It’s a confronting image – a homeless man sits with his legs crossed, a cardboard sign that reads “homeless and hungry” leaning against the step upon which the dishevelled man rests.
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This isn’t the streets of Sydney or Melbourne. This is downtown Launceston on a Thursday afternoon in St John Street.
We have all read the headlines about Melbourne’s rising problem with the homeless and the drastic steps authorities are taking in Victoria – to the point they are being forcibly removed by police.
The Melbourne City Council voted on laws aimed at banning homeless people from sleeping on city streets. It’s a drastic step indeed.
And so that the same issue is starting to permeate into Launceston is troubling.
According to a new report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, there has been a 5 per cent increase in people accessing specialist homeless services over the past five years.
According to the institute’s report, there were:
- 49 specialist homelessness agencies in Tasmania, supporting almost 1600 people,
- More than 330 of those were young people, presenting alone, and
- 21 requests for assistance were unable to be met.
So despite the millions of dollars earmarked for Tasmanian homeless services, things appear to be getting worse.
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, 25 per cent of the total number of homeless people in Tasmania are aged between 12 and 24.
That’s far too many young people sleeping rough on our streets.
Too many children forced to couch surf with friends – their lives torn apart by a breakdown in family relationships and domestic violence.
A lack of affordable housing is one of the main contributing causes that drive people into homelessness, according to Shelter Tasmania.
The rising cost of living is also a major problem. A report in a mainland newspaper on Monday listed Tasmania as having the highest power price in the country.
The state government says it is pouring millions of dollars into affordable housing programmes and doing it’s best to keep the cost of electricity in check, but obviously it’s still not enough.
Perhaps this is a problem that money simply cannot fix.
