Coronavirus: Rough sleepers swap streets for warm beds

COVID-19 has delivered to street-sleeping Aboriginal people in Perth a roof over their head many have lacked for years.

Normally homeless Beatrice Christian has a warm bed for the first time in 10 years at Hougoumont Hotel in Fremantle. Picture: Colin Murty

The coronavirus has delivered to street-sleeping Aboriginal people a roof over their head many have lacked for years. And it’s a four- or five-star hotel experience.

 The need to get 1000 rough sleepers off the streets of Perth has led to “community VIPs” checking in to star-rated hotels left with empty rooms.

In Fremantle, Beatrice Christian has moved into the 4.5-star Hougoumont Hotel as part of a hastily organised bid to house 40 people, the $25,000 weekly bill underwritten by donations to a Catholic charity.

“It’s like a heavenly pillow to know that nobody can walk through that door,” says Ms Christian, 51, who has lived on the street for a decade. A stable home evaporated when her husband became violent and she fled with her teenage son. He now has a roof over his head, in prison.

“I don’t come out of my room except for shopping,” says Ms Christian, who says clean sheets and a shower are also “heavenly”. “It’s enabled me to get my medical needs assessed. My mental health is better and I can settle down and make a plan to move forward in my life.”

Finding places for homeless people to live during the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in some swift and previously unthinkable solutions, such as a West Australian government trial that has housed another 20 itinerants in Perth’s five-star Pan Pacific.

The “community VIPs” moved in last week to rooms on one floor, while other floors are occupied by airline crews and returning travellers in enforced 14-day isolation.

The former rough sleepers come and go via a side entrance, and volunteer staff and medical experts provide medication and take temperatures daily for signs of infection.

Pan Pacific manager Rob Weeden says the lack of problems has been remarkable “given that we have some of the most vulnerable people in town”.

He says while none of his guests has tested positive for COVID-19, some patrons have drug and alcohol issues. “We do allow a glass of wine or a can of beer because you can’t expect people to go cold turkey.”

Preventing street sleepers from catching and spreading coronavirus is a major aim, but it also can be cheaper than the high cost of homelessness.

University of Western Australia social housing expert Lisa Wood says in the three months before one chronically ill man became a hotel patron, he had made 20 visits to emergency departments and spent 44 days in hospital, costing $145,000,

The Victorian government announced on Friday that $8.8m has been set aside for homeless people to move into repurposed aged-care sites. More than 200 rough sleepers are expected to go through the inner-Melbourne sites over the next six months.

In South Australia, a “By Name” list of every homeless person is being used to match their need with available housing.

In NSW, the Berejiklian government is spending $34m to provide temporary accommodation and additional capacity for people needing to self-isolate due to COVID-19.