Time to get our house in order
LET’S talk about the squatters who have set up camp in the Little Malop St mall.
I refuse to call them homeless, a term that seems to demand bucketloads of sympathy and comes with an automatic excuse for public misbehaviour.
You know how it goes, “They’re homeless, they have issues, we just have to be more tolerant and accept it”. Well, no, we don’t! While I have sympathy for those who find themselves homeless through mental illness or some fault not of their making, it’s difficult to feel sorry for the lot currently occupying the mall as they lie about, drinking grog, fighting, swearing, littering and urinating in doorways.
Fact is, being homeless does not entitle you to live like a pig and subject everyone else to your bad behaviour.
And nor can you expect the rest of the community to just cop it sweet.
Of course these people need homes, but do they all want to live in one?
It’s the one question everyone seems to conveniently overlook.
I’ve known homeless people who were given everything but shunned it all because they preferred the carefree/no responsibility lifestyle of living rough. And fair enough to them. But back to the mob in the mall.
The Addy recently revealed the frustration of city retailers who claimed drunk squatters had been urinating in the street, stealing from stores and verbally abusing shop workers.
One woman was pictured with her pants down, urinating outside a portable public toilet near the makeshift camp.
According to Geelong Mayor Bruce Harwood, City Hall has “no power to move them on”.
OK. So how about I set up a tent and go camping in the mall?
I start downing grog in public, getting drunk, getting in to fights, and littering the area.
You don’t think there are by-laws to stop me?
Of course there are. So why don’t these same by-laws apply to the squatters and homeless? God knows! In the past week I’ve seen drunks squeezing the dregs out of a wine cask into paper cups to drink, downing long necks of beer, staggering about drunk, swearing, arguing and littering, their rubbish spread from backside to breakfast in the mall.
Most sport tattoos, smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol, none of which come cheap.
And you can bet your bottom dollar they will be on the dole — at least most of them will be.
So pardon me if I don’t join the rest of the Royal Society of Do-gooders of this world and feel an overwhelming sense of sympathy for this lot.
According to Cr Harwood, “there is no simple solution” to curbing associated violence and anti-social behaviour and the council “is constantly engaging with retailers, residents and rough sleepers to try and provide better support” —whatever that means.
He also agreed retailers were probably feeling the “brunt” of anti-social behaviour but said “we need them to be part of the solution” and wanted those affected to “try and assist people who find themselves on the street”.
Of course he forgot to say how retailers could be part of the solution or even why, given they are the ones paying high rent and rates to try and make a living while the squatter presence is clearly causing their businesses to suffer and them considerable angst.
He went further: “It’s also about activating the area and trying to bring it back to life.”
Sure, that’s the way to do it — by allowing a bunch of drunk squatters to continue peeing in doorways, fighting and lying about in the city mall.
And please don’t give us the old “just call police” line. Police already have enough on their plate, thanks very much.
No, this is a job for the council to sort out.
Perhaps the City of Greater Geelong, having already spent millions towards stadium development at Kardinia Park, might like to show a bit of initiative and get the ball rolling by spending a few quid towards putting roofs over a few more homeless heads in the region.
Fact is, being homeless is not an excuse for bad behaviour, nor do all homeless people behave that way. But it’s certainly time to move this lot on. Where to, you ask? Well, as the Mayor says he is powerless to do anything, perhaps his front lawn could be a viable option.
I’ll pay the cab fares!
THE rough sleeping on the streets of Geelong is not new. It is the pointy end of an underlying problem that has been growing for many years — for those on very low incomes, Geelong is no longer an affordable place to live.
Despite the recent, much-touted house price downturn, rents continue to rise.
The most recent Victorian rent data shows that last quarter there was not a single one-bedroom rental in all of Geelong someone on a Centrelink income could afford. Fifteen years ago, three-quarters of one-bedroom rentals would have been affordable to that same person.
And the social housing safety net is failing Geelong’s disadvantaged people, with more than 2500 applications waiting for social housing in the Barwon region alone. Some of those waiting for housing are living on the streets.
People without a safe, secure home are forced to live their lives in public. Their situation is made worse by mental illness, long-term unemployment, childhood trauma, histories of family violence and substance abuse — all of this laid bare for public scrutiny.
We have a right to feel upset, and even angry, that homelessness exists. We also have a right to ask what is being done about it.
Moving people on isn’t the answer. As other local councils have recognised, this simply moves very vulnerable people into darker and more dangerous parts of the city, where they have less chance of getting the help they need. The solution is to build more housing for rough sleepers, and provide intensive support.
In the lead-up to the election, the Andrews’ Government committed to 1000 public housing units over the next three years.
In the face of 38,000 applications waiting for social housing, this is a good start, but we need even more. For this to happen, Victoria needs a guaranteed pipeline of Commonwealth funding.
The Victorian Rough Sleeping Action Plan is also being implemented, and it is a game changer. It recognises people with very com- plex problems are presenting and re-presenting to homelessness services, as well as churning through hospital emergency departments, psychiatric facilities and jails.
Teams of skilled professionals across the state will work closely with rough sleepers in hot spots such as Geelong for as long as they need after they are housed.
The last two years have been some of the darkest times for Australia’s homeless, and for those who work with them. Demonising those experiencing homelessness has been at an all-time high, but thanks to the media’s deep-dive into the underlying causes, we’re coming back into the light as people begin to understand the root causes of rough sleeping.
Supporting rough sleepers and building more social housing is far more productive than punishing people with fines, moving them on or confiscating belongings. Jenny Smith, CEO, Council to Homeless Persons