Homelessness

Social indicator alert:

Women and children in New South Wales are being offered a car park to sleep in overnight as part of a pilot program aimed at keeping those experiencing homelessness and domestic violence safe.

The program is being run by an organisation in Newcastle, which has not disclosed its name, for fear of giving away the location. But Nova, the housing assistance service for women and children fleeing domestic violence, has been referring people to the pilot, which began in April and will run until June.

It comes as the NSW government announced on Friday it would develop an urgent emergency package within days to address the domestic violence crisis in the state.

The “Women in Cars” project, offers those staying in the car park food and drink, showers, toilets, laundry, kitchen facilities and access to television. Dogs are allowed and security and support is also on site.

This is a disturbing but largely invisible national crisis, with Guardian Australia’s investigation revealing an average age of death of a mere 44 years after examining 10 years’ worth of coronial death notifications where homelessness was documented. These deaths are the tip of an iceberg as they only include those notified to a coroner and where homelessness or itinerant living was mentioned. From our tracking of deaths among people who have experienced homelessness in Perth, we know the true death toll is much higher. Since 2017 our research team based at the University of Notre Dame has recorded and verified more than 600 deaths in Perth alone, with an average age of 49 years.

Since the 1980s, Finnish governments had been trying to reduce homelessness. Short-term shelters were built. However, long-term homeless people were still left out. There were too few emergency shelters and many affected people did not manage to get out of homelessness: They couldn’t find jobs – without a housing address. And without any job, they couldn’t find a flat. It was a vicious circle. Furthermore, they had problems applying for social benefits. All in all, homeless people found themselves trapped.

But in 2008 the Finnish government introduced a new policy for the homeless: It started implementing the “Housing First” concept. Since then the number of people affected has fallen sharply.

And the country is successful: It is the only EU-country where the number of homeless people is declining.

This is just staggering.

Council to Homeless Persons chief executive Deborah Di Natale says homelessness has changed dramatically across the country, and families living rough like this in Bendigo are not uncommon.

“What we used to see before was mainly single people,” she says.

“But the trend that is emerging is that we’re seeing families setting up tents in the bush because there is simply nowhere left for them to go.”

As the weather warms up, there’s another pressing concern for these families.

Fire.

“It’s really alarming that some Victorians find themselves sleeping rough in bushland during what’s tipped to be a hot, dry summer,” Sarah Toohey, from the Community Housing Industry Association Victoria, says.

Every day, you have to hold two contradictory ideas in your head. On the one hand, you have to accept that you're living through the collapse of industrial civilization. You have to deal with the moral injury that comes from realizing that many of your friends and family don't care enough about you to do a few simple things. You have to deal with a government that isn't just funding genocide but is actively participating it in it, while lying to you when it comes to... just about everything that pertains to your survival.

On the other hand...

This collapsing civilization isn't going to give you a break. It requires your participation. You still have to go to work. You still have to smile at customers, even through a mask, if you're allowed to wear one. You still have to go through the motions. You have to observe superficial politeness. You have to pay for rent and groceries. You have to pay taxes.

It's a lot.

The proposed development will include 129 studio apartments for low-income people and those experiencing homelessness. A minimum of 50 per cent of units will be held for people who are currently homeless and on income assistance, with the other half for people earning earning between $15,000 and $30,000 per year.

More than 200 people signed up to speak to the city’s public hearing, with emotions high on both sides. Opponents argued the project was a “failed model of housing,” that would “warehouse” a high-proportion of proposed residents with complex issues. Opponents also raised concern about nearby schools.

Thursday’s ruling un-pauses the original judicial review application against the city, which was suspended in September pending the outcome of the MEVA 5 challenge.

Across California, [the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)] is used to fight affordable housing projects. A recent study published by Chapman University’s law school found that from 2019-2021, almost 40% of all CEQA lawsuits targeted housing projects. Jennifer Hernandez, author of that study and an attorney at Holland & Knight’s West Coast Land Use and Environmental Group, explained that these lawsuits often hide behind veiled language, such as preserving the “character of a community.” A report she authored in 2022 for a nonprofit economic research group found that nearly half of California’s housing developments faced CEQA lawsuits in 2020.

“Once you define the environment to mean everything,” Hernandez said, “then it’s almost impossible not to find an environmental impact.”

When I was living in Coffs Harbour, string concertos and opera were used to torment anybody who tried to get too comfortable around the boarded-up shops on the short stretch of highway that the council considered to be the town centre.

The City of Bunbury had been playing Hot Potato on loop, in a bid to drive rough sleepers away from the Graham Bricknell Music Shell in the city's centre.

While the city initially defended its use of music as a valid public safety response, the music was switched off on Thursday afternoon after The Wiggles publicly intervened.

"The Wiggles' music is created to bring joy and happiness to children and families around the world," a spokesperson for the band said.

"We are deeply disappointed to hear that it is being used any other way."

[…] 

It's not the first time the council has used music as a deterrent at the venue, with Peter Allen's I go to Rio the song of choice in 2016.

Please nobody tell them about Coles Radio.

The latest data from the Queensland Department of Housing reveals that 546 people over the age of 80 are on the waiting list for public housing in the state.

The figures, released in August, show 25,363 applications on Queensland's public housing waiting list.

Around a third of the more than 41,000 people on the waiting list are homeless.

There were 3,608 people over the age of 65 on the public housing register, up from 2,990 in November 2019.

The average waiting time for people with "high" and "very high" needs is 19 months.

The home secretary claimed streets risked being “taken over” and that without action British cities would see “an explosion of crime, drug taking, and squalor”.

She added that many of those living in tents were “from abroad”. Those who were genuinely homeless would always be supported, she said.

But in a raft of criticism over her remarks, she was accused of “disgraceful” politics and of blaming the most vulnerable for her government’s failings.

Even former Tory MPs condemned her push to fine charities who give tents to the homeless – part of proposals pitched to be included in the King’s Speech on Tuesday.