Evicted Coffs Harbour charity still homeless one month after eviction

Harbourside Housing and Homeless Hub still on the lookout for new premises as leader questions Nimby attitudes.

Manager of Harbourside Housing and Homeless Hub in Coffs Harbour, Debby Bennett on the day the organisation was evicted from its CBD premises. Photo: Tim Jarrett

One month after volunteers were forced to clear out from their CBD offices, a housing charity is still without a place to call home.

In May, to the shock and dismay of its dedicated staff, Harbourside Housing and Homeless Hub was evicted for breaching the terms of their office lease within City Boulevard Arcade in Coffs Harbour.

Co-ordinator Dean Evers recognised the charity had grown beyond simply helping people find accommodation and was giving out meals, bedding and offering support from their CBD location.

“It morphed into what they needed it to be – they would ask and we provided because it was something we could do,” he said.

But Mr Evers is at pains to point out the tricky situation charities such as Hope 4 the Homeless finds itself in, unable to easily fit within a certain zone or lease category.

Dean Evers is struggling to find a new premises for Harbourside Housing and Homeless Hub.

“We don’t fit into a criteria, we are not retail, industrial, office or hospitality,” he said. “So trying to find a venue that we fit into is the hardest part.”

Further complicating the situation is the stigma surrounding homelessness and Mr Evers questions whether there is an element of ‘Nimbyism’ contributing to the issue.

Nimby, which stands for Not In My Back Yard, refers to a person who objects to the something perceived as unpleasant or hazardous being placed in the area they live or work, but have no opposition to it being put elsewhere.

“Everybody sees homelessness as a huge issue for our community and while everybody says yes, we need to fix it, if we say we will put the hub here some say ‘don’t fix it next to me’,” he said.

Because people think of our clientele as the stereotype man with a long beard pushing a trolley, but that is not the case, because we have people holding down 30 hour a week jobs and living in their car.

As Mr Evers works to find a new space for the hub, the charity has continued to help the homeless in a “virtual” capacity, assisting them find accommodation as people come forward with properties to rent.

A proposed boarding house at Gundagai Place was rejected last year.

The charity has also consolidated its retail outlets and has opened Hopes and Treasures at 51 Grafton St.

Despite the region in the grips of a housing crisis Councillors, with the backing of the community, have twice rejected a proposal for a 11-room boarding house in Gundagai Place close to Coffs Harbour CBD.

Ahead of debate on whether to reject the proposal a second time a resident posed the question “how would you feel if the development of this boarding house was next to your house, in such a tiny street?”

Despite assurances from the proponent George Karam that the boarding house, which could have housed 19 people, was “not the place where people are going to have a party” councillors deemed the development “too much” for the quiet street.