in brief: homelessness looms large after budget cuts

Budget cuts to housing support programs have put up to 2000 Victorian families at risk of homelessness. The Social Housing Advocacy and Support Program (SHASP) received a 30% funding cut in May’s state budget, despite its successes. A petition has begun to reconsider the cuts.

SHASP, operated by 11 housing support agencies, costs $7 million a year to run and has been credited with reducing public housing evictions since its introduction in 2006, reducing the number from 477 (2006-07) to 185 (2010-11). It has done this by helping tenants at risk of eviction due to rental arrears and neighbour conflicts.

SHASP has helped approximately 6000 households in the past 12 months. However, the 30% funding cut (couples with a further 10% next year) means more than 2600 will go without help in the future: agencies have already started turning people away.

Jane Staley, executive director of the Advocacy and Rights Centre (ARC) (the SHASP organisation across the Loddon Malley region), spoke to the Castlemaine Independent, saying that ‘these cuts will limit our ability to provide support to people at a critical time in their lives’. In the case of Swan Hill, ARC may only be able to meet with clients once a month.

There is a fear that an increase in homelessness will expose more families to trauma, health problems and violence, and increase demand for childhood protection services. This comes as researchers in the US reveal research on the impact of childhood adversity on brain and body function in adult life.

Housing Minister Wendy Lovell has said that SHASP (and other homelessness programs) are being reviewed to boost ‘front-line services’. Opposition housing spokesperson Richard Wynee called the funding cut ‘cruel’.

By Cory Zanoni

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