Dee Why Beach homeless settlement: Authorities urged to demolish beach ’shanties’
A call has gone out to tear down a notorious shanty settlement behind a popular Sydney beach that has been linked to a series of violent incidents. See what it means for locals.
Manly
Don't miss out on the headlines from Manly. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Authorities have been urged to act quickly to demolish a notorious shanty settlement on the northern beaches linked to a series of violent incidents.
Police and Northern Beaches Council receive constant complaints from locals accusing people sleeping rough at makeshift campsites in the sand dunes behind Dee Why Beach of criminal and anti-social behaviour.
A man who lives at the camp is currently before Manly Local Court on serious assault, and knife possession and property damage charges.
Deputy mayor and retired senior Northern Beaches Police officer David Walton, said authorities must act quickly to remove the campsites, but also immediately offer squatters temporary housing.
His call comes as the council passed a motion, lodged by Mayor Sue Heins, at its Tuesday night meeting, for the council to hold talks with local police and homelessness support agencies to resolve the problem.
In her mayoral minute, Mayor Heins wrote that it could include more offers of housing to the camps inhabitants “and/or removal of material from the area”.
Ms Heins wrote in her Minute that it was “timely that Council takes appropriate action” due to the “escalation of behaviours that create a safety risk to our community”.
But she noted that the council was guided by a Homeless Persons Protocol which seeks to balance the rights of all members of the community, including the homeless, to use public spaces.
Two weeks ago a man, 34, was found lying in a tent in the reserve between Dee Why Lagoon and the beach, suffering a large chest wound that may have been caused by an axe.
Police questioned a 44-year-old man, but no charges have been laid.
In October last year two homeless men were arrested after a tent was set ablaze.
A police officer was allegedly kicked in the head and a man was seen chasing another man with a machete.
Cr Walton, who has repeatedly called for the camp to be closed down permanently, said locals were worried the makeshift camp was linked, anecdotally, to break-ins and thefts in homes close to the reserve.
There have been reports of residents being threatened by people who appeared to be drug affected.
“We can’t say definitively that it is linked (to the camp), but the proximity of the camp raises some questions,” Cr Walton said.
“The community want action, so the council has to take action.
“This has been dragging on for about three years now.”
In her mayoral minute, Ms Heins noted that “people living at the Dee Why dunes” had turned down offers of other “housing options”.
The council has previously moved to stop the campers, who had been in the reserve since at least 2020, from moving back in after last October’s incidents.
Northern Beaches Council rangers and waste removal staff, escorted by police, pulled most of the two rubbish-strewn campsites down on October 4.
The rangers used their powers under the Local Government Act to remove the items at these sites that were considered a “public nuisance”.
Some of the items were stored at a secure location while the council’s community services staff spokes with support agencies to help the men find accommodation.
The then council CEO Ray Brownlee said at the time that it disbanded the camp and removed the growing accumulation of rubbish because they were posing a fire and safety risk as well as interfering with dune restoration works.
Fake Aussie suburb is paradise but could you live there?
Aussie soap Home and Away might look like a poster for beachside living but there’s always a catch. Could you live there.
Squash legend wins campaign for new Sydney public courts
One of Australia’s greatest squash players raised a racket during her campaign to secure the future of the only public courts on the northern beaches. Now she looks set for a win.