Volunteers needed for City of Sydney Council homeless street count

Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich is rolling up his sleeves to help tackle the issues of Sydney’s rough sleepers.

Alex Greenwich NSW independent MP will be participating in the City of Sydney street count on February 19. Picture: Monique Harmer.

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Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich is rolling up his sleeves to help tackle the issues of Sydney’s rough sleepers.

The state MP is joining the next City of Sydney Council homeless Street Count on February 19.

The count, which takes place in the summer and winter of each year, calculates the number of people sleeping rough on Sydney streets.

Independent MP Alex Greenwich went homeless for ten days.

Last summer recorded 329 people sleeping rough, and 2017 recorded 433.

“It’s an opportunity for me to go out onto Sydney streets at night with people who are homeless and see first-hand the issues that they are facing,” Mr Greenwich said.

“It’s been encouraging that there has been a decrease in people sleeping rough.

“People are sleeping in parks, public spaces, in car park areas and in building courtyards.

“There will be homeless people who will be sleeping in unstable accommodations, cars, couch surfing, boarding house,” he said.

Independent MP Alex Greenwich is calling on the community to volunteer for the homeless count.

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The homeless street count will take place on the morning of Tuesday 19 February from 1am to 3am.

It covers the City of Sydney local area and volunteers are allocated a specific count area.

Mr Greenwich said the City of Sydney-led event was short on volunteers and he is calling on the community to lend a hand.

“I highly recommend people do it, you do learn a lot and you get to see homelessness first hand.”

To register go to cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au