Frankston Zero started in July 2021. The project takes a place-based collective impact approach to reduce the numbers of people experiencing rough sleeping by connecting with and getting to know each person, and adding them to the local ‘By Name List’ to enable a focused client-centred service response. Knowing everyone by name, understanding their needs and providing an integrated service response helps people find and sustain housing.   

The project is the initiative of the Frankston City Strategic Housing and Homelessness Alliance and is led by Frankston City Council and Launch Housing who have brought together local system partners who work together and share data to provide a truly client-centred approach and to help build trust with clients who have often been moved from service to service over their many years of homelessness including; The Salvation Army, Neami National, Community Support Frankston, White Lion, Peninsula Health and White Lion to name a few. The project also has many enabling partners including the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Housing Victoria, Victoria Police, the Peninsula Legal Service, Melbourne City Mission and the Southern Homelessness Network.

The most recent evidence of the work of the Alliance was the Frankston Housing Forum and Roundtables, which took place in October and November 2022. The final report was completed in March/April 2023.

The goal of Frankston Zero is to achieve Functional Zero homelessness for people sleeping rough in the City of Frankston by May 2023. Functional Zero homelessness will be reached when the number of people entering and experiencing rough sleeping homelessness within a month is less than the average monthly placement rate into long-term housing. Once achieved it must be sustained and any future experiences of rough sleeping homelessness in Frankston City are brief, rare and non-reoccurring. This will be because the housing and support resources required to end rough sleeping homelessness are efficiently coordinated and sufficient to meet the needs of all people who sleep and live in this local Government area.

Council is committed to reducing homelessness by providing information and referrals for people requiring assistance to appropriate service providers, monitoring data, building awareness and advocating for change.

Housing secured and homelessness ended

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. Long-term housing includes aged care and may include long-term special residential services.

Frankston Zero outcomes achieved as of the end of July 2022

• Total number of people added to the BNL = 122
• Total number of people housed from the BNL = 18
• Housing as a percentage of total people added to the BNL = 15%
• Number active at the end of the current month = 50
• Average 6-monthly placement rate into long-term housing = 1.8

How are we going?

The latest data from each By-Name List (BNL) illustrates the scale of rough sleeping homelessness in the City of Frankston. It also shows how people’s circumstances change over time as they become connected to the network of services that make up each project. The data shows clearly the change in living situations that happens over time and the movement into different living situations as people travel on a pathway out of homelessness. Finally, we show the outcomes that Frankston Zero has achieved since it started.

Sleeping rough and actively homeless

People are added onto the BNL when we meet them and they are sleeping rough. This means that they are in an unsheltered living situation, in a car or staying in an abandoned building that we call a ‘squat’. When they are added they become active on the BNL. This chart shows the active number of people since the project started and how people who are connected to the project gradually move out of sleeping rough.

Actively homeless and changes in living situations

People don’t usually stay sleeping rough but move between different living situations as their circumstances change. This chart shows this change over time as people move into safer forms of sheltered emergency accommodation such as hotels, motels or specialist crisis accommodations, or into high quality temporary forms of housing such as Transitional (THM) or Head Lease housing as a pathway out of homelessness. These are not the final housing outcomes and for that reason people remain ‘active’ even though their living situations have improved significantly. They are known as transitional forms of housing and people may live in them for several years before a final offer of social housing is made.

We would ideally only want people leaving the BNL because they've moved into a long-term, safe, and affordable home.

A key reason people stay on the List, and don't move into safe and secure homes, is that there simply aren't enough homes in Victoria that people on low incomes can afford. If 10 homes are available and 50 people need homes, 40 people are going to remain without a home, no matter how hard everyone tries to house them.

Partners

Frankston Zero is being delivered in partnership with:

• City of Frankston
• Launch Housing
• Vic Police
• Southern Homelessness Services Network
• Mentis Assist
• The Salvation Army
• Community Support Frankston
• Wintringham
• DFFH
• Neami National
• Peninsula Health
• Peninsula Legal Centre
• Whitelion
• Bolton Clarke
• Melbourne City Mission
• VincentCare

Functional Zero projects are made possible through the Victorian Government, local governments and the generous philanthropic support of:  

• Collier Charitable Fund
• Estate of the late Ernest Lonsdale Brown  
• Ethel Paxton Trust Fund
• Fred J Cato Charitable Fund   
• Miss M K A Bell Memorial Fund   
• Oliver-Affleck Fund  
• Percy Baxter Charitable Trust
• Perpetual Foundation – The Hutchinson Endowment
• Rowe Family Foundation  
• Ross Trust  
• The Blueshore Charitable Trust, managed by Australian Philanthropic Services  
• The Bowden Marstan Foundation  
• The Jack Brockhoff Foundation
• The Hutchins Family Endowment  
• The John Robertson Grigor & Mrs Eva McKenzie Bequest Account Discretionary Trust  
• The Ross Trust
• The White Family Endowment  
• The Zig Inge Foundation 
• William Angliss Charitable Fund