Aboriginal leaders in Victoria have met with the federal housing minister to discuss the crisis of homelessness amongst Indigenous communities across the state.
In a meeting hosted at the Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation's Homelessness Entry Point site, Labor Minister Clare O'Neil met with a number of organisations who are members of the Victorian Aboriginal Housing and Homelessness Forum (AHHF).
"This is a great first step in improving the state of housing for Aboriginal people in Victoria and ensuring that they have a safe home to live in," Victorian Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Organisation chief executive, Dr Jill Gallagher, said.
The gathering with Minister O'Neil focussed on several priorities, including the establishment of an appropriate Aboriginal homelessness target in Victoria.
AHHF chair and Aboriginal Housing Victoria chief executive, Darren Smith, said this would "provide the accountability needed to help close the gap".
"Safe, secure, and culturally appropriate housing is essential to improving health and wellbeing outcomes in our communities," Mr Smith said.
"ACCOs [Aboriginal community-controlled organisations] across the state are leading this work under relentless conditions, but the scale of the crisis demands urgent investment from all levels of government to grow housing supply and deliver real, lasting change – ensuring every Aboriginal person has a home."
Mana-na woorn-tyeen maar-takoort, the self-determined framework for Aboriginal housing and homelessness reform in Victoria, was developed by the Aboriginal community, for the Aboriginal community, in 2020, with the aim of developing and responding to the needs of the wider First Nations community in Victoria.
Dr Gallagher said some of the reforms required included "critical and fast investment into housing supply".
This included strengthening Indigenous home ownership and making room for the growth of Aboriginal social housing.
"We don't just want our mob to survive, we want them to thrive – and that means more Aboriginal Victorians owning their own home," she said.
The meeting comes as the Yoorrook Justice Commission last year heard more than 1800 Aboriginal children in Victoria under the age of nine accessed specialist homeless services in 2022-23, with more than 5,000 of the applicants for housing support who cited domestic violence concerns as part of their application being First Nations.
Over the last five years, there has been a 30 per cent increase in the number of Indigenous Victorians accessing specialist homelessness services. In comparison, there has been a decrease of three percent amongst the non-Indigenous population.
The number discrepancy is so astounding it prompted counsel assisting, Tim Goodwin, to state last year: "If the numbers of Aboriginal Victorians attempting to access specialist homelessness services was replicated in the general population that would translate to over one million Victorians …"
During the same hearings, Yoorrook Commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter argued a lack of housing only entrenched disadvantage in Victoria's Aboriginal community, operating in a form of 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," she argued at the time.
Djaran Murray-Jackson, a Dja Dja Wurrung man and a member of the First Peoples' Assembly, said it was imperative for people to have a safe and secure home to help build a "happy and healthy" life.
However, he argued, "the housing and homelessness crisis is pushing this essential foundation for a good life further out of reach for many people — particularly mob".
"Traditional Owners and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations have come together to build the network and create a plan to help more Aboriginal people get access to secure housing now we just need governments of all levels to work with us to help make this happen."
In a statement, the AHHF said they were pleased with the "robust discussions" that took place at the meeting.
Additionally, they said they would invite Minister O'Neil to an upcoming AHHF meeting to "ensure that discussions progress" and ACCOs remain at the forefront of the Government's health and wellbeing agenda.
