Housing and homelessness
We all deserve to have a safe and secure place to call home - somewhere we can prepare for work, ready our children for school and actively participate in our community.
What we are asking
- Invest in social housing to address almost 4,000 applications on the waitlist.
- Ensure revenue raised on the Peninsula via the new Short Term Rental Accommodation Levy will be reinvested into local social housing stock.
- Fund crisis accommodation so that we are not reliant on an old motel temporarily donated by a local developer.
- Mandatory inclusionary zoning for developer contributions to social and affordable housing
- Support for key worker accommodation to secure local jobs and businesses in health, tourism and hospitality
- Improved public transport on the Mornington Peninsula to ensure access to jobs and services.
- Release Port of Hastings surplus land to include development of social and affordable housing.
Support for local homeless services:
- Funded outreach workers to engage directly with residents without a home or in housing stress.
- Funding for a ‘by name list’ to support rough sleepers on the Peninsula.
- Funding for agencies on the Mornington Peninsula providing preventative case managed support to people who are at high risk of homelessness.
- Critical funding for our Community Support Centres experiencing higher demand than ever before.
Reform of the homeless service system:
- A more integrated and person-centred system
What makes this unique
The cost of owning or renting a home on the Mornington Peninsula is rising fast – it is now more expensive to live on the Peninsula than in Melbourne.
We have a comparatively small rental market that is targeted towards short-stay tourism accommodation with approximately 5,000 short term holiday rentals on the Peninsula.
Low-income local residents are being forced out of the region – away from their families and support networks.
Our health, tourism and hospitality sectors are struggling to attract workers due to a lack of affordable accommodation.
Rising rents and property values means there is a growing number of local residents who are at serious risk of becoming homeless on the Peninsula. This includes many elderly residents.
Women and children are also disproportionally affected, often due to family violence - 74 per cent of those effected by family violence in 2024 were female.
There is no dedicated crisis accommodation on the Mornington Peninsula. The unmet demand is clear with temporary crisis housing donated by a developer seeing all 13 rooms full almost every night since it opened and is due to close imminently.
Inadequate public transport makes accessing crisis accommodation and services away from the Peninsula unrealistic.
Community members particularly vulnerable to experiencing homelessness include those who have recently experienced a relationship breakdown, a change in work circumstances, young people looking for work and older residents on a low income.
The benefits – supporting evidence and strategies
The number of people waiting for social housing on the Mornington Peninsula is growing. There are now 2,700 applications on the wait list for the Port Phillip side and over 1000 applications for the Western Port side of the Peninsula.
Our community faces significant social and economic challenges:
- 35 per cent of residents are in rental stress, which is higher than the Greater Melbourne average of 26.8 per cent.
On any given night in 2023-24, there were up to689 people experiencing homelessness, with many sleeping in tents on the foreshore, back beaches and in cars.
- Median weekly household income is $1,276, much less than in Greater Melbourne $1,542.
- The median rent for a home on the Peninsula is higher than Greater Melbourne - $50 higher per week.
- Fewer than one in three Peninsula rental properties are affordable to those on a low income.
- Just 1.7per cent of houses sold are affordable to those on a low income.
During consultation for our Triple A Housing Plan 2020-2030, our community called for:
- Council to make a larger contribution to housing
- additional crisis accommodation options provided away from the foreshore
- Council to take the lead on projects that provide targeted support for identified groups
- more certainty, opportunity and a fast-track approval processes for developers wishing to build affordable housing, including small housing and second dwellings.
Our Triple A Housing Plan calls for the delivery of Council land for a housing project every three years (or a financial contribution, subject to the normal budget process).
We are now leveraging Council-owned land parcels with social and affordable housing providers to partner with us. Community engagement will be undertaken as part of this process
We also subsidise the operation of three Community Support Centres at Rosebud, Mornington and Hastings, as well as the Peninsula Community Legal Centre. With inadequate state government funding, Council contributes nearly $1 million annually to keep these services operating.