Message from Council to Homeless Persons (CHP)
The Council to Homeless Persons has joined 54 leading homelessness, housing and legal agencies, as well as church groups, to make a final appeal to the City of Melbourne to abandon the proposed bylaws which would make it illegal to sleep rough in the CBD.
We have jointly endorsed an alternative plan, which provides 14 clear steps that the Council could adopt to continue its humanitarian response to Melbourne’s homelessness crisis, instead of laws.
Already, 2,400 individuals and organisations have given feedback to the City of Melbourne about their proposed ‘homeless bylaws’, with 85% of them opposing new laws. Many submissions reflected the views of the Council to Homeless Persons - that the proposed bylaws are reactive, would make things worse for already very disadvantaged people, and would do nothing to tackle the root cause of homelessness; the lack of affordable housing.
City of Melbourne Councillors will soon vote on whether Melbourne is to become a city that punishes people for being homeless, or a city that continues its humanitarian track record on homelessness and sound social policy.
The collective expert advice of over 50 agencies and community groups is that new laws will do nothing to solve homelessness, and will only make things worse for already very disadvantaged people, entrenching them in the justice system, and lumping them with fines they can’t pay.
We cannot arrest our way out of the homelessness crisis. Homes fix homelessness, not laws.
The Framework - Proposed Framework For Responding Effectively To Homelessness In The City Of Melbourne - proposes a suite of evidence-based, practical alternatives that addresses the Council’s challenges, without enacting punitive and ineffective legislation.
Submissions have now closed for the City of Melbourne’s consultation on whether to change their bylaws. Councillors will be spending the next month considering all of the feedback before the final vote, and the media will continue to play a role.
Read more on the CHP website - including infographics you can use to support the campaign.