Victorian Aboriginal housing advocates have strongly backed the Yoorrook Justice Commission's final report, welcoming its call for urgent structural reform to address the over-representation of First Peoples in homelessness and housing insecurity.

Tabled in the Victorian Parliament last month, the final report from Australia's first formal truth-telling body recommends sweeping redress measures for First Peoples, including land restitution, financial compensation, tax relief, and other benefits.

"Redress should take the form of: Restitution of traditional lands, waters and natural resources ownership rights to First Peoples; monetary compensation; tax relief; and such other financial or other benefits as may be requested by the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria or the local treaty bodies in treaty negotiations," it stated.

The Commission called on the Victorian Government to fully fund and implement the Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort framework, reduce First Peoples' overrepresentation on the Victorian Housing Register by making Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status a criterion for Priority Access to social housing, and increase funding for Traditional Owner groups and Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) providing homelessness services.

It also urged the state to act quickly to increase the Aboriginal housing supply, including transferring "fit-for-purpose public housing units to ACCOs".

In a joint statement, the Victorian Aboriginal Housing and Homelessness Forum (AHHF) and Aboriginal Housing Victoria (AHV) welcomed the findings and urged "all Victorians to accept the truths set out in this report".

AHV Chief Executive and AHHF Chair Darren Smith said the Commission's findings reflect the lived reality for many in the Victorian Aboriginal community.

"It is one of exclusion, overcrowding, and being locked out of systems that were never built for them," he said.

"These are not just stories from the past, they are a mirror of where we are today."

A 2022 AHV report highlighted the scale of the housing crisis, stating Aboriginal Victorians continue to face discrimination, economic barriers, and limited access across the entire housing system.

"11.5 per cent of all Victorians without homes are Indigenous, and one in six Aboriginal Victorians will experience homelessness each year," the report said.

Last year, former Yoorrook justice commissioner and recent Order of Australia recipient, Kevin Bell, said Australia is in the grips of a housing disaster so fundamental it will turn into a catastrophe unless urgent action is taken at a whole-of-society level.

"Australian housing, one way or the other, is located on land taken from First People at colonisation, in what was a massive and system breach of their human rights. This is a fundamental truth of history," he said in his book, Housing: the Great Australian Right.

In hearings last year, Yoorrook 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 of them under the age of nine.

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

In its submission to Yoorrook, AHV also criticised the limited nature of Native Title and Traditional Settlement Acts, stating they "don't necessarily provide freehold title back".

"They might provide land back, but it's not land that's going to be able to provide housing necessarily at the moment," the submission said, calling for the return of unused public land to Traditional Owners for housing development.

Mr Smith said the Yoorrook Commission's final report offers more than just acknowledgement — it outlines a clear way forward.

"The recommendations are clear: implement Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort in full, and fund it properly," he said.

"That means sustained investment in self-determined housing solutions, and recognising housing as a central pillar of justice and reconciliation."

He says governments, mainstream housing providers, and ACCOs all share responsibility for fixing the crisis.

"Where government invests in housing that is Aboriginal-owned, Aboriginal-led, and culturally safe, the outcomes speak for themselves," he said.

Both AHV and the AHHF say they will continue working with the Victorian Government and the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria to realise the vision of Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort — "where every Aboriginal person has a home".