A formerly homeless woman has issued a passionate plea to residents fighting against a new housing project to reconsider their position.
Not-for-profit agency Launch Housing has applied to Maribyrnong council to locate 57 new one-bedroom townhouses in nine Ballarat Road locations across Footscray and Maidstone.
Jacqui, a Launch Housing tenant who has experienced homelessness, last week spoke at the first of two community meetings being held to address the proposal and the need for such accommodation.
“I am more like the typical person you will find homeless than you may be seeing in the media,” she said. “I am over the age of 35, I was in a domestic violence situation and it was not by choice. It took six times to get out of that.”
Encouraging people to consider the human face of homelessness, Jacqui said it was highly humiliating to need to ask for help.
“Having to front up to a service is incredibly disempowering, disenfranchising,” she said. “We’ve portrayed people who are homeless as this one large group who have made a series of really bad decisions.
“But each and every one of us has a story of our own and each and every one of us needs to find housing. To me, having a place that I knew was safe and secure was so important … it is so hard to crack into the private rental market.”
About 50 people attended Tuesday night’s meeting at RecWest in West Footscray.
Opponents of the units cited concerns about parking, social pressures and the potential for reduced property values.
Launch Housing deputy chief executive officer Heather Holst said she appreciated there were a number of perspectives on the project, but she said there were many misconceptions.
“Housing affordability is one of the big issues of our time and more and more people are being caught in that wedge,” she said.
“We’re about having a range of options so we can match people up.”
Two of the nine applications have been approved. The remaining seven will be considered by councillors at a future council meeting.
