Acknowledgement of country
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we live and work. As we create safe and welcoming homes, we honour the people of the Kulin nation and their enduring connection to their home we call Naarm, Melbourne.
We pay our respects to all First Nations Elders, past and present.
It is important that we acknowledge that the contemporary housing experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people cannot be separated from their historical experience of dispossession and dislocation. Aboriginal Victorians are over represented in the homeless population, with census data confirming that Aboriginal Victorians experience homelessness at over five times the rate for non-Aboriginal people.
We support the development of a culturally fit Aboriginal housing and homelessness sector based on principles of self-determination and will continue to do what we can to help make this happen.
Inclusivity at Launch Housing
We are proud to be an inclusive organisation and support all efforts to build a more equal world, where individuals can live and work free from discrimination.
Child safety and wellbeing
Launch Housing is a Child Safe Organisation. We prioritise the health, safety and wellbeing of children and young people, and have a zero-tolerance approach to child abuse.
Welcome
Hello and welcome to our third Impact Report. I’m pleased to share the progress we’ve made together towards ending homelessness in Melbourne.
In 2022-23 we delivered life-changing housing and wraparound support services for more than 14,250 Melburnians experiencing, or at risk of homelessness. This included more than 2,400 families.
Our goal is to end homelessness. We’re ambitious, but we know it can be done. We end homelessness for vulnerable Victorians every day.
We know that to move more people quickly from homelessness to stability, we need more housing. . But alone it’s not enough. More housing, combined with access to appropriate healthcare and support will end homelessness for our city’s most vulnerable people, and ensure no one is left behind.
We’re delivering some really innovative programs and tailored housing solutions that do just that. Bringing housing, healthcare and support under the one roof. We want to see these types of holistic solutions scaled across Victoria and the country.
We’re focusing our efforts on creating new beginnings for families, children and young people who are facing housing instability and family and domestic violence. We’re delivering a range of solutions that not only provides families with a home, but with access to support, education, healthcare and a network around them to allow them to rebuild and ultimately thrive.
Addressing the link between health and housing is also a strategic priority for the organisation, delivering on-site and integrated healthcare and support to improve housing outcomes for people facing complex health and wellbeing issues.
We’re out engaging in the community, creating a groundswell of support for our Melbourne Zero campaign, to build empathy, spark conversations, unpack the issue and share the solutions. And to truly demonstrate that we are a caring city.
Scaling our work to end homelessness across Melbourne is only possible through partnerships – with governments, specialist services, philanthropy, business and the community. Thank you for your support. Together, we can make Melbourne a liveable city for all of us.
2022–2023
Our year at a glance
Launch Housing Theory of Change
OUR APPROACH CREATES CHANGE
At Launch Housing, we believe that housing is a basic human right. Everyone needs and deserves a place to call home and it’s our job to make that happen.
We measure our impact through three pillars of activity: Safe and secure housing, Early Interventions, and Scaling change. When considering these pillars, it becomes clear that our support takes different forms, depending on who we are working with and what their needs are.
This report demonstrates our impact from the 2022-2023 financial year. This is the first year without the additional COVID-19 funding which may have slightly distorted the emerging trends.
Our report has two themes: Families and New Beginnings, and Health and Wellbeing. These themes help us to better understand our impact, make clear decisions that shape our programs, and advocate for our vision of zero homelessness, by focusing on the people directly affected.
Our vision is only possible through partnerships with governments, specialist services, philanthropy, business and the community.
Together, we can make Melbourne a liveable city for all.
Focus areas
Families and New Beginnings
Health and wellbeing
Impact measures
Our Impact Measures help us to bring our Theory of Change to life by defining measures of success.
We use these 10 Impact Measures to evaluate our performance and improve our services as we support people in their journey out of homelessness and into a better future.
Safe and secure housing
We collaborate across the many parts of the Victorian housing system, including specialist services, government, philanthropy and developers to provide our clients with access to stable, secure and suitable housing. To break the cycle of homelessness, improve housing outcomes, and strengthen the service system, we rapidly re-house people and provide them with integrated health support, while also boosting housing supply.
1
Increase in number of high acuity clients with secure housing.
