‘Now you’re evicting them?’: Victorians in ‘life-changing’ housing scheme face homelessness again

Hundreds of participants in a "life-changing" Victorian housing program designed to permanently end rough sleeping face the prospect of returning to homelessness after being served with eviction notices.

From Homelessness to a Home (H2H) was launched by the state government in July 2020 to widespread acclaim from the housing sector. An extension of emergency measures to accommodate Melbourne's rough sleepers in hotels during the city's Covid-19 lockdowns, the program was allocated $202m to help move about 1,845 households and families out of homelessness.

It was lauded as "life-changing" by advocates for homeless people, designed around "housing-first" principles and credited with effectively halving the number of people sleeping rough on Melbourne streets.

But now the government has significantly scaled down funding for the program, leaving 550 people yet to be permanently housed, and others unhappy with the accommodation that has been provided.

When the program began, the government leased about 1,100 properties from the private rental market, and bought another 336.

The rented properties were intended as transitional housing until permanent accommodation could be secured, but many of the tenants have now been issued notices to vacate as their leases end, in some cases with no appropriate long-term home to go to. Some have been offered interim hotel or rooming house accommodation, effectively returning them temporarily to homelessness.

"We are working with our community partner agencies and public housing to prioritise providing H2H renters with long-term social housing to break the cycle of homelessness," Homes Victoria said in a statement.

"Despite Homes Victoria securing funding to extend fixed-term head leased properties and significant efforts from our community partners, some landlords have decided not to extend their leases. This means some leases are coming to an end over the next few months."

The government has promised that all 1,845 participants in the program will be permanently housed by the end of the year, and that those residents evicted from their transitional housing will be supported through the process while alternative accommodation is found.

Advocates say the stress and instability caused by the evictions was unnecessary.

"These outcomes were entirely foreseeable," said Louisa Bassini, a managing lawyer at Inner Melbourne Community Legal.

"These clients necessarily have a history of homelessness, so the threat of a return to that way of existing which they have a recent memory of is hugely unsettling for people. It means that all other aspects of their lives are put on hold until they can secure suitable housing.

"Using the threat of eviction against people with a history of homelessness ought to have been avoided."

The Coalition housing spokesman, Richard Riordan, described the issuing of eviction notices as "callous".

"This is a whole other level of incompetence really. You've invited and accepted 1,800 people into a program, with a clear undertaking that you're going to give them some long-term stability in life, and now you're evicting them?" he said.

"Any good work that was done over the last two years will unravel."

The Greens spokeswoman, Samantha Ratnam, said axing the H2H program would "almost certainly" result in people back out on the street.

Not all H2H participants who were allocated government-owned properties are happy with the outcome either.

Before H2H, Chloe Cooper had been squatting in an abandoned, derelict house in Coburg. The H2H property offered to her - an apartment managed by the community housing provider Housing Choices Australia - was not in her preferred area or close to her service providers, and she wanted to be in public, not community housing. But she accepted it on the understanding it would not be her permanent home.

Early in her 18-month lease, Cooper raised concerns about excessive noise and heat in the apartment. In July, she made a further complaint about mould on the ceiling.

Her psychologist said in a letter of support that despite having previously stabilised considerably from a complex trauma history, Cooper had begun experiencing anger, frustration, powerlessness and suicidal ideation, "and is approaching the limit of her considerable resilience and coping strategies" due to her unsuitable housing.

Eight months after her first complaint, the mould issue remains unresolved.

A representative from Housing Choices said their ability to fix the structural leaks causing the mould had been hamstrung by the difficulty of engaging the building's owners corporation and an adjacent property owner. "It is extremely frustrating and we continue to pursue the best outcome," the spokesperson said.

Cooper is now seeking compensation.

In June 2022, community housing associations were told by Homes Victoria that all government-owned H2H properties would be transferred to a periodic lease, and the property would become the tenant's long-term home, formally allocated to them through the Victorian Housing Register.

Cooper was assured she could remain on the register (offering the prospect of a different long-term property) only after raising vehement objections to her removal.

"It's exhausting living like this," Cooper said. "I want to pack my bags and go live in my car but everyone keeps telling me not to do this. What people don't understand is this is not an easy choice. I feel so trapped by this system. It is beyond failing - it's totally broken. It's designed to make us feel so worthless."

The Housing Choices spokesperson said Cooper was not required to leave the property on the expiry of her lease. "Our intention is for her never to be forced into homelessness again and we will do everything we can to avoid this situation for her.

"We are truly sorry that Chloe's experience of her H2H home has not been a positive one for her, as it has been for so many others on our H2H program. We accept that the mould issue - which has been unusually difficult to resolve - has impacted on her tenancy experience and she is frustrated and disappointed with the process."

The H2H program has many supporters, including Housing Choices, which said it had secured permanent housing for all but 10 of its 163 H2H clients.

"Our view is that the Homelessness to a Home program has worked well. In fact, for us it has exceeded our early expectations," the spokesperson said. "We really hope the program will continue to be supported by the current and future governments."

Bassini said the program was based on good principles but they needed to be matched by ongoing funding commitments.

"The program showed what can be achieved when the government is serious about ending homelessness, but real investment into housing has to be ongoing. The barriers holding renters back from maintaining their housing don't magically disappear when a program wraps up."

Both Riordan and Ratnam have called for an extension of the program until the remaining 550 participants are found permanent homes.

"It is absolutely critical that they have somewhere safe and secure to stay but we can't forget there's another 36,000 Victorians on the public housing waitlist that are pretty much in the same boat," Riordan said. "It's a mammoth task."