COVID-19 fallout leaves some northern beaches people living in tents
It’s one of the most affluent areas in Australia, but the economic fallout of COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate. Even the well-educated and highly-skilled are sleeping rough on Sydney’s northern beaches, according to a homeless service.
Manly
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People made homeless by COVID-19 are being forced to live in tents or in their vehicles, according to a northern beaches outreach worker.
It comes as a councillor called for Northern Beaches Council to lead the way in the crisis, after a number of new tents appeared in bushland, near beaches and in parks across the peninsula, in the last few weeks and months.
Daniel Peterson, who works with the homeless, told the Manly Daily, that he was aware of a number of people that were sleeping in tents including a well-educated, highly skilled engineer who lost his job due to COVID-19. More are sleeping in their cars.
He said a Government initiative to tackle rough sleepers during the early stages of the pandemic saw an unprecedented number of homeless on the peninsula given long term accommodation in a very short period of time – 10 out of the 33 on their list.
One of those had been sleeping in a tent on the peninsula for seven years.
However, 23 on the original list are still waiting, while new cases are popping up including the engineer, in his 40s, who is still in shock after finding himself without a home.
Mr Peterson said the man “had never imagined he would be homeless” and felt a “crushing shame” at his predicament which had prevented him from seeking help.
“We have a handful of people actually impacted by COVID-19, whose homelessessness can be traced back to that,” he said.
“But those are just the ones we know of. There are others and those numbers don’t include those who are couch surfing, but are still homeless.”
Mr Peterson who works for Community Northern Beaches said he and other members of the team who had worked all the way through the pandemic, were close to burnout because of the workload.
He said Community Northern Beaches, council staff and Bridge Housing, which was responsible for social housing on the peninsula, have been working well together trying to tackle the issue.
However, he said ultimately there was not enough social housing on the beaches.
He said more funding was needed from different levels of government to provide adequate community housing, especially as people working in the sector are predicting the number of homeless to increase in the months ahead.
He urged members of the community to help by advocating for more social housing.
It comes as Mayor Michael Regan today called on the State Government to provide more social housing after the council recently identified unmet demand for 8,100 social and affordable dwellings and a projected demand for 2,000 more by 2036.
“While we work alongside NSW Police and support organisations on homelessness issues, including Community Northern Beaches who we part fund, the state government has the responsibility for the provision of homelessness services and housing,” Mayor Regan said.
Meanwhile, Cr Pat Daley, called for the the council to lead the way in a response to the increasing numbers of people now living in tents and vans on the northern beaches.
“This is happening in beach parking areas and parks,” he said.
“I am calling for an urgent and co-ordinated response to this issue … An urgent meeting needs to be called involving all key stakeholders to put in place a strategy to assist and help these people not crackdown on them.
“Northern Beaches Council can establish a model which can be used by other councils around Australia. Local Government has a major role to play in this crisis.”
Mayor Michael Regan encouraged Cr Daley to join his call to the State Government for “improved social and affordable housing for those in need on the northern beaches”.
He said the first ever Northern Beaches Homeless Street Sleeping Count was conducted in February, identifying more than 70 people sleeping rough.
“While our local homeless count revealed 71 rough sleepers, we know of hundreds more in short-term or crisis accommodation or couch surfing with friends or relatives, simply unable to afford somewhere to call home,” Mayor Regan said.
“Waits for social housing can be longer than 10 years. Tell that to a family with a two-year- old who is living out of their car.
“With so many job losses during COVID-19, and changes to the job support packages coming, concern is growing about how many more people living day to day might find themselves without a roof over their head.
“We really need to consider better social and affordable housing options to ensure we can support the growing numbers of people in need.”
Mayor Regan said the NSW Government has provided dozens of people on the northern beaches with temporary accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and local services are going above and beyond to provide pathways for people into permanent housing through the Together Home project.
“This initiative demonstrates that by taking a Housing First approach and adequately funding the necessary support services and accommodation options, we can change lives and help end to homelessness.”
Manly Liberal MP James Griffin said he welcomed the opportunity to collaborate further with the Northern Beaches Council.
“An issue like homelessness has no place politics or shifting the blame,” he said. “It requires solutions.
‘Importantly, our Premier has made halfing homelessness by 2025 a priority of the State Government.
“The NSW Government is working hard to prevent and respond to homelessness during this very challenging time.”
Mr Griffin said not only is the NSW Government building more social housing than any other State or Territory, but it is also investing in innovative models and initiatives that deliver tailored housing solutions for individuals.
“We have invested more $70 million in new and expanded homelessness and housing programs since March to help support some of the most vulnerable people in our community,” Mr Griffin said.
“We will continue to support our service providers, now and through Covid.”
The Homeless Street Sleeping Count was undertaken on a single night in February from 10pm to 2am, and involved six teams of experienced staff from the council, the Department of Communities and Justice, together with local housing and homeless specialists Bridge Housing, Mission Australia and Community Northern Beaches.
The teams used a ‘hotspot’ approach, going to well-known locations where people sleep rough, as well as car parks and roadside locations at beaches to include people sleeping in vehicles.
The count found a total of 71 people sleeping in open spaces, parks, public roofed spaces, makeshift dwellings or a form of transport with the largest subset people sleeping in vehicles.