THE voices of the region’s residents who are grappling with housing stress and poverty have been amplified during a visit to Ballarat last week by Victoria’s Commissioner for Residential Tenancies.<\/p>\n
Cafs last week welcomed commissioner Dr Heather Holst, along with Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) team members, to its Ballarat office.<\/p>\n
“Today we amplified the voices of renters in private, public, and community housing, highlighting the issues they face and the critical importance of upholding renters’ rights to prevent homelessness, improve housing conditions, and promote housing justice,” Cafs manager client services and community Emily Nester said after the visit.<\/p>\n
It was a chance for the child and family service organisation, which receives funding through CAV, to highlight impacts its integrated housing and financial support services have across the region, and its commitment to early intervention and holistic support for those battling housing instability and financial hardship.<\/p>\n
The commissioner’s visit preceded Anti-Poverty Week, which runs from 12 to 18 October, with Cafs CEO Wendy Sturgess calling for “urgent action to break the cycle of intergenerational disadvantage that continues to hold hundreds of children across the Central Highlands region in poverty”.<\/p>\n
“Poverty is crushing for children,” Ms Sturgess said.<\/p>\n
“It strips away opportunity, hope, and dignity.<\/p>\n
“It means going without safe housing, missing out on education, being excluded from social connection, and suffering poorer physical and mental health.<\/p>\n
“It’s a cycle that repeats across generations unless we intervene.”<\/p>\n
She said more than 760,000 children, or one in six, live in poverty in Australia, with Cafs advocating for place-based solutions to empower local communities to respond to local needs.<\/p>\n
“We need to do more than reflect,” Ms Sturgess said.<\/p>\n
“We need to act. We need policies that prioritise children, support single parents, and invest in communities. Poverty is not inevitable. With the right choices, we can change the story.”<\/p>\n
Anti-Poverty Week includes the United Nations Day for the Eradication of Poverty which falls today, 17 October.<\/p>\n
Cafs has bases in Ballarat, Ararat, Daylesford, and Bacchus Marsh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE voices of the region’s residents who are grappling with housing stress and poverty have been amplified during a visit to Ballarat last week by Victoria’s Commissioner for Residential Tenancies. Cafs last week welcomed commissioner Dr Heather Holst, along with Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) team members, to its Ballarat office. “Today we amplified the voices […]<\/p>\n