The Monash Social Housing Framework 2020–2025 (draft) is the first social housing framework for Monash. It is one of three key documents that demonstrates Council’s commitment to addressing homelessness and the housing affordability crisis. The other two documents that represent Council’s strategic approach to homelessness and housing are the Regional Local Government Charter Homelessness and Social Housing and the draft Affordable Housing Strategy.
We conducted one-on-one interviews with people with lived experience of homelessness and consultations width advisory committees and community agencies, to assist us with the development of the Draft Monash Social Housing Framework 2020-2025(PDF, 156KB).
Council sought community feedback the Draft Monash Social Housing Framework 2020-2025 until 5pm, Monday 31 August 2020.
The Monash Social Housing Framework 2020-2025 (draft) guides Council’s efforts to address homelessness and to influence an increase to the supply of social housing, primarily through outreach and advocacy.
Victoria has a homelessness and housing affordability crisis, made more acute by COVID-19 and the 2019/20 bushfires.
At the time of the 2016 census, Monash had 755 people recorded as homeless. This was the highest number of people recorded in the Eastern metropolitan region. 32% of Victorians without a home, live in Eastern and Southern Melbourne.
Throughout this framework, Monash endorses the evidence that the most powerful action local governments can undertake to reduce homelessness is to support the delivery of homes that people can afford. For the lowest income households most vulnerable to homelessness, this means the provision of social housing.
In simplest terms, the solution to homelessness is housing.
Social housing provision will become more important in the coming months and years, in the wake of COVID-19 with the anticipated economic impact and effect on unemployment rates.
Social housing refers to housing owned either by the state government or by non-profit community housing providers that is rented to low income households at either 25% (public housing) or 30% (community housing) of household income. Social housing does not generally include crisis or rooming houses.
Who is without a home?
Homelessness is more likely to affect certain groups within our community. This includes, but is not limited to:
- People experiencing family violence (especially women and children)
- Children and young people
- Asylum seekers and refugees
- People who identify as LGBTIQ (particularly youth)
- Indigenous Australians
- Older people, particularly women
- People who have a disability
- People living with a mental illness
- People experiencing repeated homelessness
- People exiting from care or institutions into homelessness
Many people experience several of these risk factors to homelessness at the same time.
Contact us
For more information, please contact the Social Policy, Research & Health Planning Coordinator on 0417 784 744 or email mail@monash.vic.gov.au