Wellington Street Common Ground Project

This project will deliver 25 self-contained units in St Kilda. The new building will provide housing for people who were sleeping rough.

Location

Wellington Street, St Kilda

Cost

This $10.9 million project being funded by both Council and Homes Victoria. Council is making a $4.755 million capital contribution and is transferring a surplus, adjoining laneway valued at $365,000 in 2022 to help St Kilda Community Housing deliver this project on the State Government owned site. Homes Victoria is making a $6.113 million capital contribution and making an additional $6 million in operating funding over four-years.

Milestones

Why are we doing this?

We know some people sleep rough in the City of Port Phillip.

The new project will use the evidence-based ‘Housing First’ approach. The approach addresses the multiple complex needs of people who have been sleeping rough. It provides supported housing to help them maintain their housing and not return to homelessness. The in-house support services may include:

  • medical and allied health
  • counselling
  • life, independent living and employment skills training.

The project implements our approach by to integrate affordable housing and homelessness policy. This followed the 2018 review of our In Our Backyard-Growing Affordable Housing in Port Phillip 2015 - 2025 strategy.

The impact

The project aims to house persons who are on the Port Phillip Zero program’s By-Name List. The list records every person who is rough sleeping and their circumstances.

This will assist the Port Phillip Zero program to reduce rough sleeping homelessness levels to a ‘Functional Zero’ level. This means the number of persons entering into homelessness (rough sleeping) in Port Phillip can equal the number who are housed or no longer are rough sleeping in Port Phillip. We aim to maintain the list at low numbers of approximately 3 to 6 people.

Objectives

Council supports the delivery of social housing through our project partners.  

St Kilda Community Housing is delivering and will manage this project. It will provide 26 self-contained permanent housing units, in-house support service facilities and a concierge service for single persons who had been sleeping rough in Port Phillip.