‘Where’s the humanity?’: Charity forced to warehouse portable beds, showers in freezing Tasmania

People experiencing homelessness in one of the coldest parts of the country have been left with even fewer options.

It is estimated at least 120,000 people sleep rough each night in Australia. Picture: Glenn Campbell / NewsWire

A grim bureaucratic tussle is jeopardising the safety of rough sleepers in Tasmania as a mobile sleeping pod and shower charity runs into roadblocks from the Launceston City Council.

The issue stems from the paperwork required for charity Strike It Out to use its sleeping pod and mobile shower trailers in the city.

The charity feeds large numbers of people doing it tough in the southern city, and have been planning, building and waiting to use the trailers for months.

The sleeping pod trailer has now been mothballed. Picture: Supplied

Charity founder, Kirsten Ritchie, put the pod trailer out near a gathering spot for people sleeping rough, despite not having the correct permit, the ABC reports.

Ms Ritchie said when the City of Launceston did not raise any issues with her, she put the shower trailer out two weeks ago.

The sleeping pod trailer has solar panels and lockers, and medical and duress alarms.

The charity says providing a bed helped this unidentified man: ‘Giving a warm and safe space to sleep is just the beginning of bringing out the best for our less fortunate members of our community’, Strike It Out posted online. Picture: Supplied

In the depths of winter, Launceston is recording overnight minimum temperatures of -3° this week.

The charity has now removed the trailers back to its warehouse because of the permitting issue, but criticised the council on social media.

“Where is the humanity for our community members?” the charity posted.

“Is it such a crime to help the people to give them warmth and some dignity?”

The mobile shower unit. Picture: Supplied

“The mobile shower trailer is fully registered, compliant and (has) not hurt anyone.”

“I’m walking past empty trailers sitting in our yard every single day, and you’ve got people freezing cold down there,” charity founder, Ms Ritchie said.

But the council told the charity to get rid of the trailers because of “multiple complaints from community members about escalating anti-social behaviour, drug use, and infrastructure damage”.

The charity set up the trailers nearby an area where people experiencing homelessness gathered. Picture: NewsWire / Tertius Pickard

“Strike It Out has consistently blamed the City of Launceston for delays to the rollout of its shower and sleeping pod trailer project, despite the council clearly articulating the simple steps required to progress these initiatives,” acting Mayor Hugh McKenzie told the ABC.

Strike It Out needed to give more detail in its risk assessment, seek legal advice around the documentation it was requesting from participants, get memorandums of understanding from partner organisations and consider advocating to the state government for land, the acting Mayor said.

“In the meantime we are not confident that the safety and wellbeing of potential sleep pod users is sufficiently addressed by Strike It Out due to the lack of updated documentation and it is on this basis we have asked for the trailers to be removed,” he said.

Originally published as ‘Where’s the humanity?’: Charity forced to warehouse portable beds, showers in freezing Tasmania