Podcast reveals real face of homelessness

GRACE Morgan has faced a long road to recovery from when she was homeless at just 16 years old.

Grace, now 20, said she couch surfed for three months.

“I had a short experience but the most impactful part was not the time I spent homeless but things that happened after,” she said.

“The mental health impacts were profound.”

Ms Morgan is one of six people sharing their stories of homelessness in a new I Am Somebody podcast series for National Homelessness Week, with “housing ends homelessness” this year’s theme.

City of Hobart’s Housing with Dignity Reference Group facilitated the podcast, featuring people who break stigma around homelessness.

Hobart’s 2020 Citizen of the Year recipient Kate Kelly has advocated for affordable housing and shared her experience of homelessness in the podcast.

“I actually didn’t even see myself as homeless because my own perceptions of homelessness were stereotypes in line with the ‘old man with the brown paper bag’ image,” she said.

“I’m realising now that the largest cohort are actually called ‘hidden homeless’, they’re people staying in insecure accommodation, living in sheds, living in tents, in cars, couch surfing, living in overcrowded temporary conditions.”

The project was recorded by photographer Andrew Wilson and Wayfinder mobile storytelling studio founder Helene Thomas, who interviewed the participants.

Ms Thomas said she would broadcast the six stories from her mobile studio at various Hobart locations, including the Hamlet cafe parking lot, John Turnbull Park, Franklin Square and Farm Gate Market through the week.

The podcasts will be available on the Hobart City Council’s website. For information on National Homelessness Week visit: sheltertas.org.au/hw2020/