The journey out of homelessness is not always linear. Many of our clients require multiple engagements with Launch Housing services and the wider social service system before they find their long-term home. High acuity refers to our clients who often have a history of chronic homelessness with complex needs and require immediate support.
2
Exits into housing exceed number of people sleeping rough.
Nobody experiencing homelessness should have to sleep rough. The longer someone experiences rough sleeping, the more challenges they have to manage, and the harder it is for them to find and sustain appropriate housing. Our client-centred programs, including Assertive Outreach, Functional Zero and Housing First programs, provide ongoing support to people with long histories of rough sleeping to deliver good housing outcomes.
3
Increase in clients who have a positive transition into secure housing.
We know that housing first works. When people have housing combined with appropriate support, we can limit additional trauma, and they have the best chance to recover, rebuild and break the intergenerational cycle of homelessness.
4
Increase in proportion of clients, who received rent or bond payments, with sustained housing.
Our Private Rental Assistance Program (PRAP) and PRAP Plus program help keep people in the private rental market and away from entering the trauma of homelessness. This also reduces further pressures on the homelessness service system. Evidence shows that providing support that prevents homelessness occurring leads to better and more sustained housing outcomes.
5
Increase in the number of social housing dwellings owned or managed by Launch Housing.
The supply of social housing in Victoria has not kept pace with increased demand. In 2022, the proportion of social housing dwellings was just 2.9%, well below the national figure of 4.1%. As of June 2023, there were 65,195 people on the waitlist for social housing in Victoria, 36,690 of those were in priority need of housing.
This year, Launch Housing explored options to boost our diverse property portfolio to address our clients’ different needs, including looking at ways to make our homes and spaces more culturally safe and appropriate for First Nations clients and women and children leaving family violence.
6
Increase in the number of properties managed by HomeGround Real Estate.
Homelessness has been a growing and stubborn problem in Melbourne, which has been difficult to shift due to a lack of secure, low-cost housing options that people can afford to rent.
Our social enterprise, HomeGround Real Estate, helps to boost the number of affordable private rentals available to low-income earners.
Early interventions
We help to break the cycle of disadvantage and homelessness for children and young people through interventions that have immediate impacts to create positive intergenerational change.
7
Increase in number of young people employed or enrolled in education after completing the Education First Youth Foyer.
There is significant wage and employment rate gap between someone who drops out of school in year 10 versus year 12, and those who complete some form of tertiary study compared to people who don’t.
The Education First Youth Foyer (EFYF) program is a targeted approach supporting young people to stay out of homelessness, continue their education and build foundational life skills for their future.
8
Increase in number of children participating in school or early childhood education.
When children grow up in disadvantaged households, they are more likely to have disrupted education and experience poverty and homelessness as adults.
The Education Pathways Program is one of the only programs in the state that provide targeted educational support to ensure children in crisis stay connected to school and kinder.
Scaling change
We work with community, partners and the broader service system to shift attitudes around homelessness and mobilise collective impact. United by our determination to shift beyond the status quo we work to make Melbourne a world-leading city in ending homelessness and a liveable city for all.
9
10
Increase in acts of community engagement to end homelessness.
Increase in partner support.
We support our community to understand that ending homelessness is possible, that the solutions to homelessness are known, and that there are actions we can all take to end homelessness in Melbourne.
Our partnerships and public engagement tackle the stigma surrounding homelessness and are building a positive community movement to create change.
Emerging trends and highlights
Launch Housing delivered housing and support services to more than 14,250 Melburnians at-risk of or experiencing homelessness last year. This included providing safety and the opportunity for a new beginning for more than 2,400 families.
Inadequate social housing, along with the cost-of-living crisis and tight rental market have had a significant impact on the homelessness crisis in Melbourne. We are assisting an increasing number of people, many of whom are single parent families, with rent arrears and fewer people with establishing new tenancies. We have also seen more people who are employed seeking rental assistance as they struggle with the changing economic landscape.
The evidence in our third Impact Report highlights the vital role of delivering tailored and coordinated support services so people can access and maintain their housing.
Only more housing, health care, and support will permanently end homelessness. Our programs with longer support periods and coordinated service provision across health, family violence and other areas are getting better outcomes for our clients, particularly in sustaining tenancies or managing chronic physical and mental health conditions.
