2025 Victorian Homelessness Achievement Award Winners announced

The winners of the 2025 Victorian Homelessness Achievement Awards (VHAA) were announced at this year’s Victorian Homelessness Conference, held in Ballarat in late November.

A massive congratulations to all of this year’s winners and finalists – it was a crop of truly outstanding entries!

A huge thanks to Sacred Heart Mission for generously sponsoring this year’s awards, plus the Leading Practitioner Award, and to Wellways for sponsoring the Consumer Achievement Award.

The 2025 winners are…

Award for excellence in ending homelessness among adults: The Melton Rough Sleeper Initiative 

Across the City of Melton, there has been a significant increase in the number of people rough sleeping. In response, Melton City Council – Housing Services Team (MCCHS), Melbourne City Mission (MCM) and IPC Health (IPC) developed the Melton Rough Sleeper Initiative, which provides immediate respite, food, referrals to healthcare, and pathways to safe housing through referrals to public/community housing, transitional housing and/or private rental. Over the last 24 months, the initiative has received 236 notifications and significant number of re-notifications of people sleeping rough. When a notification is received, the team informs the partnering agencies, who coordinate a visit to the location and provide “on-the-spot” assessments, so people don’t have to attend an access point to receive support for housing. By co-designing services with people who had experienced rough sleeping, the partners introduced flexible engagement strategies, dramatically increasing contact with hard-to-reach individuals. 

Award for excellence in ending homelessness among young people: Creative Arts Therapy Program at Family Access Network 

The Creative Art Therapy (CAT) Program, delivered by Family Access Network (FAN), provides specialist therapeutic support for LGBTIQA+ young people and pregnant/parenting young people aged 12–25 who have experienced family violence and homelessness. Established in July 2023, the program offers one-on-one and group sessions using creative mediums such as visual art, writing, and movement to support identity formation, recovery, and wellbeing. This approach provides an inclusive, non-directive alternative to talk therapy, enabling young people to process trauma and strengthen identity in safe, empowering ways. By December 2024, the program had engaged 44 clients, exceeding its annual target of 40. Evaluation findings confirmed that 100% of interviewed clients reported improved wellbeing, increased capacity to seek support, and progress towards their goals. Participants described feeling respected, supported, and able to reconnect socially. CAT has contributed to sustaining housing outcomes by reducing isolation, strengthening resilience, and fostering stability for highly vulnerable young people.

Award for excellence in ending homelessness among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Aboriginal Homelessness Entry Points – delivered by Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative and Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation 

In 2024, the first Aboriginal Homelessness Entry Points in Victoria were established by Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative on Wathaurong, Gulidjan and Gadabanud countries, and Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation on Bunurong and Wurundjeri countries. The two entry points deliver culturally safe entry point functions including intake, assessment and planning, brokerage support, assertive outreach and case management, that are intentionally responsive to the unique and specific needs of the Aboriginal community. The entry points are the centerpiece of the Blueprint for an Aboriginal-specific homelessness system in Victoria (the ‘Blueprint’) and demonstrate strong practice leadership by embedding Aboriginal self-determination in design and delivery of services, and ensuring that housing and homelessness responses are developed by and for the Aboriginal community. 

The Leading Practioner Award: Emily Severin 

As the sole practitioner in CatholicCare Victoria’s Housing Mental Health Pathways Program (HMHPP), Emily plays a critical role in supporting people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness at the point of discharge from Ballarat Health Services’ Adult Acute Mental Health Unit (AAU). Emily’s dedication to her role is defined by persistence, compassion, and an unshakable belief in the dignity of every person she supports. She sees each client as uniquely valuable, celebrating their triumphs and sharing in the turning points that transform lives. Many off these “turnaround moments” have been possible only because Emily has refused to give up, even when others may have walked away, labelling a client as “too hard.” The impact of her dedication is reflected in the countless letters of praise received from clients and partner agencies. Through her tireless advocacy, commitment to networks, and refusal to abandon those most marginalised, Emily has created housing stability and renewed hope for individuals long excluded from the system. 

This award is generously sponsored by Sacred Heart Mission.

The Consumer Achievement Award: Vanessa Heart

Vanessa is an active and passionate member of Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG)’s Peer Education program and has been since the program first commenced in 2018. The program is made up of volunteers, all of whom are older women with a lived experience of homelessness, and most are former clients of HAAG’s Home at Last Service. Vanessa will take every opportunity to share her personal story with older people in her community, as well as the public more broadly. She wants to challenge ageism, stigmas around homelessness, and ensure older people in her community don’t reach the same crisis point she did. She does this at specific peer education events and in media, as well as in chance encounters with people at shopping centres, on public transport or in her day-to-day activities. Vanessa has actively recruited over 200 new members to support HAAG’s work. She also advocates to government, having been on multiple delegations to Canberra, and working with ACOSS on their climate campaign, advocating for minimum cooling standards in public housing.

This award is generously sponsored by Wellways.

Read our recap of the Victorian Homelessness Conference here!