'When Housing Comes First: Compassion, Courage and the Pathways to Ending Homelessness'
Rotary Melbourne’s guest speaker, Sherri Bruinhout, CEO of Launch Housing, delivered a powerful and ultimately hopeful address on homelessness in Victoria. She was joined by Faith Wells, a frontline worker in Launch Housing’s Education Pathways Program, whose account of working with families and children gave a deeply personal dimension to the wider policy and service challenges described by Sherri.
The presentation also highlighted the longstanding partnership between Rotary Melbourne and Launch Housing. Through the Make a House a Home project, Rotary members have helped provide practical household packs for individuals, families and young people moving from homelessness or crisis accommodation into more permanent housing. These packs contain many of the basic items that turn an empty property into a functioning and welcoming home.
While Sherri was frank about the scale and complexity of homelessness, her central message was not one of despair. Homelessness is difficult, but it is not insoluble. Effective responses already exist. The evidence is strong, the economic case is compelling, and successful programs can be expanded when governments, community organisations, service providers and volunteers work together.
Rotary Melbourne’s Relationship with Launch Housing
The presentation began with an account of Rotary Melbourne’s long relationship with Launch Housing and its predecessor organisations.
The relationship extends back nearly 20 years and possibly longer. During that period, Rotary members have supported a number of practical initiatives assisting people experiencing homelessness.
The Make a House a Home project has now operated for approximately eight years. Through the project, Rotary Melbourne has helped several hundred individuals and families establish themselves in new accommodation.
Members regularly gather at Kmart in Moonee Ponds to purchase household goods. These goods are then packed into boxes and delivered to Launch Housing sites for distribution to people moving into homes.
The boxes contain the everyday necessities most people take for granted: pots, pans, crockery, glassware, cooking utensils, towels, bedding and other basic household items. The packs are assembled by volunteers and stored at Launch Housing offices until an individual or family is ready to move.
Approximately 120 packs are provided each year.
The project is supported by a network of donors and volunteers. Wilson Storage provides packing boxes, and Chris Wang's warehouse space has been made available in Sunshine to receive, organise and store the goods before distribution.
Rotary Melbourne’s involvement with homelessness services predates the Make a House a Home project.
Members were previously involved with one of Launch Housing’s predecessor organisations in the creation of Home Ground Real Estate. Home Ground subsequently became part of Launch Housing and represented an innovative approach within the Australian community housing sector.
Rotary volunteers also assisted with working bees and the furniture fit-out of the Common Ground crisis accommodation facility in Elizabeth Street.
More recently, members helped fit out parts of a new refuge in Dandenong for women and children escaping family violence.
Rotary has also provided practical support for Launch Housing’s youth foyers, Tiny Homes initiatives and transportable housing programs. Pet items have been donated for residents with companion animals, and Rotary has helped collect and distribute Christmas gifts so parents experiencing homelessness can select presents for their children and experience the dignity of giving those gifts themselves.
This continuing partnership provided the setting for Sherri and Faith’s presentations.
Launch Housing’s Unambiguous Mission
Sherri began by describing Launch Housing as an organisation that is unapologetically committed to ending homelessness in Melbourne.
The organisation has a very clear purpose. It is not a broad community service provider operating across unrelated areas. Its focus is homelessness.
Launch Housing believes that housing provides dignity and that access to housing is a fundamental human right.
That belief shapes its services, advocacy and approach to individuals.
Launch Housing is approximately 70 years old and is Victoria’s largest funded provider of homelessness support services. It employs around 400 staff, and approximately 14,000 people pass through its programs each year.
On any given night, around 220 people are accommodated through its crisis accommodation services.
Each year, approximately 4,000 people are assisted to move into what Sherri described as their “forever homes”— stable accommodation in which they can begin rebuilding their lives.
These figures demonstrate the scale of Launch Housing’s work, but Sherri emphasised that statistics should not obscure the experience of individuals.
Every person who becomes homeless has a story. Homelessness is not an abstract condition. It occurs through a combination of financial pressures, bereavement, family violence, illness, unemployment, relationship breakdown, housing shortages and many other circumstances.
The Older Woman Who Could No Longer Afford Her Home
Although she is CEO of Launch Housing, Sherri continues to work occasional shifts in frontline services. She explained that every month or so she spends time working directly with people in crisis accommodation.
During a recent shift at Launch Housing’s 60-bed Southbank crisis facility, Sherri met a woman in her seventies.
The woman had lived for decades in a rented home with her partner. After he died, the property became unaffordable on a single income.
