Gold Coast City Council turf homeless out of Carey Park

Council workers have begun removing several homeless campers from one of the Gold Coast’s biggest tent cities.

Council workers have begun removing several homeless campers - and their lodgings - from one of the Gold Coast’s largest tent cities in a popular public park.

On Wednesday, homeless campers at Carey Park in Southport were warned Gold Coast City Council officers would return at 8am on Thursday and seize belongings.

About 9am on Thursday, council workers began removing items from the main camp.

A dozen city officials with rubbish bins started removing unoccupied tents, throwing them in a nearby truck. Some rough sleepers immediately left.

Long term homeless are packing up their belongings and moving from Carey Park at Southport after being given final warnings from the Gold Coast City Council.

The workers had not approached the homeless still by their tents. Many had left earlier to walk into the CBD and charge mobile phones.

“We have been told not to touch anyone else’s property until the owners are present,” a camper said.

Many long-term park homeless were considering moving to another vacant area on the northern edge of Southport or near Labrador parklands.

Asked if they would consider returning, a Carey Park regular said: “We could come back.”

Some campers have been on the streets for years, saying they lost their homes via marriage break-ups. Others are New Zealand labourers without work. Some of the women are escaping domestic violence.

Gold Coast City Council workers remove abandoned tents from Carey Park at Southport.

At least 14 rough sleepers were given eviction notices while a handful left on Wednesday night after the warning.

Many packed up belongings and awaited City officers directions.

The City confirmed it issued “move on directions” and taken compliance actions against 14 people sleeping in the park to ensure it “can be used by everyone in the community”.

“This is in response to multiple and ongoing breaches of the Local Law following an increasing number of complaints from the community,” a City spokesperson said.

“City Officers will work with these individuals to safely remove their items from the park. Any abandoned items will be placed in storage for collection.

“The City continues to work closely with the State Government who are responsible for providing local services to help people experiencing homelessness.”

It comes after some young sleepers said there was no emergency accommodation or motels available.

“They (council) were not polite. There was a lot of force (in the way they spoke to us),” a rough sleeper said.

Nathan, in his 30s, who has been in the park for weeks, said: “This time it’s more an ultimatum, than anything. We’ve done everything they’ve asked. We’ve gone through all the services. Now there are no services.”

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

Housing Minister Sam O’Connor said many Carey Park homeless were engaging with government support teams.

“It will take time to fix the housing crisis we inherited from Labor and while our record pipeline of new social homes are being constructed, we’ve increased temporary emergency accomodation support,” Mr O’Connor said.

“17 of the people residing in Carey Park have recently engaged with our teams and are being helped into a housing pathway. I urge everyone there to engage with us and accept the accommodation available, even if it may not initially be in their preferred location.”

Carey Park camp leader Matangirau “Uncz” Hira, who has just returned from hospital after an illness where he stopped breathing during care, said he was unsure where he would go.

“They are pretty adamant we will be out of here today, or within the hour,” he said.

“Some of us don’t feel the same about moving anywhere until they come up with a solution. Moving us from here is not solving the problem, it’s just shifting it to somewhere else.

“They haven’t given us any other locations where we could go, nothing like that.”

Earlier this month, homeless people evicted by council from the Southport tent city moved – but only a few hundred metres.

Residents said several rough sleepers had moved to a smaller park opposite the Queens St light rail station after facing an earlier deadline to leave Carey Park. This followed council taking a tougher “compliance” rather than welfare approach to the housing crisis.

Matangirau “Uncz” Hira at Carey Park. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

At least 70 of the estimated 400 homeless in the city are in the CBD.

Advocates for the homeless, including Tamika Hicks and Jenna Schroeder, later held a protest about the evictions outside council chambers in Evandale.

Ms Schroeder was invited inside where she met with Southport-based councillor Brooke Patterson, who said council support staff remained employed as part of a new policy that stresses enforcement over offering support.

Ms Schroeder said it was critical that campers were not “hidden” so they could access support.

Supporters of the homeless in Carey Park stage a protest outside the Gold Coast City Council chambers on council’s tough compliance policy.

“They have a meeting in the calendar with (Housing Minister) Sam O’Connor but I wonder why that hasn’t happened already when this is a crisis,” Ms Schroeder said.

Meanwhile, residents recently had photographed the belongings of a homeless woman in a park outside the Minister’s office at Labrador.

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