Heartbreaking death of father sleeping rough on the Mornington Peninsula must serve as a wake up call

Council to Homeless Persons

Heartbreaking death of father sleeping rough on the Mornington Peninsula must serve as a wake up call

Council to Homeless Persons is calling on governments and communities to take swift action to improve homelessness support services and housing after the tragic death of a 48-year-old father who was sleeping rough.

Brendan Ryan was reportedly sleeping rough at a Mornington Peninsula campground when his body was found by a passer-by last week. He is reported to be the sixth rough sleeper to die in the region in the past 12 months.

Mr Ryan’s untimely death comes after the local council asked the state government for urgent help to meet the needs of an increasing number of rough sleepers in the area.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to Mr Ryan’s friends and family during this time. His death is a tragic illustration of the life and death nature of homelessness,” Council to Homeless Persons CEO Deborah Di Natale said.

“A life has been cut short. According to media reports, Mr Ryan had been waiting for public housing for more than two years - a length of time that is sadly not unusual in Victoria. It’s hard to imagine the anguish his family must be feeling, knowing he was waiting for help in a state that doesn’t have enough resources to meet the ever-increasing need.”

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.

Council to Homeless Persons 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.

“We are dealing with record levels of homelessness in this state. Our waitlist for public housing has grown to nearly 67,000, and the average wait time for social housing is nearly 18 months. We desperately need more people on the ground to find rough sleepers and prevent avoidable deaths.

“We must work together to prevent the needless deaths of more Victorians,” Deborah Di Natale said.

Key homelessness facts:

105,000 people sought assistance from homelessness services in Victoria in 2024/25 (up 2.9% from the previous year)

19,380 were working Victorians (up 12% in 5 years)
More than 10,000 were sleeping rough (up 25% in 5 years)

One third of people seeking homelessness assistance in Australia are in Victoria, but we have the lowest proportion of social housing in the country (3%)

Media contact: Kathleen Ferguson - 0421 522 080