Homelessness is a big problem and it's not going away any time soon.
In another life I drove a taxi in Newcastle from midnight to dawn a couple of times a week. My patch was the shopping centre near the Maitland Hospital where a young man bedded down each night.
Sometimes I would see him searching the gutters for cigarette butts. A local charity gave him a couple of blankets so he could sleep in a bus shelter.
Winters in Newcastle are not cold but they are wet. One night I watched him try to sleep as torrential rain drenched him. When it became too much for me, I rang the police.
“Mate!” the local policeman exclaimed. “What exactly do you want us to do?”
“How about giving him a warm cell for the night?” I replied rather naively.
That’s when I learnt that our homeless man had been taken into custody half a dozen times. An exasperated policeman explained that he was mentally ill and there was nothing more they could do.
It is easy to believe that homelessness is exacerbated by mental illness.
Five years ago, a charity introduced a “shower bus” into Frankston. Half a dozen donors contributed a total of $200,000 so the homeless could wash their clothes and take a shower in the central business district once a week. I tracked down the driver and interviewed him for our local radio station.
“I didn’t become mentally ill until I was made homeless,” he said.
John’s story was heartbreaking. He drank too much and gambled irresponsibly. Eventually his wife asked him to leave. So, equipped with one suitcase, he drove to the beach and slept in his car. WIthin a few days he suffered from depression and anxiety.
“I owe it all to a pastor who cared for me and nursed me back to health,” he concluded.
Six people used the bus that day. Over time, the program cost $6000 per client.
Despite our best efforts, the problem is growing. According to the DHHS, 35 people are homeless in the Mitchell Shire. On any given night there are 26,000 Victorians without a roof over their head. Many of them are couch surfing, some of them are sleeping in their cars and too many are living rough. Women over the age of 55 are the most vulnerable.
We need to talk about it. Australia is more than just an economy. We are a community and it's time we re-evaluated what's important to us.