Can Kevin help Sydney’s homeless?

Anywhere between 150 and 350 people sleep in parks and on streets every night in the inner city. In fact welfare and support agencies, as well as Sydney City Council, agree that the number could be much higher than the 2001 Census data indicates.

Currently, 100,000 Australians across the country are classified as homeless, and the number is growing. As the nation’s biggest city, Sydney knows all too well how large the problem is. In fact, Missionbeat, a nongovernment agency which helps the chronically homeless, recently ran out of blankets due to the sudden onset of cooler weather.

One of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s key election promises was to tackle the growing problem of homelessness. “It’s dead wrong that in a country as wealthy as ours we have 100,000 people who are classified as  homeless,” said Mr Rudd. “A lot of people say, ‘Well, you can’t fix it, can’t do anything about it, it’s part and parcel of things’. Well, I don’t buy that. I don’t think you can fix the whole thing, but we can do a hang of a lot better than we’re doing now.”

No one would argue with that sentiment. But considering the range of causes, ethnicities and geographical areas linked to the issue of homelessness, can the problem really be tackled by the Federal Government on a national scale?

Social welfare expert Dr Tony Nicholson, who runs Victorian-based welfare service, the Brotherhood of St Laurence, has been appointed by Mr Rudd to tackle the issue. He will head a steering committee that will produce a white paper on homelessness by August.

Dr Nicholson is confident “that over the next decade we can do better than halving the level of homelessness in Australia”.

Priority will be given to the 14,000 people who are at the acute edge of the  homeless problem, who are most likely suffering multiple physical and mental disease. “It’s futile to try to treat a mental health problem if the patient doesn’t have a decent place to live,” he said.

Dr Alex Wodak, who oversees a five-day detoxification unit at St Vincent’s Hospital agrees.

Most of the people he treats do not have homes to return to. Les Twentyman, Youth Worker, emphasises that not all homeless people suffer from mental health problems or addiction.

“The ignorance among some sections of the community about the lives of their fellow Australians still staggers me. Even after 30 years of doing what I do,” he says.

Dr Nicholson agrees. “Australians who experience homelessness don’t aspire to be part of an under class – they aspire to be part of the mainstream Australian society.

They have modest aspirations to be able to work, to have a decent place to live and to have family.”

The problem that faces Sydney’s homeless is not only the sheer magnitude of people who find themselves without a home. It is the lack of places for them to go combined with the lack of specialised services to address the root causes of homelessness.

Dr Nicholson believes that an integrated system is the best way to tackle the problem in the inner city, and nationwide.

Many hope that he is right, including Mr Hawkes. As he puts it, “I don’t want to be like this any more. No way.”