Chris Middendorp on 35 years in the Homelessness Sector

It should be said that those people with a profound understanding of what homelessness is like are those who have lived experience. And in recent years, we’ve come to recognise that their voices should be heard and need to inform services and policy.

So, I when started work in homelessness in 1990, Bob Hawke was Prime Minister. There was no internet and almost no one had a mobile phone.

Back then in Melbourne housing was mostly affordable on average wages. A priority application for a public housing property would often be allocated in a matter of 3-5 months.

And while much has changed over time, if you work in this area, there’s one question you get asked more than any other: Why are people homeless?

Perhaps the most important thing to understand about homelessness is that it’s not accidental: it’s the predictable outcome of social policy. We have a chronic shortage of affordable housing, we criminalise drug use instead of treating it as a health issue, domestic violence supports are inadequate, mental health services are fragmented and difficult to access, unemployment benefits are set too low, employment opportunities are limited and public housing has been steadily eroded while the cost of living keeps climbing.

We know there’s over 30,000 people experiencing homelessness in Victoria. And yet we have just 423 government funded crisis accommodation beds in Melbourne. (The Crisis in Crisis, 2019 report by Northern Region Homelessness Network)

The impact of this is terrible. People experiencing homelessness in Australia often die 20-30 years earlier than the general population, due to preventable and treatable conditions.

I think what makes homelessness difficult for some of us to understand is that it’s not one thing, it is really just a broad label for a wide range of very different situations.

Some people are surprised to hear that rough sleepers only account for around 6% of homelessness numbers. Most people affected are in crisis accommodation, couch surfing, staying in overcrowded conditions, living in temporary lodgings, refuges, rooming houses, or women and children fleeing from family and domestic violence. Most are invisible.

It’s also worth noting that whatever you say about homelessness, the opposite is also true. It includes people with university degrees and those who never finished primary school. It includes people who have been homeowners and those who have never had a home. It includes people who’ve held well-paid jobs and those who’ve never had paid employment.

But despite these apparent contradictions, it’s important to understand that some groups, those facing chronic disadvantage, poor health, unemployment, disability, and people from First Nations communities, are at greater risk because barriers in the system make finding affordable housing and support a constant struggle.

And yet some people still like to say that homelessness is the fault of the people who are homeless, many of us still frame systemic failure as personal failure. We all know the rhetoric: people make the wrong choices, people lack discipline, people don’t work hard enough.

Which brings me to the theme of public perceptions of homelessness, which so often has sat alongside public perceptions of safety. This issue more than anything else determines how the community feels about the question of homelessness today.

Here in the City of Port Phillip we seem to go through a ritual every few years. We’re currently having one now. Wherein there’s a moral panic about a social issue. Quite regularly police and community have gathered at public safety meetings to testify about their concerns and grievances.

Over the years rather shrill conversations have focused on public drinking, on begging, on street sex work and heroin use and now you and I can watch it together as it focuses on rough sleeping. Homelessness and social disadvantage has yet again become framed as a law-and-order issue.

But is there more to it? A few years ago I asked a police superintendent what his officers were telling him about safety on St Kilda streets. St Kilda he said is a party town, his officers were kept far more active dealing with after work drinkers than those people who were homeless. What he said next I haven’t forgotten- “Some influential local groups seem to be openly bigoted against rough sleepers and they know how to pressure the council.”

Journalist and aboriginal activist Stan Grant is credited with the following quote. On the subject of bigotry he said something like: “There’s not more bigotry today than there used to be, it’s just that they are better organised.”

Could be, with social media we’ve seen groups of hate metastasize, forming cells of division on any number of issues. In previous times only tabloid journalism had the power to smear and promote contempt between people. Now we can all have a go.

But which voices should we listen too? It’s very hard to hear the voices of those who are excluded and isolated.

Now let’s just flip this for a minute. It’s not all bad news out there. Sacred Heart Mission, where I work, gets a lot of community support. We get our volunteers, our supporters, even our staff from the local City of Port Phillip community. We also have some excellent relationships with people at Council: a local government with a long and proud history of following progressive social justice values.

There’s a lot of goodwill expressed towards the people we serve. During the day it is not unusual to have a local resident drop in a bag of warm clothing, or donations of food and groceries for our meals program which serves around 100,000 meals across the year.

This community generosity is vital. Ending homelessness requires support beyond welfare organizations. We can only make real progress on social justice when the whole community stands together.

And yet, here we are again: rough sleeping, is being treated as a public alarm. Not primarily because it’s a pressing issue of social justice, but because the presence of rough sleepers and their belongings on the footpath is seen as a public nuisance and a danger.

So again, as they have been every few years, rough sleepers are in the frame. And as they should, Council has been exploring options and consulting with all stakeholders. Should they fine people being homeless? Should they change by-laws and create no camp zones, should they confiscate people’s belongings? The official response is still being explored. And we’ve met with council and had our say too and we say no to penalizing rough sleeping.

People often end up on the streets when their options have run out. It should come as no surprise to us that there are people on our streets who are using drugs to manage trauma, who are intoxicated, or experiencing psychosis. Sometimes they are disoriented, distressed, or agitated. Understandably, this can be confronting for the community, and many people feel unsure about how to respond or where to turn.

But where can people actually go for support? The pathways are often narrow and fragmented. Services can be difficult to access, inconsistent, or stretched beyond capacity—and not everyone is in a position to engage with support or treatment when it’s offered. This isn’t a problem with a simple fix; it’s a complex situation, and too often the system isn’t equipped to respond.

There was a homelessness network meeting for the Southern region last month and we did a quick survey of around 20 frontline workers. We found that none of them could access mental health or drug and alcohol services when needed for their clients. Most also reported big delays in police response. This points to a significant failure in resourcing.

So, when it comes to homelessness itself, we do have a good idea what works.

We know that access to safe and secure housing which is situated close to people’s support networks is a critical step. This does not mean sending people to overcrowded, high-density accommodation in far-flung suburbs.

We know that getting support when needed is a second critical step. This could include access to appropriate drug and alcohol detox services and mental health services. All of these need to be delivered flexibly, with a focus on relationships and outreach. Services need to visit people where they are.

We know that in many cases rough sleeping can be solved if you provide the right kind of accommodation, with wrap around support services. Here’s some good news: St Kilda Community Housing is establishing a property using this approach at Wellington Street, St Kilda. This is the kind of model we need to see more of: low-density, supportive housing in areas people want to live.

If ever there were a time for creativity, new ideas and bravery instead of law and order and fear mongering this is it.

One of the key things I’ve learned over the 35 years is that we should never underestimate people’s abilities. I’ve learned that with support people can recover and flourish.

Among the rough sleepers I’ve met over the years have been some extremely talented individuals: prodigious poets, storytellers, artists, singers, writers, and musicians. And a common theme above and beyond this, has been remarkable talent for survival and, quite frankly, a capacity for optimism. The feeling of hope, that things can and will get better is often critical to surviving homelessness.

So, what we need from our organisations and from our governments (from local to federal) are policies and values that are inclusive and grounded in compassion. We need systems that recognise people’s strengths and potential and provide real opportunities for stability and human flourishing.

It’s time to stop looking upon homelessness as a public nuisance and start seeing it as a public health emergency.