The weekly rent had risen to around $750.
She did not tell her family that she was struggling financially. Eventually, she surrendered the property because she could no longer meet the rent.
In an attempt to find affordable accommodation, she responded to an advertisement placed by three young people looking for a housemate. She attended an interview, hoping that shared housing might provide a solution.
Instead, the young people ridiculed her.
The woman eventually entered Launch Housing’s crisis accommodation.
By the time of Sherri's address, Launch Housing had found her a new permanent home. Sherri said she looked forward to the woman receiving one of Rotary Melbourne’s household packs when she moved out of crisis accommodation.
The story illustrated how quickly a person can move from relative stability into homelessness.
The woman had been a long-term tenant. She had maintained a home for decades. She had not necessarily experienced lifelong disadvantage. Bereavement and the loss of a second income were enough to make her housing unaffordable.
The incident also demonstrated how the private rental market can fail older people, particularly single women with limited retirement income.
Homelessness among older women is often hidden. Many have little previous contact with welfare or homelessness services. They may feel embarrassed about asking for help and conceal their financial distress from friends and family until their situation becomes critical.
Why Launch Housing Is “Cranky” About Homelessness
Sherri repeatedly described Launch Housing as being “cranky” about homelessness.
The phrase was deliberately direct. It reflected frustration that homelessness continues despite strong evidence about how it can be prevented and resolved.
The scale of the problem is substantial.
More than 100,000 people seek homelessness support in Victoria each year — enough people to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Not all of those people sleep on the streets. Homelessness takes many forms.
Some people live temporarily with friends or relatives. Others move between short-term arrangements. Some families are placed in motels. Others live in cars, caravan parks, rooming houses or unsafe accommodation. Some remain in violent relationships because they have nowhere else to go.
Rough sleeping is the most visible form of homelessness, but it represents only part of the total picture.
The health consequences of rough sleeping are particularly severe. Sherri stated that when people begin sleeping outdoors, their life expectancy may fall by as much as 30 years.
Living on the streets exposes people to violence, weather extremes, illness, poor nutrition, sleep deprivation and difficulty accessing medical care. Existing mental health problems may worsen, while people who previously had no significant mental illness can develop anxiety, depression or trauma-related conditions.
Aboriginal Victorians are also dramatically over-represented in homelessness.
Sherri explained that Aboriginal people are represented in homelessness at approximately ten times the rate of non-Aboriginal people.
This reflects the continuing effects of dispossession, discrimination, intergenerational trauma, child removal, economic exclusion and lack of culturally safe housing and support.
Another worrying development is the increasing proportion of people seeking homelessness support while employed.
In the previous year, the proportion of people approaching homelessness services who had jobs increased from approximately 16 per cent to 25 per cent.
This suggests that homelessness can no longer be understood primarily as a consequence of unemployment.
When working Victorians cannot afford stable housing, the housing system itself is failing.
Rapid rent increases, limited rental vacancies, inadequate income support and the shortage of affordable housing mean that employment no longer guarantees housing security.
A person may have a job but still be unable to secure a rental property or meet the combined costs of rent, transport, food, utilities and family expenses.
This was one of Sherri’s most important policy points: homelessness is increasingly connected to the broader affordability crisis.
Hope Rather Than Doom and Gloom
Despite the troubling statistics, Sherri did not want the audience to leave believing that homelessness is inevitable.
She acknowledged that it is often described as a “wicked problem”— a complex issue involving housing, health, family violence, income, disability, mental health, justice, child protection and many other systems.
However, complexity should not be confused with impossibility.
Sherri argued that there are proven programs that work. The challenge is not that society lacks knowledge about how to end homelessness. The challenge is that effective responses have not been implemented at sufficient scale.
Stable housing, combined with appropriate support, ends homelessness.
This principle informed the two major programs Sherri discussed: Housing First and youth foyers.
Before returning to those policy models, Sherri invited Faith Wells to describe how homelessness affects families and children and how practical support can help restore ordinary family life.
Faith Wells and the Education Pathways Program
Faith has worked at Launch Housing for almost seven years. She is part of the Education Pathways Program, supporting children and families experiencing homelessness.
Her role is to help children remain connected to education throughout periods of crisis and housing instability.
A child experiencing homelessness may change schools repeatedly, miss classes, lose uniforms or books, lack access to transport or technology, and struggle to concentrate because of stress and uncertainty.
Families may be placed far from the child’s existing school. Parents may not have money for transport, excursions, laptops or other educational requirements.
