Recommendation 25

What the Royal Commission said

The Royal Commission recommended the Victorian Government prioritise people living with mental illness in Victoria’s 10-year strategy for social and affordable housing.

It called on the Victorian Government to allocate a continuing substantial proportion of social and affordable housing to people living with mental illness during the next decade.

Further recommended reforms include:

• revise the Victorian Housing Register’s Special Housing Needs ‘priority access’ categories to include people living with mental illness, including people who need ongoing intensive treatment, care and support.
• ensure that the 2,000 dwellings assigned to Victorians living with mental illness in the Big Housing Build are delivered as supported housing and prioritised for people living with mental illness who require ongoing intensive treatment, care and support, with Area Mental Health and Wellbeing Services assisting with the selection process.
• in addition to the 2,000 dwellings, invest in a further 500 new medium-term (up to two years) supported housing places for young people aged between 18 to 25 who are living with mental illness and experiencing unstable housing or homelessness.

The Royal Commission also recommended that the supported housing homes for adults and young people living with mental illness are:

• delivered in a range of housing configurations. This includes stand-alone units, self-contained units with shared amenities and various forms of clustered independent units on a single-site property;
• appropriately located, provide for the requirements of people living with mental illness and are co-designed by Homes Victoria, representatives appointed by the Mental Health and Wellbeing Division and people with lived experience of mental illness; and
• accompanied by an appropriate level of integrated, multidisciplinary and individually tailored mental health and wellbeing treatment, care and support.

The Royal Commission recommended the Victorian Government periodically review the allocation of supported housing homes as part of new statewide and regional planning processes and audit the outcomes.

What we’ve achieved

• Between 2021 and 2022, the Victorian Government undertook co‑design activities with people with lived experience of mental illness, families, carers, supporters and sector experts to inform supported housing configurations and support models for adults and young people.
• In 2023, Homes Victoria revised the Victorian Housing Register’s Special Housing Needs ‘priority access’ categories to include people living with mental illness, including those who require ongoing intensive treatment, care and support. Through the Big Housing Build, the Department of Health and Homes Victoria have partnered to deliver supported housing for people living with mental illness. A total of 505 purpose-built supported housing dwellings are scheduled to be available across Victoria by the end of 2026–27.
  People identified for this program are provided with a range of dedicated supports, including through Area Mental Health and Wellbeing Services, the Early Intervention Psychosocial Support Response or the NDIS.

What we’re doing

Following the co-designed youth supported housing model, further work is underway to explore implementation options.

• The Victorian Government remains committed to implementing Recommendation 25.