Carey Park homeless final call for end to Band-Aid housing crisis solutions

Lane has spent four years on the streets. He says one of the hardest parts is ‘carting your stuff around’, that homeless are treated like ‘second class citizens’, and that the Southport tent city has helped him feel safe. This is his story.

A middle-aged homeless man at Carey Park says it’s time the government abandoned “band aid” measures like week-long hotel stays and found longer term solutions for rough sleepers.

Lane, who is 51, says the biggest challenge for campers before staying in the safety of tents at the Southport CBD tent city was day-to-day survival on the streets.

Community leaders have backed Lane’s call, adding that evicting him and 30 others will only see them move further north to parks at Labrador.

“Hotels are Band-Aids. They will be back on the streets,” Lane said.

“In my eyes, if you are 30 to 50 – and don’t have disability and can’t get money out of the government – you are really not part of society. You are a second-class citizen.”

Lane, one of the homeless in Carey Park at Southport, believes the conditions there are much safer and better than being on the street.

Community advocate Ember Lenarduzzi said: “Housing (Department) has given some of them hotels for about a week. The longest we’ve had is two weeks, because they were in hospital.”

Lane, after “couch surfing”, has spent between three and four years on the streets.

“I had a house for seven years. But circumstances – I finished my relationship,” he said. Council on Wednesday issued notices giving homeless people 24 hours to move or risk having their property seized.

On Thursday afternoon city officials and police again visited the site. They interviewed homeless people present and began “cataloguing” items on site.

Homeless people said officers told them they were going to begin taking their belongings, but later backed down.

“We told them we had seven days (after Wednesday’s notice). They then backflipped,” a rough sleeper said.

Supporters of the homeless said it was part of ongoing pressure to move the rough sleepers. Some of the homeless have begun packing up their tents.

Lane said the camp thought it could have another seven days.

“We have to be vacated by five o’clock Monday. They can’t do anything else. Basically what they are saying is Carey Park is very public. People can see us,” he said.

“All of that comes with being homeless. Some have pulled down their tents.”

The City has confirmed it may take up to seven days before the camp site is moved.

“City officers are visiting the site regularly to achieve compliance with the local law in response to complaints from residents,” a City spokesperson said.

Two homeless camps in Southport facing eviction. Matangirau 'Uncz' Hira in front of the cleaned up homeless camp in Carey Park. Picture Glenn Hampson

“Advisory notices were issued on Wednesday explaining the local law and that the City was in its rights to remove abandoned belongings. This was not a compliance notice and we will continue to work with people on site in coming days.”

Lane expects to move soon. “Most of us weren’t here, we had job interviews or with Housing. A lot of us got little notes on the tents. People were going to Centrelink and shopping,” he said.

Like other homeless, he spotted the camp site and said to himself: “Wow – there’s tents.”

Lane, one of the homeless camping in Carey Park at Southport, fixes his bicycle.

“Everyone is very friendly here. You are welcome to come in. We had people come bring us breakfast and dinners,” Lane said.

“It was a very communal thing. We have a few friends in the other high rises.”

Stable accommodation, like a housing option, is something he would consider.

“I’ve been in flight to fight, to survive for four years. I want to relax. You are like a spring. You are wound up all the time,” he said.

All the campers are starting to “rug up” now. They feel safe, use the word “community”. Set Free Care at Southport giving them tents after Cyclone Alfred was a turning point.

“I’m not sleeping on concrete. One of the hardest things for a homeless person is to cart your stuff around. You don’t want to be carting it too far,” Lane said.

Labrador community leader Jenna Schroeder says the homeless crisis is “heartbreaking”.

The homeless in the tent city at Southport's Carey Park are facing a crackdown from council, after a wave of new compliance notices have been sent out. Picture Glenn Hampson

“I’ve been on the phone to mental health support lines to try and help one woman who is on the streets and suicidal. They’re telling me there’s nowhere for her to go other than a few days – and then what? She’ll be back in her car,” she said.

“The only advice the mental health support line could give me was to call an ambulance when I knew where this woman was. Moving people on and on is surely the definition of insanity.”

Ms Schroeder is declining posts submitted to the Labrador 4215 Facebook page which complain about people sleeping rough.

Residents suggest council buy and convert vacant office buildings or offer caravan parks.

“People are looking to our elected officials at all levels of government for the answers, but no one seems to be offering them,” she said.

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Originally published as Carey Park homeless final call for end to Band-Aid housing crisis solutions