By Laura Michell
Forty-five people sleeping rough on the streets of Hume were helped to access homelessness support services during a nine-month pilot of a council homelessness pathways program.
Hume council appointed a homelessness pathways officer in April 2021 as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Sunbury, 16 people were reported through the program as sleeping rough in 2021, and 20 people in 2020 – higher than other suburbs in the municipality.
A report tabled at a council meeting on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, recommended the program be funded for another 12 months as part of council’s 2022-23 budget.
According to the report, 45 people were connected with material aid and legal and/or housing services during the first nine months of the program.
While some people received one-off support from the homelessness pathways officer, others received regular assistance.
Prior to April 2021 council did not have a dedicated resource to address rough sleeping or homelessness, the report said.
Cr Jarrod Bell said he believed the program was unique to Hume council.
“No one else is doing this, and everyone else should be doing this,” he said.
“If I can say that there is a good thing or a good outcome of the panmedic, it’s that Hume City Council has taken the initiative to take this approach.”
Cr Karen Sherry said there were many different reasons why people slept on the streets, including family breakdowns, addiction, disability or the loss of employment.
She said the program was delivering targeted assistance to help people get back on their feet.
“Without adequate support and services rough sleepers can find themselves in a spiral of disadvantage,” she said.
“It is one thing to be unemployed … but it is another thing to not even have a home base to look for a job from and to store your belongings.”
As part of the program. the homelessness pathways officer worked with VincentCare and Merri Outreach Support Services to help people access support services.
Data from VincentCare found that between September 2020 and September 2021, 1158 people from Hume accessed its support services.
The data shows that 274 people were from Craigieburn, while 222 were from Broadmeadows and 152 from Sunbury.
Cr Sherry said the number of rough sleepers in Craigieburn and Sunbury was increasing at “an alarming rate” highlighting the fact that homelessness was “no longer a Melbourne city problem”.
To contact the homelessness pathways officer, email: roughsleeper@hume.vic.gov.au
