About us

Mortgage Stress Victoria (MSV) is a free specialist service funded by the Victorian Government. We help Victorians in mortgage stress to stay in their homes sustainably. Our team consists of lawyers, financial counsellors, and social workers.

Our vision is fair mortgages and secure housing for homeowners in debt.

MSV began as a pilot project, servicing Melbourne’s western suburbs only. Originally auspiced by Westjustice, MSV is now a statewide service offering in-person and remote appointments from our Melbourne CBD office.

Demand for MSV’s services

People in mortgage stress are ineligible for many other free services because of their asset, even if they have minimal or no equity in their home.

Required mortgage repayments as a proportion of household incomes are at record highs (graph 1.5).[1] The median house is no longer affordable to the median income earner[2], and Australian household debt is amongst the highest in the OECD.

In Victoria, rental vacancy rates persist at below 2% and rents have increased by 29% since 2022[3]

Given rental shortages, homeowners unable to afford their mortgage struggle to find an affordable rental without intensive supports. One third of our clients are victim survivors of family violence. Many of our clients are facing eviction from home ownership straight into homelessness.

MSV is Australia’s only free service exclusively dedicated to supporting people in mortgage stress to maintain secure housing.

Impact

MSV’s financial counsellors prevent homelessness by supporting homeowners to negotiate affordable repayment terms on their home loan and other debts.

MSV’s lawyers prevent homelessness by supporting homeowners to exercise their rights.

MSV’s social workers prevent homelessness by:

• providing family violence and mental health safety planning and risk assessments to help households in crisis stay safe and in control;
• providing emotional support, counselling, services linkages and job readiness; and
• supporting clients to transition into a rental if the mortgage is not affordable.

Since 2022, MSV has prevented repossession of our clients’ homes at least 204 times.

 

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