Homeless people in Maryborough are living in cars, couch surfing or on the street in yet another example of the housing crisis in Victoria.
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Calls to fix the crisis grew louder on August 2 with 6000 origami houses covering part of the steps of Victoria's parliament.
The paper-based homes were part of a campaign to demonstrate the scale of the state's housing and homelessness crisis - and the Maryborough community played its part in the call to action.
Maryborough District Health Service (MDHS) teamed up with the Victorian Homelessness Network to help create hundreds of the origami houses in the lead up to Homelessness Week (August 6-13).
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MDHS hosted two working bees to enable staff members to get involved and also acted as a collection point for community members to drop off origami houses.
MDHS housing support worker Kylie Monk said patients on the ward and residents in the health service's aged care communities also enjoyed folding houses as part of the campaign.
"We are proud to be part of this initiative and we collectively folded more than 1700 houses, far exceeding our initial target of 600," Ms Monk said.
"MDHS plays an active role in raising awareness about the housing crisis in Victoria on behalf of our clients.
"We see first-hand the immense challenges faced by our community in accessing affordable housing.
"This growing problem is happening right here in our community. People are living in their cars, staying on a friend's couch, in short term accommodation, or have nowhere to go.
"The main causes are family violence, financial difficulties and the housing crisis."
The 6000 paper homes presented to state parliament represented the number of houses the state needed to build each year to tackle the housing crisis, according to Council to Homeless Persons chief executive Deborah Di Natale.
More than 100,000 Victorians sought help from homelessness services in 2022, while 30,000 people in the state are homeless on any given night.
"We can put an end to this," Ms Di Natale said.
"We need a long-term commitment to build 6000 community and public homes for Victorians, and we need that commitment now."
Housing Minister Colin Brooks was among the MPs who joined advocates at the demonstration.
He said the government hadn't forgotten about homelessness amid the wider housing crisis, adding it was the most extreme form of disadvantage.
"It flows out of the whole housing continuum and so rental stress is just as big a player in that," he told reporters.
The most important measure to address homelessness was to build more homes, Mr Brooks said.
The Victorian government in 2020 committed to building 12,000 social and affordable houses, and it was among the states and territories to receive cash as part of the federal government's $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator fund.
Federal Housing Minister Julie Collins reintroduced legislation on August 2 to set up the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund after the first try at passing the bill was held up in the Senate.
The fund has been blocked by the coalition and Greens, with the minor party demanding an agreement from national cabinet for a rent freeze.
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