Homelessness crisis in regional Victoria puts Mildura police, local community under the pump

Luke Burnham sets up this bedroom to provide crisis accommodation in Mildura. (ABC Mildura-Swan Hill: Tamara Clark)

It was a late winter night last year when Luke Burnham in Mildura received a desperate call from the police.

One of his former jiujitsu students needed emergency accommodation because of a domestic dispute.

The young teenager faced spending the night at the local police station if he was unable to help.

“That’s why I said ‘no, we will take her on’. There’s no emergency accommodation available, there’s no safe person to have them,” Mr Burnham said.

“[The police] dropped [the ex-student] off to our house for emergency accommodation … and that was because [the girl] knew me and … that kid would be safe [with me].”

Refuge at police station

Vulnerable people, including children, needing crisis accommodation are being left at the Mildura Police Station in the middle of the night when they do not have any place else to go.

Superintendent John O’Connor said these people ended up spending the night in the foyer at the police station.

“It could happen three times in a week and then we don’t have anything for a month. Maybe [on average] it’s once or twice a month,” he said.

When someone presents to the police station seeking homelessness support the officers contact community and government agencies, or child protection services if the homeless person is a child.

Friends, family, and community members who are considered reliable are also called upon for support.

“We would speak to them [the homeless person], see if they have got friends and relatives — a cricket, football, netball coach who might be able to take them in — and if that’s not possible then as the last resort we’d have them here,” Superintendent O’Connor said.

“It’s not ideal that they are in the police station, but we want to help people who are desperate.”

Homelessness on the rise

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, more than 30,000 Victorians — and almost 12,000 under the age of 24 — were homeless at the 2021 Census.

The number of homeless people in Mildura almost doubled from 264 in 2016 to 518 in 2021, with 192 people under the age of 24 up from 104.

The Mallee Accommodation and Support Program (MASP) assists people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Mildura and surrounding areas.

The service said around 170 people under the age of 26 had so far sought its support this financial year.

There are no 24/7 homelessness support services in Mildura.

“Often, it might be that the best course of action is for them to actually stay here because it’s going to be safe at the police station,” Superintendent O’Connor said.

Calls for support closer to home

According to the Council of Homeless Persons, approximately 16,000 young people aged between 15 and 24 in Victoria required homelessness support last year.

Even when a young person is able to get in contact with the agencies, there’s no guarantee of finding a safe place to stay.

Youth refuge beds are considered age-appropriate dwellings for people seeking immediate short-term support.

However, there are no such beds in Mildura, which MASP’s director of client services, Greg Robinson, said was a challenge.

“Sometimes, we see emergency accommodation in motels and caravan parks and the other one is about relocating young people to Melbourne to youth crisis accommodation,” he said.

Mildura is more than 500 kilometres from Melbourne.

Council to Homeless Persons CEO Deborah Di Natale advocated for young people to find crisis accommodation close to their support networks.

“What we are saying at the moment is we cannot afford every young person in Victoria who needs stable safe accommodation that option [of being closer to their community],” she said.

“We absolutely need to get youth refuge beds across Victoria.”

15,000 youth tenancies needed

Earlier this year, a coalition of almost 100 homelessness services from across Australia launched the Home Time campaign, and called the current housing and homelessness system “fundamentally broken when it comes to assisting unaccompanied children and young people”.

It is calling on the federal government to develop and maintain a national pool of 15,000 dedicated youth tenancies for 16 to 24-year-olds.

Homelessness support organisation, Melbourne City Mission’s head of policy and advocacy Shorna Moore said the youth refuge system was outdated and needed to be reviewed.

Ms Moore said the Mildura situation showed “an underfunded homelessness system” and said it shone a light on a missing dedicated youth housing response.

“Young people should not be spending nights in the police station. They should not be spending nights in emergency services or in justice beds or on the streets,” Ms Moore said.

Superintendent John O’Connor agreed.

“We don’t want children sleeping overnight in the foyer of the police station,” he said.

But sometimes, it was a matter of choosing the best of the least favourable options.

“I am not advertising for people to come to the police station, but people who are desperate would occasionally come through our front doors and we don’t say no.”

The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing has been contacted for a comment.