Housing and homelessness

The Salvation Army provided a submission to the Victorian Legal and Social Issues Committee responding to the Inquiry into the Redevelopment of Melbourne’s public housing towers.

The Salvation Army’s submission draws on the perspectives of our frontline housing and homelessness teams in Victoria, including representatives from our Support in Public Housing program and Tenancy Plus program which operate within Melbourne public housing towers.

The submission highlighted that there is insufficient social and affordable housing to meet demand, and this increasing trend is driving rising homelessness. We maintained support for deep and ongoing investment into social and affordable housing and identified this as an overwhelming priority for governments to address the housing crisis. Whilst the submission acknowledged and supported efforts to improve the quality, design and environmental adaptability of public housing in Melbourne, it also recognised the risks and challenges associated with the redevelopment project.

In the response, The Salvation Army focused on:

• The role of Community Housing Providers in growing social housing;
• Engaging and consulting stakeholders;
• Keeping communities connected; and
• Equipping and resourcing community organisations to provide solutions.

At the heart of the submission was the need for further work to be done to prevent and address negative consequences that are being and may continue to be experienced by tower residents and community service stakeholders in implementing the redevelopment project.