Children may also require support relating to family violence, mental health, disability or additional learning needs.
Faith works with families, schools and other services to reduce these disruptions.
Her involvement often continues after a family moves into permanent housing because the effects of homelessness do not end on moving day.
Establishing a new home, reconnecting with education and rebuilding family routines all take time.
From Crisis Accommodation to a Permanent Home
Faith explained the broad pathway many families experience.
Crisis housing is usually short term. Families may be placed there immediately after losing accommodation or escaping an unsafe situation.
Launch Housing aims, where possible, to move families out of crisis accommodation within approximately three months.
The next step may be more stable temporary accommodation or, ideally, a permanent long-term home.
In reality, the severe shortage of housing means that transitions can take longer than intended.
Emergency accommodation often consists of motel rooms. These may provide physical safety, but they are not designed for family life.
Cooking facilities can be extremely limited. There may be only a kettle, microwave or small bar refrigerator. Families may have no table around which to eat, no space for children to play and no separate bedrooms.
Parents are forced to rely on takeaway food or whatever inexpensive options are available nearby.
This can be costly and nutritionally poor. More importantly, it removes ordinary family rituals such as cooking a favourite meal, sitting around a table or preparing school lunches.
Faith observed that these seemingly small routines are deeply important.
Homelessness is not simply the absence of a roof. It is the loss of privacy, predictability, control, comfort and the ability to care for one’s family in familiar ways.
A Mother Who Questioned Whether She Had Done the Right Thing
Faith described one family that had fled an unsafe home environment and was living in a motel.
The mother repeatedly questioned whether she had made the right decision by leaving.
Although she had taken action to protect her children, she felt guilty about what they had lost.
The children had lost their bedrooms, clothes, school, friends and familiar surroundings.
The mother carried shame because she believed she had disrupted their lives.
This is a common emotional response among parents escaping violence. Even when leaving is necessary for safety, the immediate consequences can be severe.
Children may not fully understand why they have had to leave. Parents may feel responsible for their distress, even though the responsibility lies with the person who created the unsafe environment.
The mother particularly missed being able to cook her children’s favourite meals and share food with them after school.
When the family eventually moved into a permanent home, the kitchen was the part of the house that most excited her.
The kitchen represented far more than appliances and cupboards. It represented the return of family life.
The Importance of a Household Pack
Faith described the relief families experience when they move into accommodation that already contains basic household essentials.
Without assistance, a newly housed family may enter an almost empty property.
They may have no bedding, towels, kitchen utensils, pots, crockery or cleaning materials.
Even relatively inexpensive items quickly accumulate into a large bill.
Faith estimated that spending $200 on basic goods could represent approximately 30 per cent of a family’s weekly income.
There is also the practical burden of shopping.
A parent may have to take several children to a department store, work out what is needed, monitor the children, remain within a very limited budget and then carry everything home on public transport.
This is the reality that Rotary’s Make a House a Home packs help prevent.
By providing the essentials in advance, the packs reduce financial pressure and allow families to settle more quickly.
They also send a message that someone has thought carefully about their needs.
The value lies not only in the retail cost of the goods. It lies in the sense of welcome, dignity and care.
Children Excited by Pots, Pans and Cupboards
Faith recalled visiting the family after they had moved.
At the front door, the two children competed to be the first to show her their new bedroom.
They excitedly explained who had claimed the top bunk and who had received the new Bluey duvet cover.
They then took Faith on a grand tour of the house, opening every cupboard to show that there was something inside.
Faith remarked that she had never seen a six-year-old so excited about pots and pans.
The children’s excitement revealed how much had been missing from their lives.
For most children, household cupboards and cooking pots are unremarkable. For children emerging from homelessness, they can symbolise permanence and belonging.
A cupboard containing belongings means that the family is no longer living from bags.
A bed with a duvet means that the child has a place of their own.
A kitchen with pots and pans means that meals can once again be prepared at home.
On later visits, the children’s mother would welcome Faith with fresh treats and very strong Ethiopian coffee.
Faith joked that, because she has a low tolerance for caffeine, she frequently protested.
But the coffee carried a larger meaning.
The mother was once again able to welcome a guest, prepare food and express hospitality in the way she wished.
Housing had restored her ability not merely to receive help, but to give.
This was one of Faith’s central observations: a home enables parents to care for, cook for and love their families in their own way.
Parents Protecting Children from the Worst of Homelessness
Faith spoke movingly about the efforts parents make to shield children from the effects of homelessness.
Many of the parents she works with are single mothers.
