Sunday, April 10, 2011

Homelessness - what can be done?

I haven't really seen much homelessness before because I rarely go into the city or bigger suburbs but the experiences I have had really stick in my head, despite it being quite a few years ago.
When I was quite a bit younger, I was confronted with homelessness for the first time and was sickened by it.
I still remember the day, my family and I were on the road and we drove into a street with a line of shops and offices and a church. We saw him on the ground, in a sleeping bag, lying outside of the veterans counselling office - which was closed at the time. He lay on the ground with a couple of frames positioned near him, all by himself. Sadly, also near him was a bottle of turpentine and a Coca Cola, both of which he'd been drinking. 
As we witnessed this man, we saw people coming out of the church, walking right by him. Not one of them stopped. No one asked him how they could help. My mother and father went to talk to him and my mother called the police, who got the ambulance. I cannot say whether he survived because I don't know, the police didn't say when my mother rung them up later on.

Imagine having to find a place to sleep every night...
Another time, when I was about 10 or so, I saw a  homeless man kneeling on the pavement in a busy Sydney street. His head was down and he was holding a small cardboard box with a sign above it explaining his situation. He had kids which he couldn't feed. My Mum gave my brother a two dollar coin, which he tossed into the box. Mum still feels dreadful about the situation. What really upset me is that though there were many people walking by no one seemed to stop.
                                                                            
105, 000 people are homeless each night in Australia. 23% of these people are children. In Victoria, 6400 12-25 year olds are homeless every night. About 51% of homeless young people in Victoria manage to stay in education. What causes people to become homeless? Causes can include: the large drop in affordable accommodation, domestic violence, financial difficulties, family problems, relationship breakdown, drug or alcohol addiction and mental illnesses.  

But what can be done?
Charities have done a great deal to help the homeless people in Australia but they don't have enough money or places to rehouse everyone. Of course, it is more easier said than done but I think their should be much, much more accommodation available. It would be great if there were more places that could rehouse whole families, rather than having to split them up which would be very traumatic, especially for children.
What do you think about homelessness? What do you think should be done about it? 

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