The Code Blue Outreach team helping Adelaide’s rough sleepers during severe weather

Meet some of Adelaide’s rough sleepers – and the outreach workers helping to make their lives more comfortable during teeth-chatteringly cold winters.

It’s a teeth-chatteringly cold August morning as Chris Grgurovic steps out of his tent to greet the Toward Home Alliance outreach workers making their daily rounds through Adelaide’s parklands.

Heavy rain has fallen for most of the night and the patter on Chris’ tent grows louder as another downpour sets in.

But for someone who has been sleeping rough on and off for the best part of two years, he’s in remarkably high spirits.

“The experience of being here is surprisingly freeing at times,” Chris, 45, says.

“If the weather’s not bad in the middle of the night you’ll see the moon cycles and the beautiful stars.”

Chris, who lives on a Disability Support Pension, says he found himself sleeping rough after a string of bad luck including leases not being renewed without explanation.

“I had four years in a row where the landlord just wouldn’t renew my lease,” he said.

Now, rather than the basic comforts of a home, Chris washes himself from a bucket in a nearby public toilet.

“As of yesterday, they’ve put a padlock on the public toilets. I don’t know why they’ve done that but I’ll have to go into the city to access toiletries.”

Chris Grgurobic near his tent in the West Parkland. Picture: Russell Millard

It’s the second day of South Australia’s latest Code Blue – a government led response to offer more support for rough sleepers during severe weather – and outreach workers are checking in on people like Chris to make sure he is as supported as he can be.

During a Code Blue – which this time around has been declared until Sunday – outreach to rough sleepers is stepped up across Adelaide, with additional shelter being offered to the city’s most vulnerable.

Toward Home Alliance senior manager Shaya Nettle estimates the number of people Toward Home has engaged with who are sleeping rough in the CBD would be around 250.

She, Trung Cao, an outreach case manager at Toward Home, and a number of other volunteers make call outs to the parklands up to twice a day to offer the support needed by rough sleepers.

Today in the driving rain is no different, though Ms Nettle says the weather is “moderate” for a Code Blue.

The Code Blue Outreach team in the South Parklands: Shaya Nettle, Georgia Broad, Trung Cao, Sophie and Kim Herbert. Picture: Russell Millard

Despite the wild weather, Chris has chosen to remain at his humble campsite rather than be placed in temporary accommodation despite the challenges.

“Every night I’ve been here has been rough,” he says.

But he would rather hold out for something more secure than a shelter.

“A lot of these places are only a few nights, a night at a time, really short term so then I just have to pack up and come back anyway,” he says.

Ms Nettle says this is a common choice for people who struggle to integrate with others after sleeping rough on their own for an extended period.

“Stigma, trauma, and I think also feeling safe enough,” she says.

A few kilometres east of Chris’ campsite in another parkland, Adam Woods has been sleeping rough for around a month.

He has found himself without a place to call home since moving from Queensland after a break-up.

Adam Woods found himself without a place to call home since moving from Queensland after a break-up. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Adam Woods, 51, sleeping rough in the South Parklands. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Like Chris, Adam, 51, is grateful for what he has and gets by with the help of support from Toward Home and the Hutt St Centre.

“They’ve got it all in place and everything is really good,” he says.

“Code Blue helps the ones that are doing it really rough, that haven’t got stuff like this, moving their camp every day.

“I’m happy here.”

For the outreach workers on the road, the day begins around 7am at the Salvation Army on Pirie St where they identify particular hot spots in the city’s parklands where they know people like Chris and Adam are sleeping rough during Code Blues.

A map of the CBD is broken into five zones before teams of two head out to make contact with people sleeping rough in the parklands.

Rough sleepers are identified by outreach workers doing the rounds and through a government tool called Street Connect, which allows members of the public to refer people they suspect are sleeping rough to outreach workers.

Case Manager Trung Cao near a tent in the West Parkland during Code Blue Outreach early morning checks. Picture: Russell Millard

Thanks to this, Toward Home Alliance is aware of most rough sleepers in the CBD – some they have engaged with and built a rapport, and some are more hesitant to accept help.

Ms Nettle puts this down to a mixture of embarrassment and trauma.

Kelley Burns, a mental health practitioner at Toward Home Alliance, says outreach services are important because often people sleeping rough aren’t in the position to seek the help they need.

“It’s all good and well for referrals to be made but sometimes these rough sleepers are non-contactable or can’t get reminded of appointments or don’t have the ability to attend appointments or don’t even feel comfortable enough to go to appointments” she says.

“If you’re really struggling with your mental health already, and you’re on the streets sleeping rough already and the cold weather comes in your blankets are wet, you’re wet, your depression, your anxiety is going to be exacerbated by that.

“The ability to get up and access food, the ability to go to appointments, people can’t do that when they’re wet and cold.”

As challenging as life is for people like Chris and Adam, they hold out hope for the little things.

“I’m really looking forward to having a hot shower and cooking a nice meal of pasta when I get a home,” Chris says.