We’ve had the talk, now it’s time to walk the walk

The homelessness crisis meeting has been described as a fantastic discussion, but no immediate fixes have been agreed on.

State Housing Minister Roger Jaensch, left, Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds and Hobart City Council general manager Nick Heath at the homelessness crisis forum. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

HOBART City Council’s tri-partisan homelessness crisis meeting has yielded a whiteboard full of ideas — but no solutions that could immediately help get people off the streets.

Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said Thursday’s forum was a fantastic discussion, but no immediate fixes had been agreed on.

Cr Reynolds said the forum sent a strong message to Federal Housing Minister Michael Sukkar that the current crisis was a big issue for the greater Hobart community.

“There was a lot of discussion and questions — we’ve put everything on the whiteboard. We really need to now sort through those ideas and work out who are the best people to take those next steps,” Cr Reynolds said.

When asked if there was anything that could be rolled out immediately, Cr Reynolds said: “I guess today what we agreed to was that as mayors we’re going to form an alliance with the other peak bodies and we’ll be certainly working together. But as far as today — a particular place being opened or a shelter being expanded — nothing particular today, no.

“Within a couple of hours it’s tricky to get solutions to everything. What we’ve done is we’ve identified a whole range of things that we can do.

“We’ve got to work out which organisations have the capacity to do them and whether councils can do some of those things.”

State Housing Minister Roger Jaensch said the Government was focused on moving prefabricated accommodation units into available space next to existing shelters to help expand capacity.

He said that would be implemented within weeks.

“What we want to do is build more capacity alongside people who are doing this already, and who can extend their services for more people if we give them resources and the building to do it in,” Mr Jaensch said.

“We’re working on some new planning provisions that might be able to allow us to do this quickly with a temporary permit for these temporary structures.”

Mr Jaensch said the Government was also talking with the Tourism Industry Council and the Tasmanian Hospitality Association about short-term accommodation.

Cr Holly Ewin, who kickstarted the idea of a crisis forum, said there was a lot of spin from some Government representatives, but southern Tasmanian councils and several peak bodies — Colony 47, Shelter Tas and the Property Council — would meet regularly from next week.

“[It] will form a significant part of the necessary information we need to know the extent of the problem for us to begin addressing with service providers,” Cr Ewin said in a Facebook post.

“Keep the pressure on your elected reps to get some stuff done, otherwise this was just another massive talkfest to put in the bin.”

David Trueman has been homeless for about six weeks. Picture: PATRICK GEE

Truth is out there, but some don’t see

HOMELESS man David Trueman says he doesn’t mind watching on as thousands flock to a Hobart winter festival with their friends and families while he sits alone pondering where he’ll sleep for the night.

Instead it’s the occasional abuse from passers-by that gets him down most.

He is one of an estimated 120 Tasmanians who sleep on the city streets each night, and among the more than 1600 others who identify as homeless.

“You get used to it,” he said.

“Some people stop and talk. Others don’t.

“Some people offer a room. Others howl abuse.”

His surname spells out what he said some people don’t see in him.

“One lady walked past me here and said ‘homeless man, you should be locked up’. It’s upsetting that some people don’t understand the full story.”

Mr Trueman said he sleeps anywhere he can, and he finds warmth sitting close to the flame-spurting torches on Hobart’s waterfront.

Federal Housing Minister Michael Sukkar, who was in Hobart for tri-partisan housing crisis talks on Thursday, said Tasmania should be prioritised in the allocation of a $1 billion Federal infrastructure fund available to projects that can prove they cannot proceed without financial assistance.

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Labor Housing spokeswoman Alison Standen said: “Tasmanians are sick of talkfests and want real outcomes to help those in need.”

Council prepared for heavy lifting on planning, zoning

FEDERAL Housing Minister Michael Sukkar says he had positive discussions with Hobart’s Lord Mayor yesterday.

While in town to attend Hobart City Council’s homelessness forum, Mr Sukkar said local governments played an important role in helping address the current crisis.

“There’s a big role to play for local governments with planning and zoning, making sure we are getting the right density in the right places,” Mr Sukkar said. “Getting the right types of homes in the right places requires effort from them, too. I think the will is there.

“The sense I got from your mayor, who hosted the forum, was she and her council were prepared to do some heavy lifting, too.”

Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said she was encouraged by Mr Sukkar’s enthusiasm for mandating affordable and specialised disability units in private developments.

She said she hoped the council’s current precinct planning project would identify under-utilised sites in inner Hobart that were ripe for more medium density housing, such as the light rail corridor and car park blocks.

“Those are two sites that have the potential to house many tens of thousands of people,” Cr Reynolds said.