One mother had fled an unsafe home and was living in a car with her children. Despite this, the children maintained almost perfect school attendance.
Getting children to school while living in a vehicle requires extraordinary organisation.
The parent must find places for the family to sleep, wash, eat and prepare for the day. She must keep uniforms clean, manage transport and ensure the children arrive on time, all while concealing the instability from others.
Another mother lived with her children in a house without electricity.
She transformed the experience into an adventure, using camping torches and building blanket forts.
The mother created a game to protect the children from fear and embarrassment.
These stories demonstrated the resilience and devotion of parents experiencing homelessness. They also challenged stereotypes suggesting that homeless families are irresponsible or disengaged.
In many cases, parents are working extraordinarily hard to preserve routines and give their children a sense of normality.
Faith said she had lost count of the number of parents who had cried while thanking Launch Housing for helping restore stability and family connection.
When families enter a new home containing the basic items they need, they understand that people have considered the details of their situation and care about what happens to them.
Removing some of the immediate financial and practical stress allows families to return to familiar routines.
The Passion of Frontline Workers
When Faith concluded, Sherri praised her commitment and observed that Launch Housing has approximately 400 staff who bring similar passion to their work.
This workforce includes case managers, housing workers, youth workers, family violence specialists, outreach teams, mental health practitioners, education workers, tenancy staff and policy professionals.
The work can be emotionally demanding.
Frontline staff regularly encounter trauma, violence, grief, illness and poverty. They also witness recovery, resilience and transformation.
Sherri’s praise of Faith reinforced an important theme: systems and policies matter, but homelessness is resolved through sustained relationships with individuals.
A housing offer may be essential, but many people also need support to maintain that housing, rebuild confidence, reconnect with family, address health problems or return to education and employment.
Housing First
Sherri then turned to Housing First, one of the most important evidence-based responses to chronic homelessness and rough sleeping.
Traditional homelessness systems have often required people to demonstrate that they are “housing ready.”
A person may be expected to stop using alcohol or drugs, comply with treatment, attend appointments, behave in particular ways or progress through a series of temporary accommodations before receiving permanent housing.
In some overseas systems, people face even more restrictive conditions.
Sherri described what she had observed during a professional visit to the United States. In some services, people seeking a bed for the night were required to undertake drug testing. In others, access to accommodation was connected to participation in religious services.
Housing First reverses this approach.
Instead of requiring people to resolve every other problem before receiving a home, Housing First provides stable housing as the starting point.
The person is housed first, and support is then built around them.
They do not have to prove that they are sober, compliant, healthy or deserving.
Housing is treated as a human right rather than a reward for good behaviour.
Once housed, the person can access mental health care, detoxification, medication, health services, income support and help rebuilding relationships.
Stable housing makes it possible to keep appointments, store medication, sleep safely, prepare food and establish daily routines.
It also restores autonomy.
People can decide whether they wish to pursue detoxification or other treatment rather than doing so under the threat of losing accommodation.
Sherri stated that approximately 90 per cent of people entering Housing First programs do not return to rough sleeping.
That high rate of housing retention demonstrates that people who have experienced chronic homelessness can sustain permanent housing when the right support is available.
Housing First also provides value for government.
Rough sleeping leads to heavy use of emergency departments, hospitals, police, courts, crisis services and temporary accommodation.
Providing permanent housing and support can reduce repeated contact with these costly systems.
The Difference Between Homelessness and Rough Sleeping
Sherri emphasised that rough sleeping and homelessness are not interchangeable terms.
Rough sleepers are the people most visible in city streets, parks, doorways and around transport hubs.
However, many more people experience hidden forms of homelessness.
They may be couch surfing, living in overcrowded homes, staying in motels, moving between relatives or remaining in dangerous situations.
Families experiencing homelessness may never sleep outdoors.
Young people may stay temporarily with different friends, without any secure place they can call home.
Women escaping violence may be placed in refuges or emergency accommodation.
Older people may live in cars or move between temporary arrangements.
Recognising this broader definition is essential to designing effective policy.
A response focused only on people visibly sleeping in the city would overlook the majority of people experiencing housing instability.
Youth Foyers
The second major program discussed by Sherri was the youth foyer model.
Youth foyers provide supported student-style accommodation for young people who have experienced homelessness.
Launch Housing’s foyers generally accommodate around 40 young people.
The model is based on the belief that homelessness should not determine a young person’s future.
Young people experiencing homelessness frequently disengage from school, struggle to obtain employment and miss the opportunities available to their peers.
