Bendigo social services have welcomed the federal government's decision to fund a national homelessness partnership for another year but say more is needed to address rising demand for housing help.
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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Friday his government would back the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness until June, 2018, pledging $117 million in funds.
Negotiations about the partnership stalled last month when a meeting of state and federal housing ministers failed to reach an agreement on its future.
While Haven; Home, Safe chief executive officer Ken Marchingo said he was pleased the impasse was resolved, he was “disappointed there was no commitment to cement the funding permanently”.
He described the federal government’s annual contribution as “pocket change”.
“When you've got a problem that's growing, the funding allocations need to be commensurate with the size and difficulty of the problem,” Mr Marchingo said.
He believed homelessness in Bendigo was becoming increasingly visible, with more people begging for money in the streets.
“When people can see, with their own eyes, homelessness – and its travelling partners disability, mental illness, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse – it’s pretty clear we need to do things differently.”
Mr Turnbull’s announcement follows a campaign from hundreds of social services demanding the government back the NPAH.
Local services to back the campaign included Annie North Women’s Refuge, CatholicCare Sandhurst, Cobaw Community Health and Castlemaine District Community Health.
Last month, Centre for Non-Violence chief executive officer Margaret Augerinos also called on the government to make good on its funding commitment.
Her organisation was one of 180 to benefit from the NPAH, receiving as much as 600,000 annually for its crisis housing and education programs, some of which would be under threat if a long-term, bipartisan approach to homelessness was not reached.
“We’re talking about very, very serious consequences,” Ms Augerinos said.
"The fact we're turning people away, the most vulnerable in society, is terrible.”
The Save NPAH movement is now pushing the government to develop a new national strategy on affordable housing, which Mr Marchingo called the only way to halt homelessness.
He said a new financing model proposed by treasurer Scott Morrison, which would group together finance requests to generate more investment at cheaper interest rates, was a step in the right direction.
Mark Kearney
Journalist. Traveller. Pop culture connoisseur. Mark is passionate about education, the arts and social justice, especially stories affecting the LGBTI community.
Journalist. Traveller. Pop culture connoisseur. Mark is passionate about education, the arts and social justice, especially stories affecting the LGBTI community.
