New Housing for Melbourne's Homeless
Cath Bowtell,Tanya Plibersek
posted Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Minister for Housing, Tanya Plibersek and Labor Candidate for Melbourne, Cath Bowtell today attended the opening of the Elizabeth Street Common Ground project in Melbourne.
The project includes 131 studio apartments for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Central Melbourne.
Cath Bowtell and Tanya Plibersek joined Victorian Premier John Brumby, Victorian Minister for Housing, Richard Wynne and project partners Grocon, HomeGround and Yarra Community Housing for the opening.
“The Elizabeth Street Common Ground project will make a big difference, and demonstrates that the Gillard Labor Government is serious about tackling homelessness,” said Cath Bowtell.
“The Common Ground model gives people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness access to long term supported housing, rather than short term crisis housing.
“The project also recognises the complexity of homelessness and the variety of services needed to assist people to exit homelessness and break the cycle of homelessness.”
Tanya Plibersek said the Elizabeth Street project was based on the internationally recognised Common Ground supportive housing model, originally developed in New York in the 1990s.
“Common Ground goes further than offering a roof over people's heads – it is providing the kind of long term support required to break the cycle of homelessness,” Tanya Plibersek said.
“Tenants will have access to a range of support services including health, counselling, vocational training, living skills and financial management along with training and employment opportunities.
“Yarra Community Housing will be the property and tenancy manager and has worked in partnership with the Victorian Government, HomeGround Services and Grocon on the design of the building and the development of the support services model.
“Half the units will be tenanted by former rough sleepers, while the remainder will be used for social and affordable housing to enable a social mix, another key characteristic of the Common Ground model.”
The Gillard Labor Government’s $12.3 million investment in this project is already included in the Budget, through the A Place to Call Home program.
The Victorian Labor Government has committed around $36 million to the project, while Grocon agreed to build it on a zero profit, zero margin basis.
In total, the Gillard Labor Government is investing $4.9 billion in new programs, services and housing for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Federal Labor is committed to the long term targets of halving homelessness and offering accommodation to all rough sleepers who need it by 2020.
In contrast, Tony Abbott thinks that people choose to be homeless and refuses to commit to reducing homelessness in Australia.
Funding for this project is already included in the Budget.
Tags: Bowtell, Cath, Homelessness, Melbourne, Plibersek, Tanya