A step in the right direction to tackling hidden homelessness in the southeast has been made as the Southeast Homelessness and Housing Alliance officially launched on Thursday, 31 July.
Spearheaded by the City of Casey, Cardinia Shire, the City of Greater Dandenong and a swathe of local community organisations, the event, held at the Lakeside Community Centre in Pakenham, marks a significant milestone not just in addressing the homelessness issue, but also the lack of housing and other resources needed.
Shari McPhail, a speaker from the Alliance and the general manager of homelessness and housing from Wayss, led the event by touching on what many community organisations, such as the Casey North CISS, have dubbed ‘hidden homelessness’.
Speaking to Star News after the event, she said that “homelessness doesn’t stop at municipal borders, and neither should the response”.
“That’s why service providers, community organisations and councils across Cardinia, Casey and Greater Dandenong have come together to form the Alliance.
“This is a new collaborative initiative focused on long-term coordinated solutions to housing insecurity in our region,” she said.
The event was attended by roughly 100 people, many from community organisations, and some from branches such as Victoria Police.
Part of the Alliance were groups such as the Casey North CISS, Wayss, Launch Housing, Ermha 365, Southeast Community Links, and Southern Homelessness Services Network.
City of Casey councillors, Kim Ross and Anthony Walter, were also in attendance; reflecting on the launch, Walter said that it was significant, and “extremely important and always has, and always will be”.
“We need to be proactive and advocate for those who can’t advocate for themselves,” he said.
For Ross, she said that the Alliance was a “step in the right direction”.
“I look forward to working on the actions with the other councillors, and also speaking with the council about this.
“And we’re working with the community too; for me it’s the focus on the youth, those who aren’t safe at home or have nowhere else to go, and for us as a community stepping up for them,” she said.
The event also featured a strong panel of speakers, something that McPhail described as a “panel of unlikely partners” due to their different fields of expertise, but the same ultimate goal of addressing homelessness.
Among them was Leanne Mitchell, a government worker serving as the panel moderator, and Brian Power, a lived experience advocate who shared his personal perspective on how mental health challenges can lead to homelessness.
Also part of the panel was Sharyn Ling, the community care manager of Fellow Bless Collective, Jack Dinkgreve, a land management professional from Parks Victoria, and Kelly Bendon, assistant principal at Lyndhurst Secondary College.
On a personal note, McPhail said that she felt “invigorated and excited about the fact that these organisations supported by the councils are coming together to try to break the nexus that we have”.
“Each of our organisations is doing amazing work, but we need to work together and work more with the community so that we can get real change.
“It’s really important to be sharing those stories because the face of homelessness has changed over the decades.
“So, who you might think of as being homeless, or actually who you might see, potentially people sleeping rough, that’s only the tip of the iceberg,” she said.
She added that there are many who living in rooming houses, in overcrowded situations, and many who are couch surfing and temporary accommodation with no guarantees.
“We know that with our community information support services, we see them as like the canary in the coal mine and we’re so pleased that they’re in this alliance with us because people who have never experienced this situation before don’t know that they need to come to Wayss if they’re experiencing or at risk of homelessness because they’ve never had to interact with that before,” McPhail said.
Helen Small, from the Casey North Community Information Support Services, was also in attendance at the event.
She said that seeing all the organisations under one roof, in the same alliance with three local councils, “it’s just fantastic”.
“It’s amazing really, the amount of support we’ve seen in this room, all we can hope is that people will come together and work together to make a difference,” she said.
