Salvation Army forced to place homeless in tents on Rosebud foreshore

HOMELESS families are being forced to pitch tents and camp on the Rosebud foreshore as the region’s housing crisis escalates.

Homeless people have been forced to camp on Rosebud foreshore.

HOMELESS families are being forced to pitch tents and camp on the Rosebud foreshore as the region’s housing crisis escalates.

The Salvation Army has had to resort to providing tents to accommodate desperate people with nowhere else to go.

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But after Easter, the campsite closes for winter and the homeless will be forced out.

The Salvation Army’s Emma Daniell said the lack of housing was a “huge concern” and locals had few options other than to camp out.

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Single mum Bianka Ormesher spent seven weeks in a tent on the foreshore battling wind and rain with three small children as she waited for affordable housing.

“In the end, I got sick of it so we left,” she said.

The 26-year-old is now spending most of her weekly budget staying at a Mornington motel with her children, aged 2, 5 and 7.

“It’s not great. And it’s expensive. It costs me all the money I have for the week to pay for the motel. But it’s better than the tent,” she said.

Bianka Ormesher spent seven weeks in a tent before it got too much for her. Picture: Jason Sammon Thursday 30 March 2017

Ms Daniell said the waiting lists for public housing, a lack of crisis accommodation and the expense and competition for private rentals left those struggling with few options.

“While camping, we will continue to work with the client to find a more suitable, long-term option for them,” she said.

Ms Daniell said boarding houses were the only other option, and some clients were unwilling or unable to take up that style of accommodation.

“Living in a boarding house often means living with five or six people you don’t know, in a room you can’t lock, with various other restrictions,” she said.

“For some, they feel too unsafe … many clients have mental health or drug or alcohol issues, making a boarding house unsuitable.

A lack of options has forced homeless people into tents in the Rosebud foreshore campground.

“Given there are no other options, there is a huge shortage of public housing and insufficient emergency accommodation leaving a camp site the best and only option for some.”

To date the Salvation Army has arranged camping only at the Rosebud foreshore campgrounds.

The Leader understands that at least six campers using the Rosebud foreshore camping ground this season were referred there by the Salvation Army, which also provided tents and helped pay site fees.

The Mornington Peninsula Shire campsite normally houses up to 1200 holiday-makers.

Ms Daniell said housing workers were also bracing for the closure of Carrington Caravan Park in Rosebud, which could leave up to a dozen elderly people without a home.