Kara Jung: Hutt Street Centre debate — Homelessness is everyone’s problem
THE debate focusing on the Hutt Street Centre must first appreciate that homelessness is everyone’s problem and no community thrives when it pushes its most vulnerable out into the cold, says Kara Jung.
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HOMELESSNESS can and does happen to anyone, says the Hutt St Centre tagline.
The centre has been trying to help those who find themselves with nowhere to live — and all the difficulties that come with that — in Hutt St for more than 60 years.
Three Sisters of The Daughters of Charity took up residence in Hutt St in 1954.
In 1962, a meal centre was opened next door at ‘The Hall’.
In 1986 the day centre was built.
And over the years, this centre has become one of the state’s leading frontline services in the fight against homelessness.
Long before all the cafes and businesses that now line the strip, the Hutt St Centre was there offering a vital service to some of our most vulnerable, in the heart of our city where it’s easily accessible.
Each year, it serves around 50,000 meals and supports about 2000 people.
It helps people to work with Housing SA, to seek legal and medical advice and make appointments and secure spots in employment programs, as well as with clothing and blankets, laundry, showers and a hot, healthy meal.
It has art classes, visiting doctors, and computers and phones so people can correspond with other services, friends and family.
But it has also become a lightning rod of controversy among some neighbours who, fearing violence and vandalism on the strip, want the centre to lose the roof over its head.
SA Police say the outcry has been overblown.
The Adelaide City Council spent about $22,000 posting a security guard on the strip to combat the problem.
The guard reported one incident to police during the 71 days he was posted there.
Some neighbours and the council say there has been a growing number of incidents, fuelled by an explosion in ice addiction.
Recent reports reveal many support services are seeing a rising number of people seeking help as they battle with rising living costs, underemployment, unemployment and a lack of affordable housing.
The number of community or public housing plummeted by more than 600 from 2015/16 to 2016/17.
We shake our heads in distress when we read about the growing number of people sleeping on Adelaide’s bitterly cold winter streets. Or the mum and kids making their car a home. Or the couple struggling to find a rental they can afford and thus being forced to couch surf. We understand that in some cases, like all sections of society, people who end up sleeping rough can also be struggling with drug and alcohol or mental health issues. In theory, we understand that battle.
But when we are faced with it in our own backyard — or on the street as we buy our morning coffee or when we walk to our car at night — the issue is not an easy or straightforward matter.
Residents and business owners, their staff and customers have a right to feel safe.
Our community’s most at-risk deserve a chance to change their path.
The not-in-my-backyard sentiment does not work to create wholesome, inclusive communities. It does not work to solve the problem.
But it does create isolated and homogenous pockets where people can turn a blind eye to the problems of our city because they no longer have to look at it.
Instead of moving the centre, advocates, residents, businesses and the homeless could work together to build something that enriches all those who use Hutt St.
It won’t be easy or without incident. It won’t be perfect. No community is.
But it could create a more engaged, vibrant and diverse neighbourhood. One which says to the courageous people that walk through the Hutt St Centre’s door, that they don’t have to walk alone.
Because, homelessness is everyone’s problem.
And no community thrives when it pushes its most vulnerable out into the cold.
■ Walk a Mile in My Boots is one of Hutt St Centre’s major fundraisers on Friday, August 10. To donate or register visit www.huttstcentre.org.au
- Kara Jung is Digital Editor for Messenger News.