Urgent action needed during Homelessness Week

THE Tweed Shire and St Vincent de Paul Society are calling for urgent action to address inequality this Homelessness Week, which begins on Monday 5 August.

Tweed Shire Mayor Chris Cherry said the most recent Streetcount, conducted by the Department of Communities and Justice in February, showed 174 people sleeping rough in the Tweed.

“That’s the third highest in NSW,” Ms Cherry said.

“If you add in all those couch surfing or staying in makeshift accommodation across the Shire, it is a huge number of people who are falling through the cracks.”

Across the state, the picture is equally bleak.

Vinnies staff have revealed that their services are overwhelmed.

The average number of days to secure a housing outcome for someone seeking assistance has grown to 245 days, increasing by 133 per cent over the past three years.

The number of requests for assistance that their services were unable to meet increased by 15 per cent from the previous year to 3,339.

“Council has been working with the state and federal government to try to get community housing provided in the mix at the old Tweed Heads Hospital site,” Ms Cherry said.

“We are putting measures in place to try to get more affordable housing across the Shire.

This week we will vote on a development that will build 34 affordable units in Wharf St in Tweed.”

St Vincent de Paul Society NSW is advocating for an additional $50 million government investment in the Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS) sector.

This funding would help bridge the gap in demand relative to services.

Mayor Cherry and Cr Nola Firth are both taking part in the NSW Vinnies Community Sleepout, which is taking place on Friday 30 August with participants in Tweed Heads sleeping out at the Seagulls Club.

Funds raised from the event will remain in the local area to support Fred’s Place, which provides people experiencing or at risk of homelessness with the support to rebuild their lives and reconnect with the community amid the rising cost of living and rental crisis.

Ms Cherry said Fred’s Place was an incredibly important place for the community.

“It provides a place to wash clothes, have a shower, charge a phone and have a hot meal – things we take for granted, but what it provides most of all is the opportunity for a little bit of dignity and connection in a very isolating time in your life.”