Homelessness

What is the issue?

The contemporary housing experience of Aboriginal people cannot be decoupled from the historical experiences of dispossession and dislocation. Through forced removal, economic exclusion and the undermining of traditional authority, lore and customs, Aboriginal people have been homeless in their own land for the past two centuries. While colonial values have receded and Aboriginal people have finally assumed full citizenship, there remains a lasting legacy of housing poverty and homelessness.  

There is a crisis of Aboriginal homelessness in Victoria. Aboriginal people represent 13% of all Victorians accessing homelessness services, despite only making up 1% of the overall population. 17% of all Aboriginal people in Victoria accessed homelessness services across 2021-22. If the same rates were reflected in the non-Aboriginal population, more than 1 million Victorians would be seeking assistance for homelessness each year. It is clear that the current approach to ending homelessness in Victoria does not meet the needs of Aboriginal people experiencing homelessness, and that a new approach is needed.  

What are we doing?

Objective four of Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort calls for the development of an Aboriginal focussed homelessness system. In advancing this objective, the AHHF commissioned the Blueprint for an Aboriginal-specific Homelessness System in Victoria (Blueprint). The Blueprint provides a roadmap for the development of a homelessness service system that is self-determined, community led, culturally safe, and responsive to the needs of Aboriginal Victorians experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness. It outlines the key priorities and enablers as well as a plan to practically implement the new system. 

Stage one of the implementation of the Blueprint will see two pilot Aboriginal Entry Points become operational at Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation and Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative in early 2024. These Entry Points will deliver an enhanced entry point service model, through culturally appropriate intake, assessment and planning response and multidisciplinary teams to better support Aboriginal people experiencing homelessness. Data, insights and learnings from the Entry Points will inform the development of further elements of the Aboriginal homelessness system in the priority areas. The AHHF will continue to work with community and the Government to ensure that the Aboriginal homelessness system is expanded across Victoria. Examples of this work include:  

• Engaging the mainstream homelessness system to ensure that all Aboriginal Victorians are receiving culturally safe and responsive support, and have adequate access to resources, wherever they seek assistance.   
• Reforming data collection and ensuring access to transparent and meaningful data. 

• Engaging in the capacity building and growth of the Aboriginal homelessness system and workforce. 

Capacity
building

Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort provides a roadmap to achieving housing equity and delivering better housing outcomes for Aboriginal Victorians in a generation. Part of this strategy is a commitment to building a strong capable Aboriginal housing industry and  Aboriginal housing and homelessness service systems. 

To support the capacity building of the Aboriginal housing sector, the AHHF is supporting ACCOs ( Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations), TOs (Traditional Owners) and Aboriginal Trusts through the process of becoming registered housing providers and to deliver a greater range of culturally safe and responsive services to the Victorian Aboriginal community. 

The AHHF is committed to growing the Aboriginal workforce and capacity within the housing and homelessness service systems. Aboriginal people and organisations have the skills and expertise to deliver culturally responsive and safe housing and support services. This needs to be cultivated and enabled to provide increasing sophisticated responses to the housing and homelessness challenges faced by the Aboriginal community in Victoria.

Social
housing

What is the issue?

Since 2007, Victoria’s population has grown by around one million people. Victoria’s Aboriginal population (which is currently 66,000) is also growing and is expected to continue to grow by 2.5%-2.8% (approximately 220 people per year). Victoria’s social housing stock has not grown in line with this population growth, instead hovering between 64,000 and 65,000 units since 2007. This constitutes approximately 3% of Victoria’s housing stock, which is between 1% and 2% lower than the national average.  

Currently, 22% of Aboriginal Households live in social housing (with an additional 20% on the Victorian Housing Register waiting to be housed) compared to 0.9% of Victoria’s non-Aboriginal population. Under conservative assumptions, without further investments, it is projected that there will be a shortfall in social housing units of 2,488 by 2026, 3,700 by 2031, and 5,085 by 2036. These projections suggest that without these additional social housing units, the rates of Aboriginal people being displaced from their communities and being at risk of homelessness will continue to grow. For example, it is estimated that if other settings remain unchanged, by 2036 an additional 20,000+ Aboriginal Victorians will be homeless or at risk of homelessness.  

What are we doing? 

Objective 2.2 of Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort is to build 5000+ social housing properties by 2036 with objectives 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 providing further detail and articulating how this might be achieved. For example, objective 2.2.2 argues that it is critical that as part of all Government housing funds and initiatives, Aboriginal specific targets are included with specific resources directed towards supporting Aboriginal communities.  

Further, through the work of members, the AHHF will continue to provide opportunities for ACCOs and Traditional Owner groups to build their social housing portfolio and advocate for more funding to help grow this emerging sector. The AHHF is committed to facilitating the creation of an Aboriginal community housing sector that is sophisticated, self-determined and better able to respond and meet the needs of Aboriginal Victorians. 

Rent
to buy

What is the issue? 

Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort articulated the need for opening doors to private rental and home ownership. A rent-to-buy program could be a solution to both priorities.  

Rent-to-buy targets a broader range of homebuyers otherwise locked out by the housing market or existing Government programs. Depending on the models, rent-to-buy could provide an avenue for long-term community housing renters to buy their own home or for lower-income earners to enter the market without having to save a substantial amount of capital.  

For example, some ACCOs and community housing providers have properties which house long-term renters with the financial capacity to purchase the units in which they live, their ‘home’. Where such sales are considered, cumulative rent paid for the property could be considered as a deposit.  

What are we doing?

AHHF members have been consulted by the Victorian State Government as part of an ongoing proposed rent-to-buy project.  

AHHF members shared insights regarding current experiences of home ownership, which cohorts continue to face challenges in becoming homeowners and how a sustainable program could be designed to improve home ownership outcomes for community members. 

Future priorities

The Aboriginal Housing and Homelessness Forum is committed to expanding all opportunities for Aboriginal people to become homeowners and address the ownership gap. Whenever the decision is made to sell a government owned housing property, we encourage the Government to make it available on a rent-to-buy basis. 

We will also continue to work the with State Government as it develops its current rent-to-buy proposal.  

Private
rental

What is the issue?

People in the private rental market face perhaps the most challenging market conditions in Victoria’s history. Decreasing rates of home ownership and chronic underinvestment in social housing has led to a significant growth in dependency on the private rental market. This additional competition has seen rents increase, with those on a median income earning households now spending over 30% of their income on rent, which is the widely accepted definition of housing stress.  

Compounding the issues Aboriginal Victorians experience in accessing the private rental market is the systemic racial and cultural discrimination on behalf of landlords and real estate agents.   

Additional barriers for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in attaining a private rental property include a greater reliance on income support or low salaries to get by, absences of rental histories, and the large size of families. These barries are leading to a greater likelihood of being priced out of the market. 

What are we doing?

Goal 3 of Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort, Every Aboriginal Person Has a Home is to ‘Open doors to home ownership and private rental’.

The Aboriginal Private Rental Assistance Program (APRAP)

In response to Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort, in November 2020, the Victorian Government committed over $4million in funding over two years for the Aboriginal Private Rental Assistance Program (APRAP) to be implemented in five areas. These were Northeast Metro Melbourne, Mallee, Western metro, Loddon and Inner Gippsland.  In 2023 the Government committed a further $5.4 million to expand the program to include a further four areas: Bayside, Outer Gippsland, Goulburn and Brimbank Melton.

APRAP is a preventative intervention that provides holistic support to households experiencing or at risk of homelessness. It includes establishing an Aboriginal rent brokerage and subsidy program, bond subsidies, and models to manage tenants at risk.

Two key principles highlighted in Mana-ana worn-tyeen maar-takoort which are reflected in the Aboriginal Private Rental Assistance Program.

1. Increase uptake of Private Rental and
2. Build a systems-based partnership between the mainstream and Aboriginal housing and homelessness systems.

APRAP is intended to prevent or end homelessness and housing crisis experienced by Aboriginal households by:

• Rapidly rehousing people capable of sustaining private rental after some initial support
• Supporting at risk households to sustain affordable and appropriate housing in the private rental market
• Assisting people who currently live in crisis, transitional or social housing to become independent in the private rental market if appropriate and sustainable.

Aboriginal Private Rental Access in Victoria “Excluded from the Start” Project

Goal 3.1.1 of Mana-na worn-tyeen maar-takoort is to work with the Commissioner for Residential Tenancies to investigate apparent discrimination against Aboriginal people in the private rental market.

Swinburne University of Technology researchers were contracted by the Consumer Policy Research Centre, on behalf of the Office of the Commissioner for Residential Tenancies, Victorian Legal Aid and Aboriginal Housing Victoria to conduct research into discrimination and other barriers faced by Aboriginal Victorians trying to access the private rental market. From the report, ‘Aboriginal Private Rental Access in Victoria: “Excluded from the Start”’, the Commissioner for Residential Tenancies identified 14 Recommendations to address the barriers that the Victorian Aboriginal community faces in accessing the private rental market including practical actions to improve access, improve the development and dissemination of effective rental information, the wider availability of support, measure to address discrimination and improve dispute resolution.

The 14 recommendations were endorsed by the VAHHF IWG.  The Office of the Commissioner for Residential Tenancies, Dr Heather Holst , has convened an Aboriginal Private Rental Access Project Committee to progress the recommendations.

