This sorry saga began last year when council allocated $100,000 and then a further $250,000 a year to St Kilda Community Housing (SKCH) to do help rough sleepers into ‘Common Ground-style’ accommodation with wraparound support services, but only ‘on the condition that additional funding from the State, Federal Government or another source is received to implement such a program effectively’.
So far, so good. But now, in June 2026, council is being told no additional funding has been secured. That’s zip, nada, zilch. And for the record, the council papers document the parties with empty pockets:
‘Over the past 12 months, SKCH has undertaken extensive advocacy to secure co‑funding, including 17 engagements with State and Federal housing and homelessness agencies and broader stakeholders. These included Homes Victoria, the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, local Members of Parliament, the Victorian Housing Minister, the Federal Housing and Homelessness Envoy, Federal Senators, and the National Indigenous Australians Agency. These efforts were unsuccessful in securing additional funding.’
Despite SKCH successfully opening Madden House in Wellington Street providing permanent accommodation to 26 people who had previously been sleeping rough, neither the State nor Federal governments have found room in their budgets for further action.
Not more $$ but different
To be clear, SKCH is not asking council for more money. It is asking for a ‘funding variation’ so the budget already allocated can be used for a different purpose, without any additional contribution from the State, Federal governments or any other source.
That matters because the original allocation assumed council’s money would be topped up. Without that extra support, the more ambitious Common Ground-style model is simply no longer viable.
The revised proposal seeks $250,000 a year over two years (2026–27 and 2027–28) from Council’s existing Homelessness and Affordable Housing budget to deliver what is described as a ‘targeted tenancy stabilisation program’.
That would fund a full-time Housing Response Worker, extra tenancy management capacity, tenancy set-up costs and a Second Chance fund to deal with early rent arrears or property damage before a tenancy collapses.
Council will vote on the request on Wednesday17 June. Will that be knock back 18?
