MANY WORSE OFF THAN ME, SAYS TEX

I live like a king lot of compared to a other people now struggling right

HIS home is a tent on Hobart’s Eastern Shore but Tex says he lives “like a king”.

“We’re not poor in this country,” Tex says.

“Look at that view out there, of the water and the mountain that I’ve got.

“I’m not homeless because this is where I hang my hat.”

Tex has been living in and out of a tent since he was eight. His 51st birthday is on Tuesday.

In the carpark at Kangaroo Bay opposite Rosny College, he and others have set up home – he first moved there on Father’s Day last year.

“To be honest, the way things are going in life nowadays you are better in a tent,” he says.

“With people trying to pay for petrol for their cars and electricity and water, you are better off here.

“There’s a lot more people out there struggling worse than me.

“I live like a king compared to a lot of other people struggling right now.”

Tex, who does not want to give his last name, uses public toilets nearby and at the Eastlands Shopping Centre to wash himself every day.

It is cold and blustery, but he does not complain.

“If you get cold just put on an extra layer – you learn to survive,” he says. “There’s a lot of people worse off than me, families with kids who are living in cars and struggling to get a roof over their heads.”

Tex takes to task chief executives who spend one night a year sleeping outside to raise awareness of homelessness and politicians for not putting up temporary homes for people who are struggling.

“Once a year they have a fake CEO sleep-out and pretend to be homeless, but why don’t they try to live for a week or fortnight on our payments, like we do, and see what it’s really like?” he says.

“The politicians need to get off their arses and do something.”

He says even the carpark where he was living could be home to three or four demountable buildings.

Tex worked until he was put on a pension in 1991 and was on the public housing waiting list. He was offered a house at New Norfolk, which he rejected.

“I knew the area and I wasn’t the first one to knock it back, so they put me to the bottom of the list, which is fair enough. I’m used to living like this. If I wake up breathing in the morning I know I’m OK. It’s safe enough for me,” he says.

Tex says he is “blown away” when people stop to offer him blankets and food: “The tent is full and we really are the friendly state, aren’t we?”