Council votes to consult on new law targeting homelessness

In February we shared a letter sent to the Council expressing concern regarding a proposed local law amendment impacting people experiencing homelessness. On Wednesday 21^st May, the Council met to consider a range of items related to community safety, public amenity, and homelessness. The meeting included responses to:

• The final report of Ian Gray’s Community Safety Roundtable;
• A joint letter from community organisations, led by Southside Justice, opposing Cr Hardy’s original local law proposal;
• A community petition signed by over 1300 people rejecting fines for homelessness;
• Council’s internal legal and policy advice.

What was decided?

We commend the Council on unanimously passing a motion to immediately implement ten of Ian Gray’s practical recommendations from the Community Safety Roundtable that can be actioned within the current budget. You can read all ten recommendations adopted in item 3.7 of meeting minutes here.

Importantly, none of these recommendations are enhanced by more local laws. In fact, the report recommended against pursuing any local law amendment . The recommendations emphasised non-punitive, evidence-based approaches to community safety, focusing on service coordination, outreach, and advocacy for further investment into holistic responses.

One step forward, another step backwards

Despite unanimous agreement to progress with Ian Gray’s recommendations, Council also voted 6 – 3 in favour of conducting community consultation on a new local law proposal.

The new local law proposal would give the CEO of the Council the power to declare specific areas as “no encampment zones” if they believe public amenity or safety is being impacted.

Once an area is declared:

• Council officers could ask people sleeping rough to leave and remove their belongings, but only after offering support services and an opportunity to engage with local service providers.
• If a person does not comply, officers could then issue a direction to remove “encampment equipment”, and if that direction is ignored, the equipment could be confiscated and impounded.
• “Encampment equipment” is broadly defined to include tents, sleeping bags, pillows, and even flattened cardboard boxes.
• The Council proposal states the intent is to “deter” public camping and suggests that a group of three or more people appearing to camp could be considered a safety risk.

While this new proposal is more narrowly framed than Cr Hardy’s original, it still raises concerns regarding the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities. The law would still potentially allow for the removal of people’s possessions based on where and how they are sleeping.  As we have previously argued, there is not a clear, logical evidence-based link that establishes people who rough sleep as generating a genuine risk to community safety, and how these measures would directly work to improve community safety is unclear.

 

Community consultation

The community now has until 29 June 2025 to respond to the local law proposal, alongside broader community safety topics. The consultation process has raised several concerns, namely:

• Lack of lived experience input: The people most affected by these laws, those with lived experience of homelessness, face significant barriers to participating in the survey due to its complexity and design. Council have yet to declare how they intend to ensure adequate consultation with this community.
• Broad eligibility: The survey is open to anyone who “visits” or “used to” visit the City of Port Phillip, increasing the risk of stigmatising and harmful responses from people with no stake in the local community.
• Misleading framing: The proposed law is presented as a neutral and reasonable solution to “community safety,” despite no evidence that such laws improve safety or wellbeing. In fact, the framing implies that coercive laws are necessary to access support services, which is both inaccurate and harmful.

Next steps

Southside Justice remains committed to advocating for evidence-based, rights-affirming approaches to community safety. We will continue to monitor the consultation process, seek further legal advice, and call for the voices of those with lived experience to be heard and respected.