International Homeless Day, Thursday October 10: “we can all do more.”

Thursday October 10 is International Homeless Day. Across Australia, The Australian Bureau of Statistics has suggested that 116,000 people are homeless. Based on this figure, Australia has 500 homeless people for every 100,000 head of population. However, these figures are based on census night in 2016, which probably means the figure today is much higher. A person is considered to be homeless in Australia if they:

• Do not have access to safe, secure adequate housing, or, if the only housing they have access to damages, or is likely to damage, their health;
• Are in circumstances which threaten or adversely affect the adequacy, safety, security, or affordability of their home;
• Have no security of tenure – that is, they have no legal right to continued occupation of their home.

St. Vincent de Paul Society CEO, Lara Alexander, said that while the weather has improved the homeless situation in Tasmania has not.

“The path to fixing homelessness in Tasmania is paved with good intentions, but very little action. The St. Vincent de Paul Society can only do so much. Government, other organisations, and the wider community must work together to agree on a joint strategy to address homelessness in Tasmania,” Mrs Alexander said.

“On June 20 this year, the St. Vincent de Paul Society held its annual CEO Sleepout. The temperature fell to below zero overnight at UTAS Stadium where 57 committed community leaders gave up their warm beds for little more than a sleeping bag on a piece of cardboard to cover the concrete floor. The event raised around $150,000 and promoted awareness of the plight of Tasmania’s families and individuals sleeping rough or in cars across the State.

“Now, we are in October. The weather has improved, International Homeless Day is upon us, and very little has changed. The homeless are once again the forgotten few. Despite distributing almost all of the money raised at the CEO Sleepout, there has been no real action from the wider community to attend to the many issues that contribute to homelessness in Tasmania. Lack of affordable housing is just one issue that needs to be addressed, but it is not the only one. There is much to be done while more affordable housing is being built.

“According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, the causes of homelessness are numerous and complex. Homelessness can be caused by poverty, unemployment or by a shortage of affordable housing, or it can be triggered by family breakdown, mental illness, sexual assault, addiction, financial difficulty, gambling or social isolation. Domestic violence is the single biggest cause of homelessness in Australia. What this means is that homelessness is a product of many other human rights abuses.

“We are fortunate in Tasmania to still have a strong sense of community and the issue of homelessness is one which, with commitment from governments at all levels; and more care and compassion in our communities, we can fix. We need to work towards eliminating the reasons why people become homeless in the first place, and support people experiencing homelessness to find more permanent living solutions. To this end, the St. Vincent de Paul Society has made a commitment to address the issues that cause homelessness, with a view to ending homelessness in Tasmania by 2025.

“We can all do more. We all have a part to play in alleviating homelessness. International Homeless Day – Thursday October 10, is the perfect day to start,” Mrs Alexander said.