THE death of Brendan Ryan on 8 January, following another rough sleeper’s death in November, brings the number of homeless deaths on the peninsula to five over the last year.
Community leaders have expressed exasperation at the lack of state government response to the spiralling situation and are renewing their calls for urgent action.
Melbourne Zero, which actively tracks homelessness, listed 114 actively homeless people on the Mornington Peninsula as of December. The data lists 88 of those as “sleeping rough”.
In the lead up to the busy summer period, Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Anthony Marsh wrote to the state government asking for them to step in to assist with the rough sleepers at foreshore camping grounds.
The letter dated 18 December from Marsh to the Minister for Housing, Harriet Shing MP, seen by The News, stated “Over the summer period, our region will see a substantial increases in visitors, particularly along foreshore areas where paid camping sites operate. People experiencing homelessness have already established camps within these foreshore camping grounds”.
“As peak season commences, Council is required to ensure that families and individuals who have paid for these sites are able to safely access them.
“This situation presents a significant and immediate challenge. When asked to move on, people experiencing homelessness are left with no local alternative options.”
The letter then pointed out the delivery and coordination of homelessness services is a state government responsibility and sought “clear direction on where individuals who are sleeping rough and being moved on from paid camping sites”.
It is believed that shire staff have been moving homeless people around the foreshore area to free up campsites that have been paid for by campers. The News also believes one shire employee was badly injured before Christmas when she was attacked by a homeless lady’s dog when approaching her about moving from her site. The shire confirmed the incident but declined to provide further details.
A shire employee told The News that because of the attack, the shire has employed “community safety officers”, at the expense of ratepayers.
In response to enquiries, the shire issued a statement stating “The shire is strongly advocating to the state government to address the growing issue of homelessness on the Peninsula.
“Despite the shire going above and beyond our duty, the delivery and coordination of homelessness services is a state government responsibility which needs to provide urgent investment in crisis accommodation, outreach services and long-term social housing”.
Victoria Police have been taking an empathetic approach to the situation, acknowledging it is not a crime to be homeless or to sleep in a public place.
“Our first priority is always talking to the person to understand the root causes of the issue,” said a Victoria Police spokesperson.
“We know we can best help by putting people in touch with essential services that address their individual needs”.
But Jeremy Maxwell, CEO of Southern Peninsula Community Support, told The News that they are completely overwhelmed by the situation.
“We’re the only ones down here doing dedicated assertive outreach to connect with rough sleepers but have to rely completely on community donations to do that,” said Maxwell.
“We’re the largest rough sleeping area in Melbourne yet the only ones not getting funding from the state government. It is remarkably inequitable. It seems to me it’s the mindset of the state government that everything stops when they get to the peninsula.
“But then to rub salt into the wound, they launch a ‘short stay tax’ that rips big dollars out of the peninsula, only to pump that money back into affordable housing elsewhere.
“Our continual gripe is that we just continually get left out of the equation. We have every problem that a regional area has yet we get no funding. Completely ignored and forgotten”.
Even groups that have patiently advocated for action for homelessness action have changed their language in response to the spiralling situation and are demanding stronger action.
Southern Women’s Action Network have long campaigned for action on homelessness and are frustrated by the lack of action.
Judith Couacaud Graley, chair of “Women for Housing Justice”, a sub-group of SWAN, and herself an ex-state Labor MP has called on the Premier to visit the peninsula to see the situation for herself.
“The dreadful news about more rough sleepers deaths in our community is very sad but makes so many of us working to raise the critical issues of housing and homelessness on the Mornington Peninsula feel very angry,” said Couacaud Graley.
“To tell you the truth we have done so much work, we are volunteers, and we really want, desperately need, to see our work turn into a bigger response from both the state government and agencies that they help fund like the Salvation Army.
“It’s more than time for them to cough up our fair share of funding, help our community support centres and for other agencies to get out of their offices do some work on the ground that will stop this crisis getting even worse.
“We seriously ask -how many more people in our community members, have to die ?
“We know the Premier has a lot on her plate at the moment but we fear that her colleagues and department officials are not doing enough and it requires the Premier herself to intervene and fix the problems.
“SWAN Women for Housing Justice members would like the Premier to visit the Mornington Peninsula and see for herself how bad it is in our community for people without a place to call home. It’s a crisis that she needs to urgently help us fix.
“No more lives lost please Premier”.
Council to Homeless Persons is urging the state government to lift Victoria’s amount of social housing to meet the national average within a decade. The state’s independent infrastructure advisor, Infrastructure Victoria, last year recommended the government build 60,000 additional social housing homes by 2040.
The organisation is also reiterating its call for increased investment in assertive outreach services, which are designed to find rough sleepers and connect them with the services they need to get support and a pathway to secure and safe housing.
First published in the Mornington News – 20 January 2026