Everyone wants the best of everything these days

WE ALL see homeless people around with barely a thought for what is really going on or how they came to be in that situation.

Beauty entrepreneur Jellaine Dee, millionaire businessman Tim Guest, Sydney model and socialite Christian Wilkins, third-generation pub baron Stu Laundy and daughter of boxing champion Kayla Fenech gave up their comfortable lifestyles for 10 days to experience what it is like to be homeless for the SBS three-part documentary series Filthy Rich and Homeless. Picture: SBS

WATCHING the SBS show, Filthy Rich and Homeless, moved me to tears. We all see homeless people around with barely a thought for what is really going on or how they came to be in that situation.

Some of the facts that came out of that program are astounding.

Forty-two per cent of homeless are under the age of 25. Nationally in 2015 / 16, 47% were families who used homeless services and 13% were couples with children in crisis accommodation. These numbers have to be addressed by the government.

If the government can spend hundreds of millions of dollars on refugees and overseas aid, there has to be something done to help our own homeless people who are struggling every day. People don't need to live in the best suburbs or city centres.

Surely public housing can be affordably built with rents kept low. The houses and units don't need to be five-star accommodation.

Comfortable three-bedroom houses with built-in wardrobes, functional kitchens without the high priced white goods fitted, no granite benchtops.

I remember sitting in church a few years ago and the congregation being asked by the minister to help furnish houses for refugees with top-of-the-range white goods and appliances that a lot of the older generation didn't have themselves.

That is the problem these days. Everyone wants the best of everything instead of making do with what they can afford.

When you thing about it, most everyday older Australians don't live in luxury, we have clean functional housing that serves us well.

My house is 51 years old, well maintained and I still cook in a kitchen I had installed in 1988. I keep my yard and garden neat and tidy and attend to issues as they arise so therefore I keep on top of things as they come up, so no nasty surprises that cost thousands to repair.

Let's hope some government officials also saw the program and decides that these issues need urgent attention and actually do something about it.

For the rest of us, stop and say hello, help with something to eat and even acknowledging that the problem exists is a step in the right direction. After all, charity begins at home.

LYN SPAIN, Toowoomba

Originally published as Everyone wants the best of everything these days