OPINION: Too many sleeping on the streets

IT HAS been a fairly cold winter this year and lately I have heard people talking about how hard it is to get out of bed on chilly mornings.

IT HAS been a fairly cold winter for south-east Queensland this year and lately I have heard people talking about how hard it is to get out of bed on chilly mornings.

They should spare a thought for the men, women and children who do not know where they are going to sleep each night.

It is a frightening thought but sadly one that hundreds of people are facing.

This week is national Homeless Prevention Week and the statistics paint a bleak picture.

As reported in today's QT, on any given night up to 20,000 Queenslanders are sleeping rough. In Ipswich alone there are more than 700 families on the social housing waiting list.

Homeless Prevention Week aims to highlight that homelessness can be caused by a range of factors including domestic violence, mental health and other health and financial issues.

The issue of housing affordability is putting pressure on families, pricing those who could once just scrape by out of having a place to call home.

Homelessness is a real problem across the region, which makes it vital that the community gets behind charity organisations such as Rosies - Friends on the Street, which operates a street van to help Ipswich battlers.

Outreach programs such as Rosies might be the only comfort to people without a roof over their heads this winter.

Originally published as OPINION: Too many sleeping on the streets