A3HN Statement – cohealth closure

Statement from the Australian Health, Housing & Homelessness Network:
Support for cohealth to remain open and continue providing its vital healthcare services

The Australian Health, Housing & Homelessness Network (A3HN) is deeply concerned by the recent announcement from cohealth that it will cease offering general practitioner services at its Collingwood, Fitzroy and Kensington clinics at the end of 2025. 

cohealth has served some of Victoria’s most vulnerable communities for decades — people experiencing homelessness, trauma, chronic illness, family violence, refugees and those on low incomes. The planned closure is said to impact approximately 12,500 patients. 

This announcements comes as the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released an analysis on the 22nd of October, ‘People with a history of specialist homelessness services who have died’, which identified:

“in 2022–23, there were around 9 potentially avoidable deaths per day among people with a history of [specialist housing services] support, accounting for around 1 in 8 potentially avoidable deaths nationally” (AIHW 2025). 

This adds to the growing body of evidence (AIHW 2024 & AIHW, 2025) showing that people experiencing homelessness face life expectancies up to 33 years shorter than the general population. For those who already experience deep inequities in access to healthcare, the closure of cohealth’s homelessness services in Victoria risks devastating and avoidable consequences for some of the state’s most vulnerable people.

We call on the Victorian and Australian governments to intervene and provide the necessary support to ensure cohealth’s GP services continue, commit to funding the full scope of work that organisations like cohealth deliver and recognise that health, housing and homelessness are intrinsically linked.

Failure to do so risks leaving thousands without a doctor, and the pressure on our health and social systems will only increase, and the number of potentially avoidable deaths will only grow.