Less homeless on streets, says Council
The City of Sydney Council has announced it is winning the battle against chronic homelessness in the inner city, recording less rough sleepers on city streets in its biannual count this year compared to last.
According to Liz Giles, manager of the Council’s Homelessness Unit, a count conducted in February 2012, showed there were 310 people without homes, compared to 418 in February 2010 and 363 during the same period in 2011.
However, critics have said that in counting ‘rough sleepers’, the Council is not painting an accurate
picture of overall homelessness, to which Youth Off the Streets founder, Father Chris Riley said: “Statistics are always understated.”
“The number of young people who sleep rough has been reduced significantly in the inner city as
many now remain in the suburbs,” he said.
“Way2Home has a main focus on adults.”
Nonetheless, Father Riley said the Council has a good focus and he supports their Housing First approach.
“Until a person has safe accommodation, their issues [for example] mental health
issues, [alcohol and other drugs], employment, can’t be dealt with,” he said.
The Council’s Housing First approach is the main focus for its Way2Home housing program, operated by Darlinghurst-based Neami and St Vincent’s Hospital health team.
Neami NSW State Manager Sylvia Grant said that prior to this, most programs were focused on
managing homelessness rather than ending it.
“People are housed regardless of whether they’re ready or not, whereas some programs will insist on people being ‘housing-ready’,” Ms Grant said.
On whether a person is “housing ready”, Father Riley said: “With the Financial Crisis many people became homeless because they lost their jobs, houses repossessed etc. and so don’t need a lot of support services, they just need accommodation and many have the resources to get their lives back on track.”
Eighteen months ago 56-year-old Les Hayes was living on the streets of Enmore after falling short of rent money.
However, just before Christmas last year, Naemi helped Mr Hayes move into the one-bedroom apartment in Darlington he now calls home.
“It’s good to have a roof over my head and it’s a good feeling when I
am on my way home and feel the keys in my pocket.”
