Council to Homeless Persons has warned critical programs for rough sleepers are under threat unless the state government provides a funding lifeline in the upcoming state budget.
Victoria's peak body for homelessness has today revealed its new plan to end homelessness through targeted state government investment in solutions with a proven track record.
CHP's 2025/26 State Budget Submission calls for $100.9 million in the next financial year ($421.9 million over four years) to fund Housing First programs that provide housing and wraparound support for rough sleepers.
The Victorian Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Plan, Victoria's main program providing assertive outreach to connect rough sleepers with homelessness services, is facing the threat of extinction without a new funding commitment beyond June 30.
So too is Homes for Families, a program focusing specifically on families with children.
The budget submission also calls for urgent investment in critical homelessness prevention programs, which have supported thousands of Victorians to keep their homes.
CHP has urged the government to invest $37.1 million in the Private Rental Assistance Program and Tenancy Advocacy and Assistance Program to meet soaring demand.
With Victoria needing a minimum of 6000 new social housing dwellings built each year for at least a decade, the government should invest $4.9 billion in the budget to grow the state's public and community housing stock.
"Victoria's housing crisis is reaching a crossroads. With political will we can end homelessness but a failure to act will cause a human catastrophe," Council to Homeless Persons CEO Deborah Di Natale said.
"Housing First programs have demonstrated remarkable success in providing stable, long-term housing for people who were previously sleeping rough. In fact, Victoria's From Homelessness to a Home (H2H) program had a 95 per cent success rate, but was ended in 2024 and replaced with a smaller program. What Victoria needs now is for the government to double-down on Housing First programs, rather than scaling back.
"Critical services supporting rough sleepers and families with children are at risk of extinction without an urgent funding commitment from the Victorian government.
"We've been lucky to avoid deaths this summer, as bushfires tore through state forests where we know families experiencing homelessness are rough sleeping in forest camps. This emphasises the life or death importance of continuing the Rough Sleeper Action Plan, and in fact expanding assertive outreach throughout Victoria.
"Prevention is always better than cure, and our homelessness prevention programs prove this – they're keeping nine out of ten people from losing their homes.
"Unprecedented demand for rental assistance schemes means we need urgent investment to ensure people don't fall through the cracks into homelessness.
"We simply can't afford to let crisis slide into catastrophe.
"We need the Victorian Government to commit to building at least 6000 social housing properties every year for the next decade.
"The Victorian Government has shown its commitment to positive change and now is the moment for decisive investments to end the housing and homelessness crisis."
Fast facts:
Homelessness in Victoria rose 24% at the last Census
In 2021, more than 30,000 Victorians were without a home on Census night - almost 6,000 more than the previous Census in 2016
In September there were 63,803 applications for public and community housing on the waiting list
