COMMUNITY groups and agencies joined forces last week to discuss ways to reduce homelessness in multicultural communities in the south east growth corridor.
The third homelessness forum was held at Centrelink’s Dandenong office last Thursday, and brought together more than 50 agencies, community groups and local councils from the Southern Integrated CALD *( culturally and linguistically diverse) network.
Windermere CEO Cheryl De Zilwa said homelessness was a big issue in the growth corridor, partly due to population growth, the inability of families to navigate assistance services and a general lack of housing, particularly for large families.
Serap Ozdemir, business development manager at Windermere, said homelessness was currently more prevalent in Greater Dandenong and the City of Casey, but with extensive growth in Cardinia Shire it would become an issue in the future for the municipality.
Of Melbourne’s five designated growth corridors, Casey-Cardinia is the fastest growing, with the second largest expansion of culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Attendees discussed how the community services sector could address the homelessness issue and plan for awareness among ethnic communities of assistance available to prevent homelessness.
Early intervention, community education and liaising between the agencies would be steps toward tackling the issue, Ms Ozdemir said.
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