The Victorian Government helps multicultural communities access safe, reliable housing by investing in programs that strengthen long‑term housing security.
The Department of Government Services (DGS) helps fund the My Tenancy Rights and Responsibilities: Empowering Victorian Renters Project, delivered by Tenants Victoria. This project uses targeted education to help multicultural renters better understand their rental rights and responsibilities. Under the project, a bicultural community engagement team works with renters in urgent need to link them into existing support programs, including the Tenancy Assistance and Advocacy Program managed by Consumer Affairs Victoria. The program developed communication materials and delivered information sessions with tenants from multicultural backgrounds (DGS: $260,000 in 2024–25).
The Rental Stress Support Package, an initiative under the Housing Statement, began delivering services to Victorians from 1 July 2024. The package has increased access to rental support services, including information and advice, advocacy and legal assistance. It also prioritises support for multicultural communities. In 2024–25 it supported 4,094 clients including 20% of clients from multicultural communities (DGS: $4.1 million in 2024–25).
Case study - Funda-rentals
Consumer Affairs Victoria’s (DGS) Funda-rentals campaign raised awareness of changes to Victoria’s rental laws before they were introduced in November 2025.
The campaign focused on short, clear messaging educating renters about their rights when renting, including rental property minimum standards, how to resolve a rental dispute and how to report issues with advertised rental properties. The campaign also advised rental providers about their obligations to meet the standards.
Fifteen per cent of the media spend was allocated to multicultural audiences. This included multicultural press, social media and outdoor placements using in-language translated materials. All translation work was delivered to metro and regional Victorian renters and rental providers. Content was translated into Arabic, Cantonese, Greek, Italian, Mandarin and Vietnamese.
Case study - Big Housing Build
Homes Victoria’s Big Housing Build public understanding campaign aims to increase awareness and understanding of the Big Housing Build and High-rise Redevelopment program.
Formative research highlighted the need to develop in-language materials and feature diverse talent to effectively communicate with people living in high-rise social housing and surrounding neighbourhoods.
The team developed in-language radio and social media ads in 7 languages and cast multicultural talent to reflect the communities we wanted to reach. Languages included Arabic, Indonesian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Turkish and Vietnamese. The campaign ran for 2 weeks and accounted for 15% of the campaign’s media expenditure.
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