What is Dandenong Zero?
Dandenong Zero started in July 2022 and is a collaboration between the Greater Dandenong City Council and Launch Housing. It brings together the local service system around a 'By Name List' (BNL) of all people sleeping rough, to support them with referrals to services with the objective of ending rough sleeping.
How does it work?
The project centres around a 'By Name List', or knowing each person experiencing homelessness by name. Through outreach, people experiencing homelessness are engaged with and, with consent, are added to the list. Through our combined resources, we provide support to move along the pathway out of crisis and back into stable, long-term housing, one person at a time.
Homelessness is ended when people move into safe, sustainable, long-term housing of their choice. This includes public or community housing, private rental or private ownership that meets an acceptable minimum standard of a self-contained dwelling with its own kitchen and bathroom facilities. The person must have security of tenure evidenced by a signed tenancy agreement.
What is the goal of Dandenong Zero?
The goal of Dandenong Zero is to achieve Functional Zero homelessness for people sleeping rough in the City of Greater Dandenong.
Functional Zero homelessness will be reached when the number of people entering and experiencing rough sleeping within a month is less than the average 6-monthly placement rate into long-term housing. Once achieved, it must be sustained, and any future experiences of rough sleeping in Greater Dandenong should be brief, rare, and non-recurring.
The aim is to ensure that housing and support resources are efficiently coordinated and sufficient to meet the needs of all people who sleep and live in the City of Greater Dandenong.
It is an ambitious but necessary goal, and we believe that by setting these targets, we will collectively get the best out of ourselves and our community, securing the housing and support needed to end homelessness and providing the opportunity and hope for all to live and thrive in our municipality.
Who are our partners?
Our partners include our local entry point WAYSS, Monash Health, Eastern Region Mental Health Association, The Salvation Army, Cornerstone, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Centre for Multicultural Youth, Bolton Clarke, and Wintringham.
The project also has many enabling partners including the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Housing Victoria, the Department of Justice and Community Safety, Victoria Police, and the Southern Homelessness Network.
How is the project going?
If you want to know how we are progressing, take a look at our monthly data dashboard.