The trauma and disruption of homelessness can follow them into adulthood.
Sherri invited the audience to consider how they speak to their own children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
Families do not ordinarily tell young people that it is acceptable to abandon education, avoid employment or give up on a career.
The same expectations should apply to young people who have experienced homelessness.
A youth foyer does not simply provide a room.
Residents are expected and supported to participate in education, training or employment.
The message is ambitious: the young person will go to school, obtain a job and pursue the career they want, and the service will do everything possible to help them succeed.
Youth foyers combine stable accommodation with education support, life skills, mentoring and assistance preparing for independent living.
The evidence indicates that participants go on to achieve more stable housing, employment, education and relationships.
Sherri explained that more than 80 per cent of adults who rough sleep experienced homelessness during childhood or adolescence.
This means youth homelessness is not merely an immediate crisis. It is also a major predictor of homelessness later in life.
Youth foyers seek to break that cycle.
By providing safety, expectations, support and opportunity at a critical stage, they reduce the likelihood that a young person will become chronically homeless as an adult.
Rotary Melbourne’s household packs are provided to students entering youth foyers.
Some recipients have never previously owned something that was new and still in its box.
Receiving new bedding, kitchenware and personal household items helps establish pride and ownership.
It tells the young person that their new beginning matters.
The Policy Environment
Before becoming CEO of Launch Housing, Sherri led homelessness policy within the Victorian Government.
Drawing on that experience, she explained that there is strong evidence about what is required to end homelessness.
The central requirement is stable housing combined with support.
Victoria has approximately 82,000 public and community housing properties.
Against this, the waiting list contains around 57,000 applicants.
Almost half of those on the waiting list are experiencing homelessness.
The figures show that the demand for social and affordable housing far exceeds supply.
Victoria has a history of building public housing, but Sherri argued that governments were effectively “asleep on the job” for around 30 years.
Housing construction failed to keep pace with population growth, changing household structures and rising demand.
The state is now paying the price for that prolonged underinvestment.
Sherri acknowledged that more recent state and federal governments have made significant commitments to increasing housing supply.
New construction programs are important, but the scale of the backlog means that progress will take time.
Housing must also be located appropriately and connected to transport, health services, education and employment.
Building homes is essential, but housing quality and community integration also matter.
The Economic Case for Ending Homelessness
Sherri spoke about her experience appearing before Cabinet to seek investment in homelessness programs.
Without disclosing confidential discussions, she said she never left those meetings entirely empty-handed.
She did not always receive everything she requested, although she admitted she tended to ask for a great deal.
The reason she was able to secure investment was that homelessness programs have a strong evidence base.
Treasury officials understand that effective homelessness programs produce measurable savings.
A person who remains homeless may repeatedly use emergency medical services, hospitals, police, courts, prisons, mental health services and crisis accommodation.
These interventions are expensive and often fail to resolve the underlying problem.
Stable housing with support reduces the need for repeated crisis responses.
Sherri argued that even if the moral case is temporarily set aside, the financial return on investment is difficult to dispute.
Ending homelessness is not only compassionate. It is economically rational.
The evidence is known within the Department of Treasury and the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Programs such as Housing First and youth foyers work. They offer value for money and should be expanded.
The remaining challenge is political willingness, sustained investment and implementation at scale.
Government Cannot Act Alone
Although government has primary responsibility for housing policy and major investment, Sherri emphasised that government cannot end homelessness alone.
Launch Housing cannot do it alone either.
Success depends on partnerships.
Government must provide housing, funding and policy leadership.
Specialist organisations must deliver services and maintain relationships with people experiencing homelessness.
Community organisations can provide volunteers, advocacy, resources and practical assistance.
Businesses can contribute goods, facilities and expertise.
Schools, health services and local organisations can help identify people at risk before they reach crisis point.
Rotary Melbourne’s partnership with Launch Housing is an example of how community action complements professional services.
Rotary is not replacing government or attempting to act as a homelessness service.
Instead, it provides a focused and practical contribution that fills an important gap.
The household packs reduce the cost and stress of moving. They help a property feel like a home from the first day.
They also create a direct connection between Rotary volunteers and the people being supported by Launch Housing.
Question and Answer: What Happens to Rough Sleepers in Melbourne?
During the question-and-answer session, Peter Rogers asked how the system works at night for people sleeping rough in central Melbourne.
He referred to people seen near stations and to charities arriving in vehicles to distribute food or offer assistance.
Sherri explained that Melbourne services maintain what is known as a “by-name list.”
