The conversation

Between March and April 2024, the City of Melbourne undertook community engagement on the draft Homelessness Strategy 2024-2030.

The strategy aims to articulate a bold vision for the City of Melbourne’s future work to end homelessness and create lasting change.

The findings from the engagement informed the final strategy that was endorsed at Future Melbourne Committee on 6 August 2024.

Gathering insights

Consultation on the draft strategy commenced via the Participation Melbourne website. Contributions were made through the following opportunities:

  • an online survey promoted through social media was open for 7 weeks
  • 14 tailored focus groups were facilitated with a mix of online and in person, to gain diverse perspectives.

Who we heard from

Who we heard from:

  • 122 people attended focus groups.
  • 6 submissions were received.
  • Females made up 48 per cent of participants; 43 per cent were male; 4 per cent were non-binary/gender diverse; 5 per cent didn’t identify their gender.
  • The largest age groups represented were 35-39 years (13 per cent) and 50-54 years (12 per cent).
  • Over half of participants were home-owners (53 per cent); 35 per cent were in private rentals; 5 per cent were in social housing; 1 per cent were in temporary shelter/without conventional accommodation.

What we heard

Overall, there was positive support for the Strategy, indicating a strong community commitment to help tackle homelessness and to ensure that Melbourne is a better place for everyone to live.

The community supported the Strategy’s vision (86 per cent of survey respondents) to end homelessness and its priorities to deliver lasting change for those in need in our community.

There was also strong support for each of the three priority areas including:

  • Agreement across discussions that solving homelessness would benefit both people directly affected and the wider community.
  • That collaboration between services is an important way of working.
  • The importance of reducing stigma and informing community to enhance empathy toward people experiencing homelessness.

A consultation summary of the results and impacts of the consultation was presented to Council.

Examples of what we heard

  • 'Without secure, affordable housing poverty becomes an insurmountable barrier. We are one of the richest countries in the world. There is no excuse for not housing everyone.' - participant.
  • 'The group gave feedback that using young people as lived-experience spokespeople would help break down stigmatism and increase community understanding...' - Young People focus group.

Impact

Homelessness Strategy 2024 – 2030 was endorsed by FMC on the 6 August.

Next steps

The final strategy will be published by the end of December 2024.

An Action Plan will be developed to correspond with the three priority areas and to guide implementation.

Draft Homelessness Strategy 2024-2030