Social housing or mental health facility? A Haven Torquay explainer

TORQUAY North residents concerned about the Haven development proposed for Silvereye Street remain unsure whether the site should be considered social housing or a mental health facility.

This confusion has only been amplified by a letter from Homes Victoria, seen by the Surf Coast Times, sent to residents Naomi and Ian Stewart in direct response to their requests for more information about the site earlier this month.

In the letter, Homes Victoria’s deputy chief executive officer Dannii de Kretser said the 12 one-bedroom residences in the Haven Torquay development “will support Victorians who need social housing”.

She stated the housing complex was “not a mental health facility”, a statement that has also been reiterated on several occasions by representatives from Mind Australia and its subsidiary The Haven Foundation, the community housing provider that will own and manage Haven Torquay once it is built.

For some, however, questions remain about the relationship between social housing and community care accommodation developments such as Haven Torquay.

What is social housing?

According to Homes Victoria, social housing is an umbrella term for short or long-term rental housing that is owned and run by either the government (known as public housing) or not-for-profit organisations such as The Haven Foundation (known as community housing).

Social housing is available to community members who face challenges securing safe housing that meets their needs through the private rental market, including those escaping family violence, people living with disability, people on low incomes and people experiencing mental illness.

How does this relate to Haven Torquay?

Haven Torquay will be funded by the state government’s Social Housing Growth Fund, which was established in 2018 to grow Victoria’s supply of social housing across the state.

The investment into sites such as this one also forms part of the state government’s response to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, which called for the housing system to better meet the needs of people living with mental illness.

Mark Heeney, The Haven Foundation’s executive director of housing strategy, said the residents to be housed at the Torquay site will be “tenants in their own right” and “receive general on-site support with activities of daily living if and when they need it”.

“Tenants who live within a Haven residence all sign and need to adhere to a Residential Tenancy Agreement.”

He said that all existing Haven residences were situated “within established residential communities, next door to houses with families and people of all ages and backgrounds and in proximity to all the usual community amenities, including schools”.

“This is because they are homes and not treatment facilities.”