Calling for a more effective response to begging in Victoria.
We’re asking for change.
We all want to reduce the number of people begging in Victoria. However, as a community, we continue to rely on the police and courts to tackle what is ultimately an issue of homelessness and poverty.
Over the past 20 years, evidence and research has consistently shown that people who beg experience high levels of hardship, including homelessness, mental health issues, substance dependence, family violence, trauma and poverty.
Between 2014-16, we consulted with 30 people who beg or have begged.
For their stories, insights and perspectives, watch this short video.
When society uses the justice system to respond to begging, we:
Informed by the evidence, consumer perspectives and direct work with people who have begged, organisations are calling for a more effective response to begging in Victoria.
Our joint Position Paper sets out seven steps that – if embraced by specialist homelessness and health services, Victoria Police, local councils, local businesses and the Victorian Government – will help Victoria move towards a fairer, more sensible and more effective approach to begging and the acute hardship that underpins it.
Victoria can do better than an old-fashioned law and a dated response to homelessness.
Let’s genuinely address the underlying causes of begging: poverty and housing insecurity.
Let’s strengthen what works: long-term social housing with holistic supports, including access to legal, social, health and financial services.
It’s time for change.
See our joint position paper on calling for a more effective response to begging in Victoria
We challenge and change laws that unfairly impact people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
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