CONSTRUCTION is complete and residents have started moving into nearly 100 new social homes in Melbourne’s south-east aimed at supporting women aged 55 and over.
The cohort is the fastest-growing group of people experiencing homelessness in Australia, and is the subject of new Netflix documentary Under Cover, narrated by Hollywood megastar Margot Robbie, which reveals confronting stories of women facing housing insecurity while also highlighting an innovative private sector response through the work of Housing All Australians and its corporate partners.
The Victorian government’s 96 newly completed houses, located in Mount Waverley, is the result of a $50 million project that is a partnership between Homes Victoria and community housing agency National Affordable Housing Consortium.
The new one, two and three-bedroom homes are modern and energy efficient, meaning renters will be able to save on energy bills. The project has also been designed to cater to the over-55 cohort with features including mobility scooter parking.
The homes are close to are number of key services, including Syndal railway station, The Glen shopping centre, health services and parks, including Mount Waverley Reserve.
“More homes mean more opportunity, including for older women who are particularly vulnerable to homelessness and poverty,” said Victorian Minister for Housing Harriet Shing, who visited the homes yesterday.
Three million Australians in total are now at risk of homelessness, reflecting a 63% surge since 2016, with homelessness services overwhelmed and increasingly having to turn people away.
Despite 45% of women and girls seeking help for homelessness are doing so because of violence, a report by Homelessness Australia found just 3% of the tens of thousands of women and children fleeing family and domestic violence who came to homelessness services received long-term housing assistance.
The Victorian government is investment more than $6.3 is being invested through the Big Housing Build and Regional Housing Fund into social housing, with more than 10,000 homes underway or complete right across the state, and nearly 5,000 households moving in or have moved into brand new homes.
When complete, this investment will deliver more than 13,300 new homes for Victorian families, with at least a quarter of these in rural and regional Victoria. In City of Monash, where Mount Waverley is, more than $80 million has been invested through the Big Housing Build and other social housing programs to build 183 new social and affordable homes.
