By Margaret Maccoll
Never before has the homeless situation been more evident in Noosa and the need for action more vital, a homelessness forum heard last Friday.
There are various reasons people become homeless. It may be through illness, loss of a job, mental illness, marriage breakdown, bankruptcy or the lack of affordable housing but whatever the reason a group of about 200 women who were brought together at a forum last Friday by Josanne Falla of The Noosa Circle agreed anyone can become homeless but something must be done in Noosa to create housing for those in the community that have none.
Wendy Rampton established Campside Rescue to assist the homeless in the community.
Five years ago Wendy started bringing blankets and clothes to people living rough at John’s Landing campground. “We need food,“ they told her so she started taking food.
When the campground closed down she started taking food to people living rough at Nambour Caravan Park and assisting people living in their cars or sleeping under bridges.Campside Rescue also assists school children in need with backpacks, stationary and books and answers the call for help from Centrelink when a client comes in homeless. “We give them clothes for job interviews and groceries,“ she said. “People sleep in cars along the coastline every night. Many are women who are very scared. We find older men who have gone bankrupt, families in vehicles with cats, dogs, guinea pigs. They take turns to sleep because they can’t all sleep at the one time. They are very vulnerable. It is very dangerous.“
Wendy told the forum of safer options available to homeless in other places. In San Diego, for example, there are safe car parks with kitchen, bathroom and laundry facilities where people can sleep in their cars and feel safe, she said.
Photographer Claire Reynolds told the forum when she received a grant from Sunshine Coast Council to create a photographic exhibition of homeless titled Changing Perceptions what struck her was the realisation homelessness could happen to anyone.
Property manager Kaz Cook Langdon raised the suggestion of establishing an organisation calling itself Noosa Affordable Living Association to create housing that people who work in Noosa can afford.
“There are multiple ways to deal with this issue if we have the will then it can happen,“ she said.
Noosa MP Sandy Bolton knows more about the homeless issue than most people.
“I come from a lineage of shed dwellers,“ she told the forum. “My mum was abandoned. The church provided a shed. As an adult in a broken marriage I found myself in a shed.“
She told the group for the past 30 years she had been working in this space. As a councillor and State Member she had sought affordable housing but been met by multiple obstacles.
Ms Bolton estimates there are about 400-500 people in needing of affordable housing in Noosa.
What’s affordable for people seeking a mortgage banks calculate at 30 per cent of a person’s income. On that basis hospitality workers earning $700 a week would only be able to pay about $250 a week rental. “That’s not possible here,“ she said.
Ms Bolton said she’d chased land for housing through three levels of government and been met with “processes“ and roadblocks. She said what we think people need isn’t what they want. All people want is somewhere to put up a tiny house.
“Together people can make this happen,“ she said. “For the first time in Noosa history there are two girls in positions to make this happen. That’s what women do.
“For six years I’ve heard of every reason why we can’t. We must look at every reason we must.“
Mayor Clare Stewart told the forum now more than every it was important women came together to talk about issues, to share issues, share burdens and take away the shame. Eradicating homelessness is a must do, let’s build these houses, she said.