We know that family and domestic violence continue to be a driving cause of homelessness for women and children, and that when children grow up in disadvantaged households, they are more likely to experience disadvantage as adults, including homelessness.
This is why we opened Viv’s Place in July 2022. It is an Australian first program that provides a safe and secure long-term home to 60 women and up to 126 children which is helping women rebuild their lives, break the cycle of intergenerational homelessness, and giving children a better start in life.
Better Health and Housing
Functional Zero
H2H
Our Education First Youth Foyers are another highly successful program that provide young people with a new beginning. 84% of all the students who exited one of our Foyers were studying and/or employed. Given the barriers that our young people face, this high rate is encouraging as it is comparable to the 88% employment / education rate observed for all young people across the country.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are disproportionately affected by homelessness. We have allocated 10% of our recently constructed units to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander renters. Partnerships like our Homelessness to a Home partnership with Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Association (VACSAL) have also been vital in ensuring that Launch Housing is in a better position to support more First Nations clients in a culturally safe environment.
Scaling interventions to end homelessness in Melbourne is only possible through partnerships. That is why we continue to tackle the stigmas surrounding homelessness and focus on building a community movement calling for change. This year, our communications reached millions of people, prompting actions which are contributing to change across Melbourne.
THANK YOU!
Everyone has a right to a home and it's our job to make that happen.
However, we can't achieve this alone.
The outcomes we’ve achieved in this impact report are only possible through our strong partnerships with government, community organisations, philanthropy, business, supporters and our clients.
We want to thank our partners, funders and supporters who share our purpose to end homelessness. Together, our work at scale can make Melbourne a livable city for all.
Your generosity, commitment, and shared belief that things can be better for people experiencing homelessness means that we can work with individuals to help them change their lives. It also means that we can pilot programs and demonstrate pathways to evidence-based solutions that lead to long-term change for everyone.
Launch Housing would like to acknowledge the significant funding and support we received from the Victorian Government over the 2022-23 financial year.
As well as those organisations listed in this impact report, who make specific programs possible, Launch Housing’s impact in 2022 would not have been possible without the support of:
Brian & Virginia McNamee Foundation
Chrysanthemum Foundation
Danny Wallis Philanthropic Foundation
Donald Fraser Family Fund, a giving fund of the APS Foundation
Estate of Doreen Margaret Turner
Estate of Jeanette and John Chester
Estate of the late Ernest Lonsdale Brown
Fade to Black Foundation
Fred J Cato Charitable Fund
Gill Family Foundation
Goldsmith Family Foundation
Gray Family Charitable Trust
Juno Fund, Kapscalu Rejenerative Fund, Meta Lazarus Fund, Peel Fund, RO Fund and Williams Fund, sub-funds of Australian Communities Foundation
Jack and Ethel Goldin Foundation
Jack and Hedy Brent Foundation
Junola Foundation
Miss M K A Bell Memorial Fund
Oliver-Affleck Fund
Percy Baxter Charitable Trust
Perpetual Foundation – The Hutchins Family Endowment
Perpetual Foundation – The White Family Endowment
Robin and Mary Lou Friday & the Friday-Ferrell-Hudson-Maher Family
Ross Trust
Shine On Foundation
Sunrise Foundation
The Arthur Gordon Oldham Charitable Trust, managed by Equity Trustees
The Blueshore Charitable Trust
The Bowden Marstan Foundation
The Flora & Frank Leith Charitable Trust
The Gething-Sambrook Family Foundation
The Hutchins Family Endowment
The John Robertson Grigor & Mrs Eva McKenzie Bequest Account Discretionary Trust
The Marian and E.H. Flack Trust
The Orloff Family Charitable Trust
The Peter and Ann Robinson Foundation
The Pierce Armstrong Foundation
The White Family Endowment
The William Angliss Charitable Fund
William Angliss Charitable Fund
Zig Inge Foundation
We gratefully received gifts from:
The Estate of Jeanette and John Chester, The Estate of Doreen Margaret Turner, and generous individuals, families and foundations who would prefer to remain anonymous .