The Victorian government has announced a $9.8m emergency funding program to move Melbourne’s homeless people into transitional housing, but the arrangement could mean less support for those who remain on the streets.
The state’s housing minister, Martin Foley, said on Friday that as part of the plan, some homeless people now sleeping outside Flinders Street station could be moved into the accommodation by Friday night.
The camp will be forced to move by Monday, when renovation is due to start. Outreach workers began approaching people to offer them accommodation on Thursday.
“It will be a health and safety issue and there are particular laws that apply there, so the truth of the matter is that camp will have to move,” Foley said.
He said the funding would be directed into “coordinated, dedicated and if needs be assertive outreach”.
“Rough sleeping in the central city district is unhealthy, it’s unsustainable, it’s dangerous,” he said. “It’s dangerous for the people who are homeless and it’s not good for the amenity of the world’s most liveable city.”
The funding will include support services and case managers to address the root causes of homelessness in each particular case, which Foley said could be drug or alcohol abuse, mental health issues or family violence.
“These are complex people,” he said. “You don’t get into the situation of looking to live on the streets of Melbourne and not have a set of challenges behind you ... it needs an appropriate amount of intensive support.”
There had been suggestions people could be banned from sleeping rough in the CBD, following a concerted campaign by News Corp that the homeless camp outside Flinders Street station brought “shame” on the city.
Melbourne’s lord mayor, Robert Doyle, backed away from claims that he supported the ban and had promised to change the city bylaws to enact it, telling Guardian Australia he had asked only for a redraft of the bylaws to give police greater compliance powers.
Foley said services such as food and shower trucks created a “honeypot effect in the central city district” that attracted homeless people.
“The deal needs to be that we will offer this assistance but they need to engage,” he said.
According to the 2016 street count, there are 247 people sleeping rough in Melbourne’s CBD, up from 142 in 2014.
The issue has become more visible in recent months with the establishment of a camp under the eaves of Flinders Street station, where about two dozen people sleep under the watchful eye of CCTV cameras and a constant police presence.
The new funding will provide immediate access to transitional housing units for 40 people, who will be moved into permanent housing by the end of the year when the construction of 30 units – modular and relocatable homes to be placed on public land – is completed.
It will also finance the case-management of those 40 people for up to two years to help them maintain their new housing, and the “guaranteed pathway to permanent supportive housing”.
The units are designed for single occupancy. Some have been bought and renovated by the state government, and others are leased.
“We’re taking action to provide a pathway for rough sleepers out of the CBD,” Foley said in a statement. “This new package will mean there is now no reason for people to be rough sleeping at Flinders Street station.”
The task of coordinating the funding has been given to the Brotherhood of St Laurence executive director, Tony Nicholson, who will report directly to Foley.
Nicholson has been asked to conduct an immediate and detailed census of the city’s homeless so the government can evaluate their housing needs.
He will also lead the implementation of a long-term strategy to tackle homelessness, including increasing the supply of housing and ensuring pathways to permanent accommodation.
Nicholson told Fairfax Media he would look at whether agencies and charities that provided meals and other services in the city were contributing to the problem.
“Many well-meaning service providers are bringing all the elements of the home (things like mobile washing machines, showers etc) to the homeless – but not resolving the homelessness,” he said.