For every person known to be rough sleeping in the city, services seek to know their name, their story, how they came to be homeless and the plan for assisting them out of rough sleeping.
Sherri said that 132 people had been recorded as rough sleeping in Melbourne on the previous night.
The by-name approach reflects the principle that homelessness is ended one person at a time.
It is impossible to provide an effective pathway if agencies do not know who is homeless or understand each person’s circumstances.
Different people require different responses.
One person may need mental health care. Another may require family violence support. Someone else may need identification documents, income assistance, drug or alcohol treatment, medical care or help reconnecting with family.
Some charities and church-based organisations visit central Melbourne at night to provide food and other support.
These services often know the people they assist and provide valuable contact.
However, Sherri also raised a difficult safety issue.
Services that attract vulnerable young people can sometimes also attract individuals who seek to prey upon them.
Police therefore have an important role in monitoring public spaces and ensuring that outreach locations remain safe.
Sherri said that people may remain rough sleeping for approximately four to 12 months before a planned pathway into housing can be implemented.
This delay does not necessarily reflect a lack of awareness or effort. It reflects the shortage of appropriate housing and support places.
Victoria has approximately 500 Housing First places, while around 6,000 people may rough sleep somewhere in the state over the course of a year.
The demand therefore greatly exceeds the available supply.
The answer reinforced Sherri’s wider message: the service system often knows what an individual requires, but lacks the housing and program capacity to respond quickly enough.
Question and Answer: Should Social Housing Tenants Move When Their Circumstances Change?
Philip Endersbee asked about the underutilisation of social housing.
He noted that people may enter social housing during a period of crisis, perhaps following family violence, but their circumstances can later change.
A person may form a new relationship, children may grow up and leave home, or household income may improve.
Some tenants may continue occupying larger properties even when they could potentially move to smaller accommodation, preventing those homes from being allocated to families in greater need.
Sherri said the question had two dimensions.
The first is how to prevent young people from entering lifelong social housing dependency when they have the capacity to build a different future.
This is one of the reasons youth foyers are so important.
The aim for a young person in their late teens or early twenties should not be permanent social housing if education, employment and independent housing are achievable.
Young people should have the opportunity to complete education, establish careers, rent privately and potentially own homes.
Sherri referred to data showing that social housing residents, as a group, experience higher levels of poor health, unemployment, educational disadvantage and criminal justice involvement than the wider Victorian population.
She stressed that this was not a moral judgement about residents. It was a description of the disadvantage concentrated within the social housing system.
Effective youth programs should help prevent disadvantage becoming permanent.
The second dimension is the underutilisation of larger homes.
A parent may have raised several children in a four-bedroom social housing property. Years later, the children may have left, leaving the parent living alone.
From a housing allocation perspective, the property could accommodate a family.
From the tenant’s perspective, however, it is their long-term family home. They may have lived there for decades, developed local friendships and built connections with neighbours, shops, doctors and community services.
Forcing older tenants to leave would be socially and politically difficult.
Sherri referred to approaches used by some housing associations in the United Kingdom.
These organisations have offered financial incentives of approximately £5,000 for each bedroom surrendered when a tenant downsizes.
The housing associations calculated that paying an incentive and providing a suitable smaller property was financially worthwhile because the larger home could be returned to circulation.
Sherri characterised the policy options as involving “carrots and sticks.”
Governments are understandably reluctant to use sticks to force people from long-term family homes.
Financial incentives, moving assistance and attractive smaller housing may offer a more humane and effective approach.
The crucial point is that downsizing only works when an appropriate alternative exists.
A tenant is unlikely to surrender a familiar home for a poorly located, unsuitable or insecure property.
The smaller dwelling must be accessible, affordable and located near the person’s community and services.
A Partnership with Tangible Impact
Sherri concluded by thanking Rotary Melbourne for its commitment to ending homelessness alongside Launch Housing.
The partnership has supported hundreds of Victorians.
It has helped families moving from motels and crisis accommodation.
It has welcomed young people into youth foyers.
It has supported people moving into Tiny Homes and transportable housing.
It has enabled parents to choose Christmas gifts for their children.
Most visibly, it has provided thousands of individual household items through the Make a House a Home packs.
Some recipients have never owned new household goods.
For them, opening a box containing new bedding, kitchenware or towels is not a small event.
It represents a new chapter and a sense that they are entitled to comfort, dignity and quality.
The packs also restore choice.
A person moving out of homelessness has often spent months or years with little control over where they sleep, what they eat or who enters their space.
A new home and a collection of personal household goods begin returning that control.
