The Victorian Greens have announced they will reintroduce their Ending ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾lessness Bill on the first day of the next Parliament.
Victoria is currently facing a housing crisis with roughly 120,000 Victorians on the public housing waiting list and up to 25,000 Victorians experiencing homelessness on any given night.
The Greens’ bill would amend the Housing Act to set a target to end homelessness in Victoria by the end of the decade, and ensure the Victorian Government created a plan to achieve it.
The plan would need to adopt a Housing First approach, where homelessness is addressed by immediately providing a person with adequate long-term housing.
The plan would also have to set out the details of how homelessness will be reduced over the decade, including how many new homes will be created in order to meet the target, what types of housing the new homes would be, how much funding would be given to housing support services, and how many people would be permanently housed each year to 2030.
To ensure proper scrutiny of the ending homelessness plan, the plan would need to be tabled in parliament within ten sitting days after it has been prepared.
The Bill would also amend the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 to establish a charter right to adequate housing.
As stated by Victorian Greens MP for Prahran, Sam Hibbins:
“If re-elected, on day one of the new parliament I’ll reintroduce the Greens’ bill to end homelessness in Victoria by 2030.
“³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾lessness is the number one social justice issue facing our community.
“A society like ours should not have people living on the streets or in unsafe and insecure accommodation.
“Just like public health and public education, governments have a responsibility to make sure everyone has a safe and secure place to call home.”
As stated by Leader of the Victorian Greens, Samantha Ratnam MLC:
“Victoria is in a housing crisis.
“And yet too often, our governments describe homelessness as difficult or impossible to solve… all words used to avoid taking responsibility for homelessness in Victoria.
“It’s time we stopped pretending homelessness is an impossible problem, and a permanent part of Victoria.
“Ending homelessness in our state is possible. Not only that, but it’s possible by the end of the decade. All we need is a plan to achieve it.”
