Last year, an emergency housing provider said something I’ve never heard in my 15 years as a social worker: "We are so sorry, but all we can offer is a sleeping bag.'' This was in response to our desperate attempts to find a bed for a client who was facing homelessness. Housing services were hitting a breaking point.

In Victoria more than 35,000 people are waiting for public housing and growing numbers are living on the streets. Our homeless sector has been chronically underfunded and for decades governments have failed to tackle housing affordability.

An artist's impression of the Markham Estate in Ashburton.

Melbourne’s public housing estates have been vital for generations of Melburnians – from workers, families and the returning soldiers they were initially built for – to migrant families seeking refuge from war making a new life here.

Yet successive governments, both Liberal and Labor, have failed to build enough new properties to keep up with need, and have let existing properties deteriorate through poor maintenance.