HOMELESSNESS could get a lot worse if Treasurer Scott Morrison “tampers” with any of the $1.3 billion of federal funding that keeps public and community housing afloat, according to Council to Homeless Persons CEO Jenny Smith. Ms Smith made the prediction after Department of Human Services data revealed rental affordability in Frankston had hit historic lows. “The National Affordability Agreement on Housing resources are very busy housing more than 80,000 of Victoria’s lowest income households in public and community housing,” she said. “They also provide two-thirds of our homelessness support services which support more over 100,000 Victorians each year. “Our…
Author: Stephen Taylor
OLDER, possibly wiser, but definitely slower police were no match for their fit young Cornish College rivals at a Mordialloc beach race on Tuesday (21 March). Competing in the Community Lifesaving Carnival the year 10 and 11 students showed the Moorabbin constabulary a clean pair of heels to win the inaugural trophy. Teams of five or six males and females competed in 11 events, including swimming, boards, wading, ironman, beach sprints, relays, flags and a two-kilometre run. Water police acted as safety officers. Chelsea police Senior Sergeant Paul Campbell, who organised the carnival on a surf lifesaving format, was pleased…
A FRANKSTON man who allegedly pushed a postie off his bike and used it as his getaway vehicle on Friday afternoon handed himself into police on Monday. The incident occurred after police used road spikes to stop a man in a stolen Ford sedan in Leonard St, Frankston, after his erratic driving in the Frankston CBD led to a lengthy pursuit. An 18-year-old man had earlier been involved in a dispute at a house in Leonard St where he allegedly damaged property and stole the car before doing wheelies at a Beach St roundabout. With the Ford’s tyres deflated, the…
SOUTHERN Metro Region divisional commander Superintendent Glenn Weir last week downplayed a rise in crime in October-December last year. Crime Statistics Agency data released on Thursday painted a bleak picture: aggravated burglaries in Frankston surged 49 per cent in the past year – from 96 to 143, while motor vehicle theft was up 38.5 per cent – from 493 to 682. “We don’t deal with old data,” he said. “These statistics are three months out of date.” Theft from motor vehicles – described by local police as “volume crime” because of its prevalence – was up 10.6 per cent, from 1497…
MORE than 1200 people were counted as homeless across the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula council areas in the 2011 census. That’s six years ago, but, sadly, the number has “increased dramatically since then”, Council to Homeless Persons CEO Jenny Smith said. More than 2000 people sought help from homelessness services on the Mornington Peninsula last year alone. And 1807 people are waiting for public housing in Frankston. The savageness of life for homeless women, especially, was highlighted in Carrum last week when a woman “sleeping rough” on a Nepean Highway bench was bashed by a man at about 4am. The…