Tanya Holmes and three of her children found themselves homeless, living in her car and on friends’ couches, after her marriage broke down.
While trying to get back on her feet, Tanya was moving into crisis accommodation and temporary housing. But finding help, an income and permanent housing is difficult when you’re sharing a room with your teenage daughter, let alone unable to unpack your bags.
“You’re a mum, you’re supposed to have a house, you’re supposed to feed your kids, they’re supposed to have showers when they want. When you can’t accommodate that, it puts you at your lowest.”
“I’ve never been in that situation before. It was very surreal.”
Tanya’s story is not uncommon, with more than 290,000 people seeking help for homelessness last year. It’s an increasing trend. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, homelessness rose by more than 13 percent in five years to the year 2016. In 2019/20 the Australian government spent more than 1.5 billion on social housing and homelessness.
It’s an exhausting trend for those working and volunteering in the sector. Deborah Holmes had been volunteering for the homeless for more than a decade at the Avalon Centre in Melbourne. Fed up with simple ‘band-aid’ solutions for a problem that was just getting worse, Deborah did her research and discovered the surprising outcomes in Finland - the only country in Europe where homelessness was decreasing.
Tanya was living in temporary housing with her children when she was homeless. Source: Dateline
The number of homeless people there has fallen by 35 percent in over a decade. So impressed by these statistics, Deborah bought a plane ticket to Finland to find out more, first hand.
On her journey, Deborah discovered Housing First, a strategy that starts with the assumption that the first support measure should be the provision of housing, because a place to live is a basic right.
Providing a home first, then support
The Housing First model provides the homeless with permanent homes first, and addresses welfare needs second. In other strategies, as is employed in most of Australia, a homeless person can only receive a home when they demonstrate ‘social acceptability’. For example, being sober, and having stable work.
Sanna Tiivola first started working with the homeless in Helsinki with her father as a child.
“Homeless people wanted to get rid of the shelters over 30 years ago, it was their idea from the beginning but they didn’t have the power to do so,” she said.
Decades later, with government and NGO backing, more than 12,000 have received a home through the program.
Sanna is now the head of No Fixed Abode, a homelessness service that runs two Housing First buildings with more than 100 apartments. The goal is to have the homeless finding a decent place to live within a reasonable time.
“When we started Housing First and people were able to get an apartment before any treatment. People were disappearing from the streets.”
Sanna Tiivola has been working with the homeless in Finland for decades. Source: Dateline
After visiting the “Housing First” apartments and meeting residents in Finland, Deborah was so “fired up” she returned to Australia, determined to implement the model in Melbourne.
Bringing the model to Melbourne
Without government support and through anonymous donations, the Avalon Centre - a volunteer run assistance organisation - was able to buy a three bedroom home in Melbourne and Tanya became the recipient. The centre also provides support to Tanya and her family, who live securely in their home.
“We haven’t looked back. I like myself now,” Tanya said.
The Avalon Centre has since bought two more apartments and plans to continue, as long as the donations continue. Deborah is convinced this can solve homelessness in her city. She isn’t afraid of housing people with social issues and problems with addiction.
