Homes Victoria is committed to the goal of making homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring, and finding housing solutions, especially for people sleeping rough and experiencing persistent homelessness.

Homelessness, including rough sleeping, has a profound effect on people’s health and wellbeing. Homelessness is driven by and compounded by mental health, trauma and family violence.

The number of people sleeping rough or in an inadequate/improvised dwelling has increased dramatically in recent years. In Victoria, the number of people sleeping rough when first presenting to homelessness services has increased by 52% from 2011-12 to 2021-22. This is far higher than the overall increase in homelessness clients and now represents 7.8% of all people presenting for assistance.

Comprehensive evidence in Australia and internationally demonstrates that the best way to resolve persistent homelessness and rough sleeping is a Housing First response where stable, long-term housing is provided rapidly with long term multidisciplinary support to address the factors that led to a person’s experience of homelessness.

The Housing First model is a response to homelessness that prioritises permanent and stable housing for people experiencing homelessness, with low barrier entry and/or prerequisites. The model is centred on supporting people to firstly secure housing, and then to access multidisciplinary support such as mental health support and alcohol and other drugs (AOD) support if they choose to. The key principles of Housing First are:

• people have a right to a home.
• housing and support are separated.
• flexible support for as long as it is needed.
• choice and self-determination
• active engagement without coercion
• recovery orientated practice
• social and community inclusion
• harm reduction approach.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the From Homelessness to a Home (H2H) program was implemented as a landmark investment in scaling up a program based on Housing First principles. As part of the 2023-24 State Budget, funding was allocated to the Sustained Solutions for Housing First to End Rough Sleeping to embed Housing First principles as a feature of the Victorian homelessness system. Under the 2023-24 State Budget, $48 million over 4 years has been allocated to continue the H2H program under a revised service model to be known as the Homes First program.