Where to get more information
Victorian Homelessness Networks
The Victorian Regional Homelessness Networks were established in 1996. They operate across Victoria in every Department of Health Human Services (DHHS) region and are funded by DHHS to bring services together to share information, and to identify common needs and gaps in homelessness service provision.
The Networks assist in establishing and maintaining close working relationships between Homelessness & Family Violence Services and DHHS in order to promote and support the best possible responses to homelessness within a regional context. Each network is made up of members from homelessness and family violence agencies funded through the Specialist Homelessness Support (SHS) Program.
For information about the Regional Victorian Homelessness Networks, click here.
Northern and Western Melbourne
For information about the homelessness system in Melbourne’s north or west, click here.
For information about homelessness in each of the Local Government Areas in Melbourne’s north and west, click here.
Eastern Melbourne
For information about the homelessness system in Melbourne’s east, click here.
Southern Melbourne
For information about the homelessness system in Melbourne’s south, click here.
Barwon
For information about the homelessness system in Barwon, click here.
Loddon Mallee
For information about the homelessness system in Loddon Mallee, click here.
Who to contact if you are experiencing homelessness
If you are experiencing homelessness, call 1800 825 955
If you are experiencing homelessness or worried that you might be soon, you can make contact with a Homelessness Entry Point Service. To find out how to contact the closest Homelessness Entry Point Service closest to you:
- call 1800 825 955. This call is free from landlines and from most mobile phones (not from some of the smaller mobile providers);
- or go to Ask Izzy and select ‘housing’.
When you contact a Homelessness Entry Point, you will speak with an Initial Assessment and Planning staff member about your situation. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough staff at Homelessness Entry Point services to speak with everyone who contacts each day – so it may take a while to arrange an appointment.
If you are experiencing family violence, call 1800 015 188
- Call Safe Steps – staff are available 24 hours a day; or
- If you can’t safely call you can email: safesteps@safesteps.org.au
Where to get more information about homelessness
The Council to Homeless Persons website holds a lot of information about homelessness in Victoria.
Great shows to watch about homelessness
- Filthy Rich and Homeless, You Can’t Ask That or if you have kids, Sesame Street
Recent media
Here are links to some recent articles about homelessness in Australia:
- Beyond Shelter
- Social housing helped me rise, it musn’t be left to decline
- Overcrowding and affordability stress: Melbourne’s CoVID-19 hotspots are also housing crisis hotpots
- How the shock of COVID-19 could end street homelessness in Victoria
- Has the coronavirus pandemic proved that homelessness is solvable
- Social housing will provide bigger economic boost than new home buyer grants
- https://abcportal-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/gearin_mary_abc_net_au/EZJlkvPLijVBjqLYelnoiEEBpRF7KTiWLpN-Kui3QghnJw?e=NmduBY
- Superannuation funds open to Labor’s housing stimulus plan
Recent Research
The Homelessness Networks acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land – the people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to the Elders past, present and future, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The Networks acknowledge that, as a direct consequence of colonisation, Indigenous peoples are over represented amongst Victorians who do not have a safe home in which to live.