The Victorian State Budget was released yesterday and while it looks like we avoided any losses we also didn’t find any new additional funding for the increase in client vulnerability.
This means our staff will continue to support people experiencing homelessness and in housing crisis but with minimal certainly that as the crisis deepens we will be able to help people to access affordable housing to move out of crisis.
We echo the concerns of CHIA Victoria who stated that ‘with the Big Housing Build drying up in 2028, we need the Victorian Government to invest in an ongoing pipeline of social housing’.
We also continue to look at how our frontline staff can meet the challenges set by stagnant funding levels while the need for support grows. We’re not the only one’s feeling this strain with Council for Homelessness Persons raising their concerns stating, “the lack of growth in front-line services, such as assertive outreach programs, will particularly hurt regional areas that have been asking for help”.
While we are pleased to see the programs we deliver re-funded, the budget shows significant neglect to the needs to people living in regional and rural Victoria.
As a not-for-profit we find ourselves again shouldering the weight of the care economy which in turn means that our staff are being asked to do more with less. The funding doesn’t show consideration to the costs that all business are facing with rising costs associated with just keeping the lights on.
