Let’s help end homelessness

WE have all been there — spent a ridiculous amount of time in traffic, crawling past roundabouts and wondering – why can’t we go faster?! Then it’s the gladiatorial slugfest for a CDB parking spot. By the time we walk past them we’re often so stressed we just don’t notice the huddled shapes around town. Or choose not to.

I’m talking about the 1800–2000 homeless in Cairns. Anglicare research suggests we only see six per cent of homeless people sleeping rough around town — that is still about 120-odd people sleeping in shopfronts, on benches and in parks. If they are lucky. The rest we don’t think about because we don’t see them — the more than 1500 people sleeping in boarding houses in conditions that aren’t necessarily guaranteed to be safe. Imagine that — all you want is a decent sleep and you need to keep one eye open to ward off thieves, a potential beating or worse.

This week is Homeless Week and the slogan is Ending Homelessness Together. So let’s do it. We can donate to a food bank; go to Anglicare and drop off some basics that make the world of difference to someone who is doing their best to get by with dignity.

While we are at it, let’s actually see our neighbours — because they are our neighbours — as people. I guarantee each of them has hopes and plans like the rest of us. Somewhere along the line was a bad decision, bad luck or illness that caused their world to come apart. They just need a leg up to get back on track. We live in a beautiful part of the world. Let’s not make it ugly by judging or dismissing our fellow Far Northerners. Let’s be compassionate and End Homelessness Together.

Pete Martinelli peter.martinelli@news.com.au