Homeless people in Bendigo could be denied lifesaving supports if the state and federal governments cannot overcome a funding impasse, the city's social service providers have said.
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Housing ministers met in Sydney on Friday to discuss the future of the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness, worth about $230 million every year.
The sum, shared between 180 specialist services, constitutes one-third of the total annual funding for Australia’s homelessness sector.
But negotiations ended without a commitment to renew funds beyond June.
Centre for Non-Violence chief executive officer Margaret Augerinos, whose organisation receives as much as $600,000 from the NPAH each year, said long term, bipartisan commitment was needed from all levels of government.
If the political stalemate was not resolved, CNV services, including crisis housing for women and children leaving violent homes, would be impacted, Ms. Augerinos said. She also flagged school supports for child victims of violence and education programs for male perpetrators as areas a funding cut could affect.
“We’re talking about very, very serious consequences,” Ms Augerinos said.
"The fact we're turning people away, the most vulnerable in society, is terrible.”
She was one of 30 welfare CEOs and policy experts to attend NPAH talks in Sydney last week, after which they collectively issued a statement warning 80,000 people currently receiving support could be “left out in the cold”.
About 300 Australians already miss out on homelessness services every day.
"We call on the federal government to put ending homelessness back on the agenda and to urgently commit to refunding and indexing the NPAH," the leaders’ statement read.
Ms Augerinos also called on housing and social service ministers to better index government funding to meet increased costs of service provision, as well as address the issue of housing affordability.
“We also need to consider the structural drivers of homelessness – family violence, poverty,” she said.
Loddon Mallee housing service Haven; Home, Safe was also a recipient of NPAH funds, money it had used for programs preventing people from having to leave their homes.
Those efforts were now art risk, CEO Ken Marchingo said, describing the potential collapse of the NPAH as “cataclysmic” for clients of his organisation.
While the number of people without a home had increased since the partnership’s creation in 2008, Mr Marchingo said its funds had saved more people from losing the place they called home.
Changes to the economy, including job losses in the manufacturing industry, had meant people were finding it more difficult afford their homes, Mr Marchingo said.
He also noted the adverse effect poverty had on the community’s wellbeing.
“We have a significant population in Australia that is one pay packet away from being houseless,” Mr Marchingo said.
“You only have to walk around Bendigo to see how long term unemployment is represented by drugs and alcohol.”
Aside from guaranteeing the future of NPAH, Mr Marchingo also believed governments needed to alleviate unemployment and housing affordability concerns for those struggling to make ends meet.
“We look around Australia at our housing prices, and we think growth is a good thing,” he said.
“But what we're talking about is vast numbers of people being left out of the market and that contributes to more misery in the community.”
Bendigo MP Lisa Chesters accused the coalition government of “dragging its feet” on the issue of homelessness and said recommitting to NPAH was critically important.
“We know locally there's a rising demand for accommodation, that our area is feeling the pain quite acutely,” she said.
The partnership’s future could be discussed again at a COAG meeting in December.
