and support to keep thousands of young people out of long-term homelessness
- Double federal funding to states and territories for homelessness services and public and community housing ($7.5 bn over first four years)
The Greens plan would also see funding to states and territories for public and community housing and homelessness services doubled, a desperately needed intervention to reverse Australia's decades long decline in public housing and chronic underfunding of homelessness services, which are currently regularly forced to close their doors due to underresourcing.
The total cost of the plan to solve homelessness is $12.7 billion over the next four years, and would be funded through the Greens plan to tax big corporations, including the big banks.
The plan sits alongside the Greens previously launched plan to address Australia's shortfall in genuinely affordable housing by establishing a public property developer to build 610,000 homes over the coming decade and sell and rent them at well below market rates, with 20% allocated to those on the lowest incomes.
Last Census there were 122,000 people homeless on Census night. For many of these people, what they need is an affordable home, which would be provided by the public developer. But for others who face complex challenges such as mental health, substance abuse issues or recent incarceration, housing alone is not enough. In Australia there are around 37,800 people experiencing persistent homelessness
According to Federal Government data, this is an increase from 29,500 in 2018-19 to 37,800 in 2023-24. "Increases were particularly evident among clients aged under 25 (around 18,100 clients) and women and children affected by family and domestic violence (15,700)."
As stated by Australian Greens housing and homelessness spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather MP:
"The Greens will tax big corporations like the big banks to fund a plan to end homelessness in Australia, because it's not right that thousands of Australians are forced to sleep in parks while the Commonwealth Bank makes record profits."
"It might sound radical to some politicians, but the solution to homelessness is giving people homes and then providing the support they need to get back on their feet."
"It is a national disgrace that there are tens of thousands of children and women, often escaping domestic violence, abandoned to long term homelessness because neither major party cares enough to fund the support services they need to escape a life of deprivation and hardship."
"The Greens plan to end homelessness adopts the Housing First model, which has virtually eliminated chronic homelessness in Finland and is working successfully in Australia in projects like Common Ground."
"Instead of requiring people to get their lives together to prove they are worthy of a home, the Greens Plan to end homelessness says that everyone deserves a secure place to call home, and provides rough sleepers with permanent housing and the wrap-around support services they need to actually stay there long-term."
"The Lord Mayor of Brisbane has falsely claimed that the vast majority of people are choosing to be homeless. We know for a fact, from chatting to services on the ground, that there are hundreds of people just in this part of Brisbane alone that have been denied the housing and support they need because there is simply not enough funding. The LNP's plan is doomed to fail because Labor and the Liberals are giving people nowhere else to go."
"In a wealthy country like ours, nobody should be forced to sleep in a park because they don't have a safer option. But that's where Labor and the Liberals' housing crisis has led us."
"In a minority parliament the Greens will keep Dutton out and push Labor to fund real action on the homelessness and housing crisis."
As stated by Sue Pope, CEO of Common Ground Queensland:
"Homelessness is solvable. Supportive housing like Brisbane Common Ground ends homelessness and prevents re-entry into homelessness for people with the most complex issues"
"Supportive housing results in excellent outcomes for tenants including improved life expectancy, reduced social isolation and loneliness and reduced exposure to violence, it saves governments in avoided costs savings and it is the right thing to do for our communities."
"Homelessness is a whole of community issue, not a political issue. Governments need to work together to address homelessness."
"A commitment for more supportive housing like Brisbane Common Ground will have life changing results for individuals and families and for our communities."
