“Behind these statistics are people": Baw Baw Shire looking to provide a one-stop-shop for people seeking shelter
Around 130 people were homeless in the area, one councillor said.
Jacob Wallace
June 17, 2025
During last week’s Baw Baw Shire Council, Councillor Ben Lucas recounted meeting Daniel and Rebecca, two people experiencing homelessness in the shire.
As winter sets in and temperatures lurk around low single digits, Daniel and Rebecca have been sleeping in a Drouin park.
He said he was shocked at the "derogatory terms" Daniel and Rebecca said they had faced from people walking by.
This meeting prompted Lucas to move a motion at last Wednesday’s council meeting calling for a report into creating a coordinated response system for those experiencing homelessness in Baw Baw Shire.
“We do what we can where we can but there’s no actual centralised point where we can gather information,” Lucas told the meeting.
Councillor Suzanne Allen seconded the motion, saying 130 individuals were experiencing homelessness in Baw Baw Shire, and 770 households were spending up to 80 percent of their income on rent.
“In Baw Baw homelessness is growing, often hidden but deeply felt,” she said. “The system is stretched beyond its limits. Social housing makes up three to four percent of the total stock yet poverty affects 13 percent of Australians, the numbers don’t add up.
“Behind these statistics are people, especially vulnerable groups. Single women over 55 are one of the fastest growing cohorts facing homelessness.”
Rough sleepers, people who don’t have access to any conventional shelter, make up six percent of Victoria’s homeless population.
Allen told the chamber “their situations are often shaped by complex mental health needs, illness, addiction and systemic failures”.
She said local government was best placed to advocate for the needs of the community, pointing to the example of Ku-ring-gai council in NSW, which is pushing for new affordable housing that is accessible and indistinguishable from other properties on the market.
Allen said the social housing waitlist in Baw Baw Shire stood at 1,000 people, despite recent investments including $6.85 million from the state government’s Big Housing Build to construct 22 new homes for those in need and a 51-unit planned development on Mason Street in Warragul.
The motion was unanimously passed. Baw Baw Shire will seek to develop a centralised information point that coordinates with existing services like Quantum Support Services, Salvo Care and Gippsland Homelessness Network.
Lucas said the aim of the coordinated effort was to “increase the livability of everyone in Baw Baw”.
