The Jobkeeper and Jobseeker payments have supported many Australians doing it tough during this COVID-19 period. With the $550 fortnightly Jobseeker supplement added to the Newstart payment, welfare recipients had gone from receiving $574 to $1,100 per fortnight. In an...

The announcement of stage 4 lockdown coinciding with national homelessness week has put the spotlight on the gaping holes of Australia’s housing system. 

Even before COVID-19, almost 120,000 people were homeless in Australia every night, and the onset of the second wave...

On Saturday July 4, 3000 residents in 9 Public Housing Estates across Flemington, Kensington and North Melbourne were placed on immediate lock-down with little notice and with a heavy police presence. 

500 police have been stationed on every floor of the towers from 4pm...

On June 4 2020 the Federal Government announced the HomeBuilder scheme will provide all eligible homeowners with a grant of $25,000 to build a new home or substantially renovate an existing home until December 31 2020. 

Home owners are subject to eligibility criteria, i...

Blessing Bags is committed to ensuring our volunteers and clients are safe from covid-19. Since the beginning of the outbreak we have been proactive in adopting covid-safe practices to ensure we can continue to provide bags while our volunteers are in safe environments...

Since our last update, both Federal and State Governments have announced numerous financial packages to support Australians during the crisis. Here’s the latest on rental and housing initiatives in Victoria.

Rental moratorium announced

Since the Federal Government announ...

With toilet paper shortages and panic buying leaving soup kitchens short of supply, Victoria’s most vulnerable have already been hit hard due to the COVID-19 outbreak. With thousands of Australians jobless because of the virus, they’re grappling with months of financia...

Content warning: Death, violence against women 

Courtney Herron's Vigil, Image curtesy of Jason Edwards and the Herald Sun 

In late May, Melbourne woke up to the news that another woman lost her life at the hands of a man.

She was found just 2km away from the place wher...

Amongst the joy of the New Year, there are a handful of reports of the ongoing criminalisation of people experiencing homeless. In Queensland, a man seeking shelter at a bus station was fined $652 for ‘illegally camping’. Instead of directing the man to a safe space, h...

There’s no place like home: The housing Crisis in Victoria and Homelessness

Everyone has the fundamental right to access secure and affordable housing. The latest census1 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed us that the number of people experiencing homelessnes...