Geelong council asset sale leaves vital charity The Outpost in need of new home, facing closure

Geelong charity Outpost — providing meals and clothing to those in need — desperately needs a new base as the sale of its city home looms.

A vital Geelong charity is making a desperate call for help to find a new headquarters, as the city moves to sell off the building it has operated from for the past 22 years.

The Outpost Inc, launched in 1990 and operating from the Busport Car Park on Brougham St since 2000, is the only non-referral after hours service operating nightly in Geelong providing warm meals, access to clothing and personal hygiene items and even food for pets to people in need.

But the key service is now facing closure, as it struggles to find a new venue to operate from, as the City of Greater Geelong moves to sell off the Busport property to “help balance upcoming budgets” and reduce borrowings for key projects such is its new Wurriki Nyal civic precinct.

COGG assets to be sold off

While Outpost Relocation Committee co-chair Amy Flint said the organisation was extremely thankful to the council for allowing it to use the Busport facility for almost 20 years for a peppercorn lease, she warned users of the service would go cold and hungry if it could not find a new home.

“We have been working with council to find an alternate venue, but there doesn’t seem to be any currently available within the CBD location,” Ms Flint said. “It needs to be a centralised hub which people can access from any direction in the Geelong region.”

“While we have talked to many people and organisations, we are hoping there are others in the community that might be able to help us find a suitable location in the CBD. We would love to hear from anyone in the community who has ideas or thinks they can help.

“Ultimately, should we not find an alternate venue, our worst-case scenario would be to cease operating which is not ideal, especially for those looking for a hot meal in the evening.

“If we don’t operate there are other services which provide meals three nights a week. But there’s still four nights in every week that people would literally go into the evening hungry, without dinner.”

City of Greater Geelong will move to sell off the Busport property in a bid to balance upcoming budgets. Picture: Alan Barber

Ms Flint said the Outpost had reached out to numerous local charities for assistance, most of which were already operating at capacity, and was unable to find a suitable space. Bay Leaf Kitchen had also offered the use of a mobile food trailer, but Ms Flint said the city could not find a suitable space to semi-permanently park the trailer.

“We do have solutions, but they each come with their limitations and expiration date, she said. “We need to ensure we have consistency and reliability for those we service.”

Ms Flint said about 15 to 50 people used the Outpost service on a typical night, but warned numbers had surged in recent weeks and months.

“Last Sunday was the busiest I’ve seen in my time there,” she said. “With housing unaffordability and unavailability across the region combined with people unable to pay for general living, everything is compounding into our coldest months.

“A portion of our clients have a car and sleep in it each night, now even the cost of fuel means that this is unaffordable.”

Community members with suggestions or access to suitable locations are invited to contact Ms Flint at [e-mail]

Originally published as Geelong council asset sale leaves vital charity The Outpost in need of new home, facing closure