NEW data has confirmed the Mornington Peninsula has the highest number of people sleeping rough in Victoria.
Figures from Launch Housing’s Functional Zero program confirm that as of October 2025, 128 people are sleeping rough on the peninsula, surpassing even Melbourne’s CBD. Frontline workers say the situation has escalated to an out-of-control crisis.
At the centre of the emergency is Southern Peninsula Community Support (SPCS), based in Rosebud, where the demand for assistance has escalated to unprecedented numbers. CEO Jeremy Maxwell says pleas to state and federal governments for funding assistance have been ignored, leaving local services overwhelmed.
“The Mornington Peninsula is dealing with more rough sleepers than any other Victorian council area, but our pleas for help to fix it are falling on deaf ears,” Maxwell said.
With summer approaching, the problem is worsening, with rough sleepers set to be moved into designated foreshore areas to make way for the influx of Christmas holiday campers. Maxwell said he is concerned about the consequences as it can be a matter of life or death.
“Sleeping rough is about survival but people are not always that fortunate and, in the last year, there were four deaths in the community, I have a real fear that there will be many more,” he said.
SPCS currently supports over 1800 clients, with an estimated 65 per cent “at risk of homelessness”. Maxwell said without any intervention, the situation will continue to escalate.
“You would think with numbers so high we would receive some government help; we receive no Victorian government funding at all across any of our programs. It’s a humanitarian failure all round,” Maxwell said.
The organisation has invited various politicians to witness the situation firsthand. Recent visits by Special Envoy on Housing and Homelessness Josh Burns and Federal Opposition leader Sussan Ley were welcomed, but Maxwell said minister visits are essential if funding is to follow.
“This is no longer an invisible crisis, we see it every day, we need urgent funding to meet this escalating need,” Maxwell said.
Maxwell said neighbouring local government areas have received targeted homelessness funding despite having fewer people in crisis.
“We have the highest numbers – we need crisis funding to come all the way down to the peninsula, and we need it now. We want rough sleeping if not all homelessness to be rare, brief and non-recurring,” Maxwell said.
“But we can’t do that alone. We need the state and federal governments to take some responsibility for ending this crisis as there’s only so much we can do.”
First published in the Mornington News – 9 December 2025
