The Living Room has been awarded winner of the ‘Community Award’ at the 2023 Melbourne Awards. 

Now in its 21^st year, the Melbourne Awards are the City of Melbourne’s highest accolade, celebrating the inspirational Melburnians who dedicate their time and energy to making this city a world leader.

The Living Room was recognised for its direct impact on the City of Melbourne, through innovative and direct responses to homelessness and social disadvantage and providing resources and support for those affected by or at risk of homelessness.

Pictured here (L-R): Sally Capp (Lord Mayor), Ben Vasiliou (CEO, Youth Projects), Melanie Raymond OAM (Chair, Youth Projects), Hayley Morgan (Program Manager, The Living Room), Richie Goonan (Community Health Executive Manager, Youth Projects), and Nicholas Reece (Deputy Lord Mayor)

The Living Room has been at the heart of Melbourne’s homelessness eco system (and CBD) for more than 20 years, having evolved into a leading primary health and homelessness service providing judgement free access to a myriad of health, harm minimisation, mental health, crisis and drop-in supports, and basic human services for the most critically vulnerable people.

In the past 12 months, The Living Room has: 

• Supported an average of 100 people every day
• Provided 19,549 contacts through our health and harm minimisation services in the CBD
• Supported 389 people supported into housing and crisis accommodation in partnership with Homelessness Entry Points and Outreach services
• Provided 9,590 food packs and nutritious meals in partnership with Alex Makes Meals
• Delivered 4,238 GP and Nursing interventions, PLUS: 1,432 episodes of direct health & social care on the streets through our famous Night Nurses (After Hours Outreach Service)
• Provided 111 episodes of care through our mental health practitioners
• And, provided access to basic human services including 3,207 showers, 1,034 loads of laundry and 12,940 instances of practical assistance.
• Read more in our latest Impact Report

The Living Room provides unique value to the City of Melbourne’s community through our low-threshold, high-volume capacity to service a huge number of people experiencing disadvantage in the CBD.

Our long-term vision for The Living Room is to set a new, global standard for community-led services, delivering a more dynamic and effective service response for people experiencing disadvantage and homelessness - enabling significant social and economic outcomes for thousands of people that breaks the cycle of disadvantage.

A massive congratulations to Georgie Stone (Young Melbournian of the Year) and Kon Karapanagiotidis OAM (Melbournian of the Year) for their tireless efforts in advocacy and meaningful social change. Meet all of the 2023 Melbourne Award winners here. 

If you missed the awards, you can check out the ‘Melbourne Awards 2023’ special on 9 Now catch-up.

If you’d like to help us continue providing life changing support at The Living Room, please consider donating today – knowing that your support goes direct to the frontline.

For any media or interview enquiries, please contact Nic Horton (Marketing & Communications Manager) via email or phone 0458 911 299.