Here’s a weird/terrible statistic:
On the most recent census night in 2021 there were 224 people in East Gippsland that were homeless (and 25% of them were kids.)
But, on that exact same census night, 15.8% of private houses In Gippsland were unoccupied – that’s more than 11,000 houses.
Many of those unoccupied houses are holiday and short term rentals.
This past week was Homelessness Week, and organisations like GEGAC that provide crisis accommodation and housing services are using the occasion to highlight the fact that solutions to homelessness are possible and must be found!
In the past year, the number of new rental lettings in Gippsland decreased by 13%, which is the biggest decrease in regional Victoria.
On any given day, Victorian homeless services have to turn away 96 people because of a lack of accommodation.
Homelessness Week aims to raise awareness of the impact of homelessness, and the solutions needed to end homelessness.
Last week GEGAC’s Miranda Hoarebury and Floss Ryan, youth workers at our Nungurra Youth Accommodation Service, were part of a Housing Ends Homelessness event in Melbourne, where 6,000 origami houses were displayed on the steps of Parliament House to highlight the urgent need for Governments to fix the housing crisis and end homelessness
6,000 represents 10% of the 60,000 social homes needed in Victoria.
Back here in Bairnsdale, staff and the young residents at Nungurra folded many origami houses to contribute to the awareness campaign too.
(You might have seen them in the window of our corporate office in Nicholson Street.)