More than 1800 Aboriginal children in Victoria under the age of nine accessed specialist homeless services in the last financial year, a truth-telling hearing has heard.

On Wednesday, the Yoorrook Justice Commission heard from a panel of housing Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs), looking at public housing issues and solutions for First Nations people in Victoria.

Chief executive of Aboriginal Housing Victoria, Darren Smith, told the truth-telling hearing Aboriginal children in Victoria were accessing homelessness services at the highest rate in the country.

"[It's] growing at roughly 10 per cent year-on-year," Mr Smith said. "It tells you that there's a very significant problem."

"If it was in the mainstream that would be one million people accessing homelessness services in Victoria every year — it would be an absolute crisis."

The Yoorrook inquiries are currently examining the historical injustices surrounding land, sky, and waters in Victoria; creating an official public record on the impact of colonisation on Aboriginal people in the state and will recommend actions to address historical and ongoing injustices.

"Aboriginal people are accessing homelessness services at the highest rates in the country in Victoria," Darren Brown, CEO of Aboriginal Housing Victoria gives evidence about the housing crisis being overlooked by government.

Follow to stay updated on Social Justice hearings. pic.twitter.com/iAKV5281KN

— Yoorrook Justice Commission (@yoorrookjc) June 5, 2024

The examination of housing comes during a cost-of-living crisis nationwide, which has seen an increase in homelessness.

Counsel Assisting Tim Goodwin noted close to 19 per cent of Indigenous Victorians needed the support of specialist homelessness services.

"That translates to about one in five Aboriginal Victorians being homeless, compared to one in 50 for the general population based on the statistics," Mr Goodwin said.

He highlighted data revealing 2,863 Aboriginal children accessed specialist homelessness services in 2022-23 — 1800 under the age of nine.

"934 - so more than half - remained homeless at the end of their support period," he said.

Commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter labelled the data an "indictment on this country".

"That is just the most appalling figure; children under nine not having homes," the Commissioner said.

"How do we have children in this country - nine-year-old's - homeless?"

"You think about 934 young people that are still homeless…it's just devastating," Dallas Widdicombe from the Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-Operative, said in response.

"You can absolutely presume they [children] have got child protection involvement, because if they are homeless, they are going to have it," he said.

Mr Widdicombe highlighted the flow-on effect of a lack of homes, which results in children being taken away from women who don't have a safe place to take their children due to homelessness, seen as not "providing a safe place for their children."

"We have men arrive with bags that have been released from any prison around Victoria, with either one or maybe two nights' accommodation and then that's it. So, what does that person at times revert to - what they know, and they end up back inside," he said.

"There's just a list of motels we can't even ring because as soon as they get a whiff that it's us, they just say they're full."

Commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter said a lack of housing was only entrenching disadvantage in Victoria's Aboriginal community, in a warped catch-22.

"Women and men can't get out of prison unless they've got housing, children can't get returned from child protection unless they've got housing," Professor Hunter said.

"It's absolutely everything," Mr Widdicombe said in agreement. "We can't work with our families on any issues, challenges unless we have stable housing."

Simon Flagg (Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-Operative): "[It's upsetting] when you hear an adult or a kid to say they want to go back [to jail], because it's the only roof that they have known."#firstpeoples #housing #victoria

— Yoorrook Justice Commission (@yoorrookjc) June 5, 2024

Mr Smith said there was a lack of political will to "tackle the issues at the scale that's required" to enact meaningful and substantial change.

"It's complex and it's interrelated but why aren't we working with that level of complexity and coming up with solutions?" he asked.

Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-Operative chief executive, Anthony Craig, argued that without housing, everything else suggested was just "band-aid on band-aid".

"I couldn't imagine what the government is spending on crisis accommodation... [people might] get a night or two in a motel, [then they are] back on our doorstep," Mr Craig argued.

Highlighting the difficulty faced by Aboriginal people finding housing in the state, Mr Craig noted: "[If real estate agents know] you are an Aboriginal family or you're a family that's on welfare, you go to the bottom of the [private rental] list full stop. Because they have got plenty of people wanting to rent a house…it's understood that there's a pretty strong element of racism in that."

Mr Smith argued: "When [housing] markets don't work, it's the people at the bottom who get crushed by the markets and so that's what we are seeing."

"Aboriginal people experience racism and prejudice and difficulty in getting into the [private rental] market...the private real estate agents in regional areas know the names of the families. So, you just have to have your name on an application, and you will be immediately put on the bottom of the pile," Mr Smith said.

Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative provides culturally appropriate services and support for Aboriginal people in a large catchment area on the south coast of Victoria. Chief executive Simon Flagg said when departments wrote new policies, they didn't understand the ACCOs lens and how they operated.

"We know our community, we're the ones that have fingers on the pulse of understanding their needs and requirements and yet, most of the time, we're not at the table at the conversation," Mr Flagg said, recommending more flexible options for access to grants in the sector.

The hearings continue.