Our partnership with the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV)

The Commissioner for Residential Tenancies and AHHF secretariat have met with the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) to commence building stronger relationships with the peak body and its members.  As part of these discussions the below two initiatives have commenced:

• (1) cultural change through campaigning with landlords and real estate agents to shift the perception of Aboriginal tenants to be acknowledged and viewed as ‘good tenants’. In conjunction with the Office of the Commissioner for Residential Tenancies and in partnership with REIV, an Aboriginal Cultural Safety training module will be introduced and delivered to real estate agents throughout Victoria via REIV’s monthly webinars with their members. The goals of the training models are: To be more culturally safe, Reduce access barriers for Aboriginal people when applying for a property and Deliver culturally safe tenancy management services. The training module will be provided and delivered by The Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Association Ltd (VACSAL)
• (2) increasing the number of Aboriginal real estate agents to assist in changing this perception and opening doors to the market. Working again with REIV, 100 ‘traineeships’ of the CPP41419- Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice Training have been made available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Victoria. This is the entry level qualification needed to work in Real Estate. These traineeships valued at $600,000 funded by REIV will be commenced and continued throughout 2024 with the aim of having 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people enter the Real Estate industry by July 2025.
• (3) Government working with the REIV, the Property Council, and AHV to commission the research and design of a behaviour change program.

Home
ownership

What is the challenge?  

Mana-na worn-tyeen maar-takoort found that only 43% of Victorian Aboriginal households own or are purchasing their own home compared to over 68% of non-Aboriginal Victorians households.  

As chapter 3 of the Frameworks articulates, lower rates of home ownership undermine housing security and the capcity to build intergenerational wealth, reinforcing the economic exclusion Aboriginal Victorians have experienced since colonial settlement.  

What are we doing? 

Objective 3.4 of Mana-na worn-tyeen maar-takoort advocates for making home ownership available to more people. To do so requires building financial and skills-based capacity for people to enter the housing market. The challenge also demands strengthening aspirations for homeownership amongst Community more broadly.  

To build financial capacity, the AHHF has successfully advocated for a specific Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander support stream in the State Government’s Victorian Homebuyer Fund (VHF). The VHF is a shared equity program, whereby the State Government provides eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants with a co-contribution of up to 35 per cent of the property purchase price, when the participant buys a home through the program. This contribution is in exchange for an equivalent share, which must be repaid by the participant over time through refinancing, using savings or upon sale of the property. 

As the Government’s co-contribution acts as a downpayment on the loan, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants are only required to pay a minimum deposit of 3.5 per cent of the purchase price, plus acquisition costs. Participants do not have to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) and are able to access the First Home Owner Grant (FHOG) and stamp duty concessions/exemptions in addition to participating in the VHF.  

The maximum 35% co-contribution and minimum 3.5% deposit available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants differs to the financial support the VHF offers to all eligible prospective homebuyers. For non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrants to the VHF, a maximum 25% co-contribution and a minimum 5% deposit is available. The higher co-contribution and lower deposit for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants is intended to increase uptake amongst Community and address the gap in homeownership rates. To find out more about the Victorian Homebuyer Fund visit AHV’s Home Ownership for Aboriginal Victorians page. 

To strengthen aspirations for home ownership, the AHHF is conducting statewide community engagement forums regarding the VHF. In these forums, community members are invited to ask questions about the VHF program, like how to apply or what you can save. The ensuant discussions have generated many questions and stories about home ownership more generally, with the aim that these conversations will flow back to all corners of Community. Contact communications@ahvic.org.au to find out where the next forum will be held near you.

The Victorian Homebuyer Fund 

The VHF is a shared equity program, whereby the State Government provides eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants with a financial contribution of up to 35 per cent of the property’s purchase price, in exchange for an equivalent share in the property. The share must be repaid by the participant over time through refinancing, using savings or upon sale of the property.  

The Government’s contribution reduces the size of the deposit and home loan required to purchase, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants contributing a minimum deposit of 3.5 per cent of the purchase price, plus acquisition costs. Participants do not have to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) and may be able to access the First Home Owner Grant (FHOG) and stamp duty concessions/exemptions (if eligible) in addition to participating in the VHF.   

The maximum 35% co-contribution and minimum 3.5% deposit available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants differs to the financial support the VHF offers to other eligible prospective homebuyers. For non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrants to the VHF, a maximum 25% shared equity contribution and a minimum 5% deposit is available. The higher maximum shared equity contribution and lower minimum deposit requirement for eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants is intended to increase uptake amongst Community and address the gap in home ownership rates. To find out more about the Victorian Homebuyer Fund, visit AHV’s Home Ownership for Aboriginal Victorians page. 

What are our future priorities? 

More work needs to be done to build people’s skills to enter homeownership, manage personal finances and maintain a privately-owned dwelling.  

The AHHF is currently in the process of developing an Aboriginal Home Ownership Hub. This online platform will enable users to learn about the whole process of buying as well as connect them to professional supports that are already available. The Hub is planned to be live by February 2024.  

It is hoped that the Aboriginal Home Ownership Hub will work alongside a broader package of support functions offered by the State Government through the VHF. These supports may cover financial counselling, mortgage brokering, estate management and legal aid. The AHHF continues to work with the State Government to implement such supports.