Invest in a Victorian Housing Stability and Connection Package that strengthens early intervention, prevents recurrent homelessness, and ensures people experiencing housing instability — including young people, women and children escaping family violence, people with mental health or alcohol and other drug needs, and those living in regional and rural communities — can access safe, appropriate and connected supports that address the social, relational and health factors underpinning housing insecurity.
This Package reflects a consistent message across the submission: that housing instability is not simply a lack of shelter — it is a destabilising force that disrupts safety, connection, mental health, wellbeing and recovery across multiple service systems. Without safe, suitable housing, people cannot engage with therapeutic supports, rebuild relationships, maintain employment or education, or recover from trauma. The Housing Stability and Connection Package brings together the supports needed to stabilise people earlier, reduce preventable harm and ensure they can move out of crisis toward safety and long‑term wellbeing.
Experiences facing consumers
Across Uniting’s services, people describe housing instability as a turning point that quickly cascades into deeper crisis.
Young people consistently highlight that the private rental market is not only inaccessible but actively discouraging. Halo, a young person in regional Victoria, applied for “up to 15 rental applications each week” without receiving a single response, describing visible discrimination based on their appearance. “I think I can feel them judging me when I try and ask them a question. I definitely feel like they don’t care.”
These experiences compound social isolation, financial stress and mental health strain — all of which worsen when young people are left without safe, stable housing.
Other young people experience sudden homelessness with little warning. Cole, aged 17, was abruptly kicked out of home and tried to manage alone. “When my parents first kicked me out, I just thought I could figure it out myself, but I couldn’t even go a few days.”
While temporary accommodation provided a short reprieve, the pressure of navigating multiple services, appointments and paperwork left Cole carrying adult responsibilities without the developmental supports young people need.
Adults experiencing mental health or health‑related vulnerabilities similarly describe unsafe housing as a source of escalating distress. Brendon, who lived for years in a deteriorating property, described the physical and psychological toll of prolonged exposure to mould, unsafe repairs and a lack of agency over who entered his home. “I was at my wits’ end… it wasn’t just the physical health problems — it was the mental health issues of having to jump through hoops while still living in that space.”
Women and children escaping family violence face profound instability due to the lack of suitable crisis accommodation. A mother fleeing violence described how long waits, lost referrals and the absence of child‑focused therapeutic supports compounded trauma at the very moment her family needed stability and safety.
Regional families experience additional barriers — from two‑to‑three‑hour trips for health appointments to limited local housing options and no funded assertive outreach. A regional mother supporting four children explained the cumulative strain, “I’ve got the other children too — they’ve got to be looked after… you get your money back a month later, but what are you supposed to do in‑between?”
Across all these stories, the thread is the same: housing instability amplifies every other vulnerability, and without tailored, connected supports, people remain trapped in cycles of crisis.
Components of the Package
1. Youth housing stability
- Establish youth‑specific crisis accommodation and supported housing pathways
- Provide tailored, relational casework and outreach for young people at risk of homelessness
- Strengthen transition‑from‑care housing supports through earlier engagement and sustained assistance.
2. Family violence housing safety pathways
- Replace unsafe motel accommodation with trauma‑informed crisis options for women and children
- Embed housing workers in family violence entry points to ensure coordinated, timely and safe housing pathways
- Strengthen cross‑system referrals and accuracy of information shared between family violence, child wellbeing and housing services.
3. Housing supports connected to mental health and AOD needs
- Expand supported housing models suitable for people with complex mental health or AOD needs
- Fund wellbeing support packages attached to new developments
- Strengthen integration between housing, mental health, AOD, family services and community inclusion programs.
4. Regional housing access and outreach
- Establish recurrent funding for assertive outreach in regional areas including Wimmera and Gippsland
- Fund place‑based regional responses with flexible brokerage and in‑home or mobile supports
- Build coordinated regional housing pathways that minimise disconnection and the destabilising impact of distance.
5. Early intervention and tenancy sustainment
- Expand tenancy sustainment programs including Private Rental Assistance Program (PRAP), Aboriginal PRAP, Tenancy Plus and rental brokerage supports
- Strengthen rapid referral pathways from youth, family, AOD, mental health and financial counselling services
- Provide practical supports that stabilise households before issues escalate.
6. Connection, navigation and relational support
- Embed housing navigators across Early Help, youth services, family violence hubs, AOD programs and carer supports
- Improve data sharing to track client journeys and identify points of re‑entry and structural gaps
- Strengthen cross‑system coordination to reduce fragmentation and minimise retraumatisation.
Why this Package is the logical next step
Evidence across the submission shows that stable housing is the platform for every other wellbeing outcome — safety, recovery, engagement in education and work, positive mental health, and long‑term stability.
The Housing Stability and Connection Package complements the System Navigation and Youth Wellbeing Packages by ensuring that the environments people live in are safe, suitable and supportive, enabling early intervention and relational practice to genuinely succeed. With this investment, Victoria can prevent repeated crises, reduce harm, and lay the foundations for lasting wellbeing for people across the state.
