Five new townhouses in Mount Pleasant are part of the state government's response to the ever-growing issue of homelessness, says Minister for Housing Richard Wynne.
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The minister and local members joined homelessness workers and new tenants to inspect the two-bedroom buildings in Morton Street, Mount Pleasant, which have been in operation for six months and are one of eight projects across the state, costing over $200 million.
Situated on vacant land next to the former Methodist Church and Historic Sunday School on Morton Street, the buildings were designed not only to give autonomy to the tenants, but to be ecologically sustainable and sustain the over 100-year-old pines on the site.
Adrian Fletcher is 20. He's moved to Ballarat after struggling with family problems and other issues in regional Victoria, and says the new housing has changed his life for the better.
"It's overwhelming; I came from a massive, bad area in life; I came here, it's changed," Mr Fletcher says.
""I'm hoping that I'm going to get a job, get an education, get the support I need."
Mr Fletcher said it was relatively easy to find himself a place in the homes, which have been built in partnership with Uniting Housing Australia. CEO Ian Brain says the project worked in with the community, and the new homes are relocatable, breaking the nexus between property and land.
"These are modular, based on four steel uprights, no concrete in the ground. Protecting the trees was a large part of getting the cooperation of the local community," Mr Brain says.
