Homelessness Services

For those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, YCH provides:

Initial Assessment & Planning

Overview

The YCH-MetroWest Initial Assessment and Planning (IAP) service is one of the Western metropolitan region’s main response services to people who are homeless or in housing crisis. The services are part of the Transitional Housing Management (THM) program funded by the Office of Housing (DHS).

 

The IAP team provides

  • Assessment of housing and support needs
  • Referral to crisis or longer term accommodation and specialist support providers
  • Housing-related information
  • Advocacy
  • Limited financial assistance for housing

To assist you make your own decisions about what’s best for you, the IAP team can provide advice on:

  • Housing options in the Western metro region
  • Applying for private rental
  • Applying for public housing
  • Supported accommodation
  • Support services
  • Access to transitional housing
  • Office of Housing bond loans

IAP workers can advocate on your behalf to negotiate with

  • Office of Housing
  • Property owners or Real Estate Agents
  • Centrelink (Social Security)
  • Other agencies you are having difficulty with in relation to your housing

 

Eligibility for IAP Services

MetroWest is funded to provide assistance to people in the local government areas of Moonee Valley, Maribyrnong, Hobson’s Bay, Wyndham and the northern and western regions of the City of Melbourne. This means that our primary focus is on providing assistance to people in these areas. However, if people from outside these areas contact MetroWest for assistance all efforts will be made to provide the level of assistance appropriate to their needs.

We recommend that you contact the IAP service in the area where you are living for assistance. Click here for a list of IAP services and the areas they cover. If you have no fixed address or are staying temporarily with family or friends contact your nearest IAP service and they will assist you to access appropriate services.

In accordance with the Office of Housing Homelessness Assistance Program Guidelines and Conditions of Funding 2006-2009 eligibility for homelessness services assistance is based on the primary determining factors of housing crisis and relative need.

 

Assessments

When someone first contacts the service for assistance, an assessment in undertaken by a IAP worker to determine assistance required and eligibility for housing and homelessness assistance and/or specialist support services. From the assessment a response is decided on with the client that takes into account their current circumstances (including the needs of accompanying family members), their available resources, risk factors, etc.

 

Housing Establishment Funds (HEF)

The IAP service manages and distributes Housing Establishment Funds (HEF), a form of financial assistance funded by the Office of Housing.

The primary purpose of HEF is to assist people on low incomes to

  • Alleviate housing crisis
  • Assist people to establish and maintain stable housing
  • Reduce threat of eviction

Refer to our Housing Establishment Funds page for more details.