Homelessness sector group urges councillors against proposal

A passionate councillor who will seek Rockhampton council endorsement for a plan to help the homeless has come up against a surprise roadblock.

Rockhampton Regional Council, RRC, City Hall on Bolsover Street. Photo: Chris Ison / The Morning Bulletin

A passionate councillor who will seek Rockhampton council endorsement for a plan to help the homeless has come up against a surprise roadblock.

Central Queensland’s peak homelessness sector service body is urging Rockhampton councillors not to vote for a passionate councillor’s plan to create one space for many locals sleeping rough.

Cr Grant Mather will put forward a Notice of Motion to create a temporary ‘Place of Last Resort’ for the homeless in town to have somewhere safe to stay.

Cr Mathers said homelessness in Rockhampton has gotten worse over the years with those impacted spread throughout multiple areas including at the Riverbank and in Kershaw Gardens.

Rockhampton Councillor Grant Mathers.

But Central Queensland Housing and Homelessness Alliance chair Fabian Webber said he has repeatedly advised against the plans, saying Cr Mathers has “good intentions”.

Mr Webber said their greatest concerns centre around safety, security and dignity.

“Any policy that involves concentrating people into one area is a recipe for long-term pain and will not provide any solution to our homeless population or our community,” he wrote in a letter to each councillor.

Mr Webber said there were concerns for the safety of not just those who are homeless, including families, but also emergency services and homelessness sector staff.

He said people lived where they were for a reason and should not be pushed into one area.

Cr Grant Mather homeless people are living in conditions “that are certainly not up to scratch at all”.

“What I want to do is try and find an area which we can allocate for these people so they have the basic services… some sort of shelter, toilets available to them, running water, showers, and rubbish collection,” he said.

“If you go around to a lot of these temporary camps you have now, there is rubbish everywhere, there’s no bins available to them, and people are using the creeks and the bushes for toilets.

“It’s a health issue for the community but it is also a health and safety issue for those people involved.”

Kershaw Gardens, where some homeless people have made their home.

Mr Webber said they understood homelessness was a challenging and growing issue for local government and have seen a number of recent events where councils across Australia have taken unpopular and unsupported actions.

“While we accept that Cr Mather’s motion is made with good intentions, we believe the outcome of a successful motion would lead to detrimental results for our homeless population and our community as a whole,” he said

“Previous discussions between homelessness services and various members of council have made it clear that any proposal such as this would not be supported and our reasoning provided.”

Cr Mathers said homelessness is growing every year.

“One of the service providers told us that even though people in Brisbane and Moreton Bay have large tent cities... per capita we actually have more homeless people here than what they have in Brisbane,” he said.

Cr Mathers said that though there is an image of homeless people being on drugs or being alcoholics, a lot of the people in Rockhampton who are impacted do have jobs but they can’t afford rent or can’t find a place to live.

“They are waking up in the mornings, they are going to our pools and paying to get access to the pools so they can go in and use the showers,” he said.

“They are having a shower, they’re getting dressed and going to work.”

The new-look Rockhampton Riverbank.

Cr Mathers’ plan has received support from Rockhampton Food Bank manager Mal Holmes and churches.

“I have been managing the Rockhampton Food Bank for the last seven years and have seen how the cost of living has impacted many families over the last few years. We have assisted people living in their cars and in tents scattered across the city,” he said.

According to Cr Mathers centralising an area for the homeless would also allow for community support services to reach them better.

“Instead of having to spend all their time driving all around Rocky they can go to that one location, it’ll make it a lot easier,” he said.

The need to travel around is collaborated by Fire Church Rockhampton Senior Pastor Brydon Sheraton who also wrote a letter in support Cr Mather’s PLR Notice of Motion.

“We spend a lot of our time on Friday nights driving to various locations trying to find any homeless people who may need a freshly cooked meal, blankets and warmth, hygiene and cleaning products, or anything else that may add dignity to their lives,” the letter said.

“If all these people had one localized place to set up their temporary dwelling, we could spend less of our time trying to find those in need and more of our time being productive in caring for, and encouraging, these people in our community.”

Rockhampton Riverbank.

Mr Webber said he understood the proposal had some support from certain sections of the community and understood their reasoning.

“However, the motion does not have the support of local homelessness services who work in this area daily and are working tirelessly to support and assist homeless individuals and families within Rockhampton,” he said.

“Recent moves by council to understand the homelessness situation and deepen relationships with homelessness services has been very welcome and we hope for that to continue as we work together to address this issue.

“We would strongly urge Council not to adopt this motion and instead focus on working with homelessness services and coordination efforts such as CQ Zero to better address homelessness while supporting the dignity of homeless individuals.”

Cr Mathers said that as well as providing services to those in need, a PLR would also allow better management of the homeless situation for both council and emergency services.

“At the moment there is nothing stopping multiple people just turning up in one of our parks and setting up a tent city,” he said.

“Then we’re having to deal with that and trying to working out how to move people on as opposed to if we were to allocate a piece of land that we could control it would give people the safety of being in the community but something that council could control as well.”

Tent city in Musgrave Park, South Brisbane on Thursday December 7, 2023. Picture: John Gass

“If law officers or police turn around and say ‘you can’t be here’ , they just move to somewhere else and you keep shuffling them on. At least a PLR will allow our officers to go down to the people…and go ‘look we’re really sorry but you can’t be here but you can move to this other location.’”

“If we had a centralized area it would be a lot easier for police when they’re doing their patrols, it’s easy for them to go pass a central location and make sure everything is going alright.”

Though those who are homeless wouldn’t be forced to relocate, Cr Mathers said he believes that a PLR would prove popular.

“I’ve spoken to at least 25 of the people I’ve seen around. Told them what I’m trying to do, what I planned to do and all of those people I spoke to said they would be more than happy, particularly if there was power and running water and toilets, they would be more than happy to move to that location.

“Because it is better than what they’ve got now.”

As for where such a PLR would be located, Cr Mathers envisages a block of land that would be close to public transport and services but as distant from neighboring properties as well and stressed that if the idea of a PLR is approved it’ll be up to council officers to investigate an appropriate location.

Though Cr Mathers conceded that social issues could arise he nonetheless believes that it could be controlled.

Though there is no definite answer about how many people would use the PLR should it go ahead Ce Mathers said he envisages an initial intake of roughly 25 odd people.

“It might go up to 30 or 40 but I really don’t know. It depends once this is made available to them how many people take up the option,” he said.

Cr Mathers is hoping that in tomorrow’s meeting he will get the support of council.

“From there all the work starts,” he said.

“Everyone deserves a safe place to live.”