By the time he met Dorothy Maafu, Jake Dell’Aquila had been sleeping in a tent on a Melbourne beach for months.
Every evening, he would unpack his things and settle in with his German shepherd dog on the Rosebud foreshore.
Every morning, he would pack them up again.
He had been unhoused for more than a year.
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“I’d tried everything,” he told Mornings with Raf Epstein on 774 ABC Melbourne this week.
“I’d tried all the resources. I’d tried the Salvation Army. I’d tried everything and nothing had worked.
“I was so desperate for help and there [was] no help through … any of these programs because I’ve got a dog, [and] there’s the housing crisis.”
It was on those cold mornings that Ms Maafu, a nearby resident, started to see him as she walked her own dog.
The pair started talking. After a while, the polite chat turned into an invitation to come visit Dorothy’s home for some meals and a shower.
“I wanted to understand what it was that drove him to the streets,” she said.
Dorothy Maafu says she wanted to help bring back some stability and dignity into Jake’s life. (ABC News: Jonathon Kendall)
“From my own experience, homelessness isn’t always about someone needing a roof over their head for one night.
“It’s about giving people stability, dignity, and a chance to just get their lives back on track.“
‘Just one person can make a difference’
For Mr Dell’Aquila, the path to that Rosebud beach involved cutting off his family and friends, escaping dysfunction and abuse.
“I seemed to be doing circles and things had not been working out the best for me,” he said.
“At times it was very hard. But I never gave up.”
Sometime after those first few shared meals and moments of connection, Ms Maafu took a further step.
She purchased a second-hand caravan, and booked Mr Dell’Aquila into caravan parks for the next six months.
Dorothy Maafu says she would do it all again if it meant stopping someone from sleeping rough. (ABC News: Jonathan Kendall)
“I haven’t been able to solve everything, but knowing he has shelter rather than a broken tent means a lot to me,” she said.
“It was a tough road for both of us in just getting him stable.
“But I would do it all over again for another Mr Dell’Aquila on the street because it just breaks my heart to see these people, the situations they get into.
“My friends and family couldn’t believe what I did. But if I don’t do it, who else is going to do it?
“Just one person can make a difference in someone’s life.”
Jake Dell’Aquila says he does not know if he would be a home owner living a stable life without Dorothy’s support. (ABC News: Patrick Stone)
The stability meant Mr Dell’Aquila has been able to find work, and to find a spot in a safe rental property.
Ms Maafu, he said, would remain a lifelong friend.
“Everyone just needs a little bit of a helping hand,” he said.
“I wasn’t being approached by anyone the way Dorothy approached me, and it was so moving and so powerful and so life-changing what she’s done.
“I may not be in the situation I’m in now with my own house and stability and paying bills if it wasn’t for that little kickstart that Dorothy helped me with.”
Homelessness ‘rapidly’ increasing across Australia
The Mornington Peninsula Shire, where Ms Maafu and Mr Dell’Aquila were located at the time, had the highest number of people sleeping rough out of any Victorian local government area as of mid-2025.
In June last year, there were 110 people in the area recorded as homeless, with the majority of them sleeping rough “in tents, cars, and on foreshore reserves”.
Almost 1,000 people in the area sought homelessness services in the 2024-25 financial year.
There were 2,624 applicants waiting for public housing in March 2025.
A report by the Mornington Peninsula Shire at that time blamed a lack of appropriate affordable housing.
“Homelessness is rapidly increasing, and is likely to worsen without action,”
the report said.
According to Homelessness Australia, there were 122,494 people experiencing homelessness nationwide on Census night in 2021.
Just 6.2 per cent of them would be sleeping rough, with the rest experiencing “hidden” homelessness: staying in crisis accommodation, insecure housing, or couch surfing.
Almost 289,000 people were being assisted by specialist homelessness services in 2024-2025, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
A further 370,000 requests for assistance either went unanswered or were turned away in the same time period, with services stretched to breaking point.
Source: www.abc.net.au
