Homes crisis for the needy

“UNPRECEDENTED” numbers are seeking help for homelessness in Geelong.

Families are among those in need, as welfare workers scramble to assist in increasingly complex cases.

Although the visibility of rough sleepers in the mall has reduced, SalvoConnect is seeing “unprecedented numbers” at adult entry point into homelessness services in Barwon.

SalvoConnect had almost 3000 clients at the adult entry point into homelessness services in Barwon in 2018, more than 1000 first-time clients.

And the complexity of the cases was “beyond comprehension”, its acting Barwon homelessness services manager, Kerrie Crtalic, said.

“Mental health is a huge driver, I think the services available with mental health issues unfortunately aren’t as available to people as they have been under a previous structure,” Ms Crtalic said.

The implementation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme has changed the mental health landscape.

SalvoConnect was struggling to assist with prevention measures, such as rental help, because the focus was on assisting people in crisis, Ms Crtalic said.

She said it was seeing “a lot more middle class people” seeking rental assistance help.

“Rent is unaffordable in Geelong. Housing affordability stress is huge,” she said.

Homelessness became increasingly visible in the city centre over summer.

Neami National was provided more than $2.3 funding by the State Government for outreach programs to find and house rough sleepers and for a supportive housing team to provide support to people previously sleeping rough.

While Neami National said it was too early to provide data on how many people it had helped, it said there was “clear demand” for its services.

Service manager Susan Taylor said the Neami Assertive Outreach team had been engaging with people sleeping rough in the Geelong CBD since January 29.

“In addition, since February 25, the Neami supportive housing team have been assisting people to successfully obtain and maintain longer term housing, as well as improve their physical and mental health and develop connections within the local community,” she said.

A State Government spokeswoman said the royal commission into the mental health system would examine links between disability, homelessness and mental health.

“We’re making sure these people don’t fall through the cracks, with a $70 million community mental health package to support people with a severe mental illness who are not eligible for NDIS or yet to transition to the scheme,” she said.

The spokeswoman said the Government had provided more than $14 million for “targeted support” for people in the Barwon Region.

“Our teams of outreach workers are already on Geelong’s streets linking homeless people with services and we’ve got seven new homes being built in Norlane to provide housing to rough sleepers,” she said.