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Wednesday 17 March 2021
5974 9000 or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au
It’s VIEW’s reality, not TV MOVIE and TV characters from the 1950s-80s was the theme of Southern Peninsula VIEW Club’s second birthday celebration last week at the Rosebud Country Club. And in keeping with the entertainment theme there were prizes handed out, games played and a quiz. The VIEW Club raises money for The Smith Family’s Learning for Life program which offer support to children and families in need. Southern Peninsula VIEW Club has so far raised enough money to support five disadvantaged children and cover their education expenses, such as books, uniforms and excursions, through to the end of 2022. The next fundraiser is a Bunnings sausage sizzle on Sunday 28 March. Picture: Yanni
Peninsula towns suffer ‘housing stress’ Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au SIX areas on the Mornington Peninsula suffer housing stress 33 per cent higher than the national average. They are Bittern/Crib Point, Dromana/Safety Beach, Hastings, Rosebud and surrounding district, Rye/Tootgarook/St Andrews Beach and Portsea/ Sorrento/Blairgowrie.
A household under stress is defined as being one that spends more than 30 per cent of its gross income on rent or housing costs. Data from the latest census (2016) shows the peninsula has the sixth highest number of rough sleepers of Victoria’s 79 municipalities. Their plight is compounded by an under-supply of affordable and social housing, particularly one or two-bedroom dwellings, and that there is no
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dedicated, affordable emergency accommodation on the peninsula. In June, the Department of Housing’s Frankston office – which services the peninsula – found that of the 2143 applications for accommodation, 995 were eligible for priority access to accommodation. The mayor Cr Despi O’Connor said it was concerning that Southern Peninsula Community Support, which is on the frontline of providing services to
the homeless, was bracing for the end of the federal government’s JobKeeper program on 28 March. “The [service has] been overwhelmed,” she said, referring to pleas for help by those who lost jobs and suffered housing stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. “They have never seen anything worse and yet worse is to come.” The shire provides finance and a headquarters for the service founded
in 1980. The money comes from the Department of Social Security, as well as donations from individuals, philanthropic trusts and charitable organisations. Cr O’Connor said the service “uses every cent they get” to provide for their clients. “I want to raise awareness. I’ve seen what they are talking about,” she said. “I want people to be aware of how desperate their need is.” Continued Page 10
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