Support for an additional Eastern Community Legal Centre (ECLC) office in the Yarra Ranges to meet the area?s increasing needs continues to grow. Two years ago, after the Black Saturday bushfires, the need for a local community legal centre was clearly shown, highlighting a number of issues around access.

Currently, the Outer East team in Boronia provides monthly outreach services to Healesville, Yarra Junction, Yarra Glen and Lilydale. These services are provided through strong partnerships that have been developed with EACH and the Yarra Valley Community Health Service. Although these outreach services are well attended, they fall well short of the needs of the community.

The number of Yarra Ranges clients accessing ECLC?s outer east team has increased dramatically over the past two years from 220 clients in 2008 to 553 clients seen in 2010 – a 130% expansion. Statistics suggest that 55% of these clients are accessing the legal service for assistance with family law and family violence issues, a key concern in the area.

Of even more concern is the number of young people between the ages of 12 and 25 accessing the Boronia office and outreach services, peaking at 56 young people in 2010 with more than 50% of these young people seeking assistance in relation to family or domestic violence issues.

Recently there has been considerable media attention around the proposal of the Yarra Ranges Council to introduce a by-law prohibiting sleeping in cars. With the high level of family violence and the need for families to seek temporary refuge in cars, combined with limited low cost housing options in the area, it is a concern to ECLC that some people with very special needs may be caught in this proposed by-law and disadvantaged even further when in actual fact what they need is more support.

Combined with the lack of affordable housing and the alarming statistics in relation to family violence, it is not surprising that the community is actively supporting the push for an additional ECLC office in the Yarra Ranges.
With a more accessible legal service in the Yarra Ranges, some of these needs could be met by providing more immediate assistance for clients wanting to use the court system to access intervention orders, along with explanations and support around how to feel safe if wanting to remain in their own home.

Lobbying will continue speaking to the new members of parliament for the Yarra Ranges along with key service providers and the funding body for the purpose of establishing an additional ECLC office in the Yarra Ranges.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 26th, 2011 at 11:28 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.