'Harsh reality': homelessness workers ponder quitting

Most of Victoria’s homelessness workers have thought about throwing in the towel as wait times skyrocket and workloads mount, a survey shows.

The poll of more than 250 Victorian frontline homelessness workers, conducted by the Council to Homeless Persons from March 28 to April 9, revealed 65 per cent were turning away more people from their service than a year ago.

Seven out of 10 (71 per cent) confirmed their work had been busier in the past 12 months, with some despairing that none of their clients received a housing offer inside a year.

“Our team is having to deliver a very harsh reality to consumers on a daily basis: if you’ve just become homeless and can’t access a rental, you’ll wait years for social housing,” one frontline worker said.

People are being forced to choose between sleeping rough or going back to violent relationships to keep a roof over their heads, another said.

“Others are incarcerated for survival crimes and released back into homelessness or a hotel for two nights,” they added.

The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing’s latest annual report showed public rental wait times for those fleeing family violence blew out from just over 11 months in 2020/21, to 17.1 months in 2021/22 and 23.6 months in 2022/23.

Average wait times ballooned from just over a year in 2020/21, to 15 months in 2021/22 and 18 months in 2022/23.

While Victoria’s public housing waiting list fell from 58,131 in March 2023 to 50,732 in December, 27,561 families required priority access.

“Getting access to social housing is near impossible,” one worker said.

“The wait list is that long that even Victoria’s most vulnerable cannot access housing.”

The crisis is taking its toll on frontline workers, with 55 per cent of those polled thinking about leaving the specialist homelessness sector in the past six months.

Victoria’s homelessness workforce is at breaking point, the council’s chief executive Deborah Di Natale warned.

“Immediate and significant funding is needed to stop an exodus of workers that would devastate the sector and turn the homelessness crisis into a catastrophe,” she said.

“Workers are burning themselves out making impossible choices every day about who to help and all too often that help is a years-long waitlist for housing that does not exist.”

There are fears plans to rebuild public housing towers will exacerbate the homelessness crisis. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)

More than 85 per cent of respondents were concerned the Victorian government’s plan to demolish and rebuild all of Melbourne’s 44 public housing towers would lead to fewer allocations in the short and medium term.

Under the plan, a key pillar of Victoria’s Housing Statement, the number of residents living in the estates will rise from 10,000 to 30,000 by 2051.

However, the actual number of places for social housing will only rise to 11,000 – a 10 per cent boost – with the rest to be residents from the private market.

The council is calling on the Allan government to set aside $20 billion over four years to build public and community housing, along with another $39.4 million to expand homelessness and housing intake services.

“The situation is unacceptable and untenable,” Ms Di Natale said.

The Victorian state budget will be delivered on May 7.

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