Ending rough sleeping homelessness is possible – in fact this crisis has shown that it’s a necessity. What we can’t do is temporarily shelter this group of highly vulnerable people and when the crisis is over, just tip them back onto the streets. We need a sustainable response.
Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers recently wrote, it is not too early to be talking about Australia after the crisis. This crisis has a long way to go yet, but Jim is right, it’s not too early to think about what kind of country we want to be on the other side. Jim poignantly explained that it was Labor wartime leaders John Curtin and Ben Chifley who planed for “victory in war” and “victory in peace” by establishing the Department of Post War Reconstruction at a time when most of Europe was still occupied by the Nazis and Japanese bombs were still falling on northern Australia.
In order to effectively respond to our generation’s crisis, we need to, and we are providing rapid shelter to people who have no place to call home. But we need to take the next step. As Australian’s we have set a standard that says when you present to an emergency department you get treatment free of charge, that is the minimum standard of health care you can expect in this country. It is a standard that took time to define and create and was in fact born out of the desire to provide better health care for veterans returning from the Second World War.
We ought to set a similar standard when it comes to housing when this ‘war like’ crisis is over. No one should have to sleep rough, not before this crisis, not during it, and certainly not after it.
Now of course there are multiple types of homelessness; rough sleeping is but one, but it is the type that costs the most in terms of taxpayers expenditure, in terms of reduced life expectancy for those sleeping rough, and, as this pandemic has proven, places us all at risk if left unaddressed.
We must set a new standard that should be upheld when this crisis is over. At the Australian Alliance to End Homelessness we have done a lot of work on how you set that standard, how you measure it and define it. We believe that an end to rough sleeping homelessness a community must ensure, and demonstrate through data, that homelessness is a rare occurrence, brief when it does occur and a one-time thing.
This approach has been so important to helping communities rapidly respond to this COVID-19 crisis. This approach, of knowing the names and needs of every person sleeping rough, needs to be rolled out nationally, we can’t wait for this crisis to be over, we need do it now!
David Pearson is CEO of the Australian Alliance to End Homelessness (AAEH), Senior Advisor to the Institute of Global Homelessness (IGH) and Industry Adjunct at Uni SA’s The Australian Alliance for Social Enterprise (TAASE).
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I agree with the other commenter that there is a small number of homeless people who chose to be on the streets. I was surprised when I asked one man how long he had been on the streets for? His answer was 17 years. When I exclaimed wow that’s a long time and asked if anyone had tried to help him find accomodation in that time, he explained that being on the streets was by choice.
I would be interested in hearing what people’s solution to the homeless issue would be.
I remember taking part in a seminar in Brisbane in the late 80’s where a significant survey of homeless people was held. The highest percentage were people with mental illness. the next were indigenous people who had traveled from across the State for specialist health care or family members supporting those here for health care and who had used up their money on travel and could not afford accommodation. The next group were victims of domestic violence and the final group were those who simply did not have the financial resources to afford bonds and rent in advance.
We came up with a variety of solutions including a gov’t run bond loan facillity; providing accommodation close to specialist services and ensuring in house, visiting or nearby social worker, mental health and financial counseling services. However, a change of Government killed off many of these ideas before they were born.
One thing that I would comment is that there are a small percentage of people who prefer the homeless life. Having worked in mental health for a while, I did come across a small group whom we placed and supported but who determined to return to the streets. Remember too that these people come from all backgrounds and we should not stigmatise them. Two especially that stick in my mind were a Professor from Queensland’s major university and a gentleman whose wife still ran his million dollar company.