By Charlene Gatt
MELBOURNE’S West has the highest number of homeless people outside Melbourne’s CBD, according to a new report.
It also has the highest number of people couch surfing or living in support accommodation in the state.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s Counting the Homeless report has found 1843 people across the Maribyrnong, Hobsons Bay, Brimbank and Moonee Valley municipalities recorded as homeless.
In Melton and Wyndham, 496 people are homeless, with 26 out of every 10,000 in crisis accommodation or on the streets.
The bulk of people experiencing homelessness in the West are couch surfing at a friend or relative’s house, with smaller numbers living in boarding houses with no separate bedroom or living room and no private kitchen or bathroom, or in caravan parks.
About three per cent were doing it rough on the streets.
But David Wright-Howie from the Council to Homeless persons said it was likely the figures, which were sourced from the 2006 Census, were much higher because of the recent bushfires, global financial crisis and tight housing market.
He said family homelessness was growing, especially among women with children.
“Homelessness has always been a major issue in the West of Melbourne. There are a lot of low-income communities out there and while homelessness can originate from anywhere, we know that poverty, low income, housing affordability, access to services are all drivers of homelessness. We know that the City of Brimbank has quite large numbers of welfare recipients, particularly sole-parent pensioners; we know that there have been issues with rooming houses in the City of Maribyrnong, and it’s been a while but I know there was a prominent caravan park that was used by a lot of marginal people in Hobsons Bay,” Mr Wright-Howie said.
