Homeless launch a cry for help as they cling to hope

An explosion in homeless people sleeping rough on Tasmania’s streets has prompted a call for urgent shelter options.

People line up to receive food from Loui’s Van in the Elizabeth Street mall. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

AN explosion in homeless people sleeping rough on Tasmania’s streets has prompted a call for urgent shelter options – such as tiny homes and converted shipping containers.

Workers in emergency relief have reported a large rise in homelessness, forcing people to live in tents hidden in bush, shop doorways and covered carparks.

They say up to 30 tents are tucked away in Queens Domain at any given time, while families are living in vehicles scattered across greater Hobart.

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Outspoken Liberal Speaker Sue Hickey, who has been flooded with pleas for help from homeless families, said urgent action was needed.

“There has been a real explosion in the problem – and we need a sense of urgency to solve it,” she said.

Ms Hickey said there needed to be an emergency response to tackle the problem, which could include everything from converted shipping containers to spare granny flats.

“My view is that we cannot build enough houses fast enough. We must face this fact now and we cannot let people suffer through this winter,” she said.

Ms Hickey said it needed a full-scale emergency response.

“Why aren’t we putting up shipping containers for these people, or tiny homes? We need immediate answers.”

Speaker Sue Hickey says a full-scale emergency response is needed to tackle the city’s homeless crisis. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Ms Hickey called for the establishment of a think-tank, made up of independent agencies outside of government, to find some fast responses.

The State Government has committed to an Affordable Housing Action Plan 2019-2023, which will deliver an extra 1500 new homes for those facing homelessness and housing stress.

But Ms Hickey said those homes were still down the track, and roofs were needed now. She urged the entire community to ask themselves how they could help.

“The Government can’t fix everything because it just doesn’t have enough money – but everyone can do their bit.”

She urged those in the community “living in a middle class bubble” to consider buying extra groceries for the homeless every time they shopped, or purposefully shopping for warm coats and shoes for those living on the streets.

She said people could consider whether they would be happy to billet some people, or to let out their granny flat or shack.

If you think you can help in the campaign against Hobart’s homelessness crisis there are a number of services available to contact including:

BETHLEHEM HOUSE TASMANIA: 6234 4594

COLONY 47 HOUSING CONNECT: 1800 800 588

HOBART CITY MISSION: 6215 4200

HOBART WOMEN’S SHELTER: 6273 8455

LOUI’S VAN – ST VINCENT DE PAUL: 6234 4244

LAUNCH YOUTH CENTRE: 6224 3090

SALVATION ARMY: 6270 0322

SHELTER TASMANIA: 6224 5488

Ms Hickey said her Glenorchy office was being inundated with requests for help, including heartbreaking stories of families living in cars and tents.

Last year Ms Hickey helped two families relocate from tents at the Hobart Showground, which became a temporary site for homeless people.

As well as finding and furnishing those homes, she has helped provide bedding to charities for the homeless.

Tex, who sleeps on the streets of Hobart, pictured in St David’s Park. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Hobart Women’s Shelter CEO Janet Saunders said urgent solutions were needed as the need was increasing.

Mrs Saunders said they had fielded an average 223 calls for shelter every month this financial year.

“We are always full so the majority of those are being turned away,” she said.

She said one of the reasons crisis accommodation was full was because the lack of affordable housing meant they could not move women on from the shelter.

“We are a crisis shelter but we are becoming medium-term accommodation which is not what we are.” Mrs Saunders said there were good initiatives in the State Budget for affordable housing but some measures were needed now.

“We need some transitional properties – a stepping stone to affordable housing.”

The 30 beds at Hobart men’s shelter Bethlehem House are also full, and a further 26 men are on the waiting list, said CEO Stephanie Kirkman Meikle.

“Demand is definitely increasing – more people are trying to get in every day,” she said.

Mrs Kirkman Meikle said more transitional housing, between crisis and social housing, was needed but it also needed support workers.

She said strategies such as converted shipping containers could pose other problems if there was not enough support staff for the clients.

“Using shipping containers is creative thinking and a good idea, but what we need is additional funding for support services – outreach workers are needed to help homeless people connect with the community.”

A tent where someone is living just outside Hobart’s CBD. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

TasCOSS CEO Kym Goodes said the rental crisis was hurting many Tasmanians.

“There is no doubt that the need for short-term solutions is critical, but we must also ensure that we do not set up crisis options of substandard accommodation when there are no quick exit points into stable accommodation,” she said.

“Instead we must see investment focus on quality, stable options, but in doing so, think outside the square of the current approaches to find new ways to meet demand as winter approaches.”

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Sleeping rough in the coldest capital

SHE sleeps on concrete, under an awning at the back of a shop.

The 49-year-old woman has a sleeping bag and a huddle of blankets — her layers of defence against winter in the nation’s coldest capital city.

She has been living rough on Hobart’s streets for three months, gathering extra covers as the already chilly overnight temperature dips.

“It’s not too bad yet. I have a sleeping bag on the concrete and then put five blankets on top.”

While she is alone, she has found others whose homeless existence is just as precarious.

They cannot offer each other much, but they have given her advice.

“Someone showed me a veranda to sleep under, and there’s a tap nearby with water, so that’s a bonus.”

She came to Hobart from interstate, but was shocked to be locked out of the expensive rental market.

“If you’re on your own and living on Newstart, there is no way you can afford anything … and there’s not enough public housing.”

A 32-year-old man has walked in to Elizabeth Mall for some hot soup and a sandwich from Loui’s Van, run by St Vincent de Paul volunteers.

He is grateful for the feed, but worried about his tent, which is tucked in the bush on the edge of the city.

“I’m living in a tent hidden in the bush, and that could be taken any time and I’ll be left with nothing and have to restart everything.”

He says the nights are getting cold, and it is getting hard to sleep.

“Most nights I walk around this whole city just to keep warm.”

He said there needed to be some sort of refuge that offered protection from the elements. “Just somewhere to be warm,” he says.

In St David’s Park, a man in a swag says he has been homeless since he was eight years old, and is coming up to 40 years living on the streets.

He can no longer feel the cold, and has created a cocoon against everything.

“I’m like a snail, carrying my house on my back,” he says.

“I don’t feel the cold, I’m used to it.”

If he makes it to his 48th birthday next month, he will have reached the average life expectancy for men in Australia facing chronic homelessness.

St Vincent de Paul southern regional president Pat Flanagan, who has volunteered at Loui’s Van for 15 years, says the problem is getting worse.

“We are seeing more homeless people — such as people sleeping in shop doorways — that we didn’t see a few years ago,” he says.

“Volunteers tell me up to 30 people are camped on the Domain on some nights.”

Mr Flanagan fears for the people as they leave the emergency food service.

“The thought of sleeping out all night scares me witless. The thought of being so cold and so defenceless.”