By Leith van Onselen

Since I work from home in the suburbs, I rarely venture into Melbourne’s CBD anymore. But when I do I am always shocked by the large and seemingly growing number of homeless people sleeping rough on the sidewalk – something that was far less prevalent a decade ago.

Back in July, The Age published an alarming report claiming that homelessness had reached “emergency levels” in Melbourne:

At least 30 homeless camps have been set up around the central city, with tents and sleeping equipment erected in laneways, doorways, on footpaths, under bridges and in private properties. Drug use and the accumulation of rubbish and filth is often a concern… Salvation Army major Brendan Nottle said the city was at a crisis point. “I think it’s overwhelming,” he said.

And today the Herald-Sun reports that Melbourne’s social housing is being overwhelmed as demand via population growth far outstrips supply, driving increasing numbers of people onto the city’s streets:

RAPID population growth is worsening Victoria’s social housing crisis amid calls for co-ordinated action to tackle the lack of accommodation. A high-level meeting of public, private and non-government organisations was told this week that rising homelessness on city streets was a “canary in the coalmine” warning of much deeper problems… Not-for-profit group Housing Choices Australia, which provides housing for people struggling to rent private homes, estimated that investment of $600 million a year would be needed up to 2031 to keep pace with the demand for social housing… Mr Lennon said that Victoria’s growth was “bigger than the Gold Rush era … It’s huge”… “Over the last 10 years we’ve added more than a million people into Melbourne but at the same time we’ve had no policies … to expand the range of either social housing or steps into affordable housing other than small deposit assistance schemes,” he said.

How is it that a city like Melbourne can be awash with empty homes, and yet cannot find the resources to provide shelter for its growing numbers of homeless? Isn’t one of the key jobs of government to provide assistance to the most vulnerable members of society?

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