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.
Mortgage repayments are taking an historically high proportion of household incomes. [1] Housing is less affordable than ever, and Australian household debt is high relative to our OECD peers. In Victoria, rental vacancy rates are approaching record lows and rents have increased by 29% since 2022[2]. With supply not keeping up with demand, housing affordability will get worse before it gets better. [3]
Many of our clients cannot make ends meet and face eviction from home ownership straight into homelessness. One third of our clients are victim
survivors of family violence. Given rental shortages, a person unable to afford their mortgage will often struggle to find an affordable rental
without intensive supports.
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 at least 172 times.