City of Launceston want to connect people struggling with homelessness to resources.
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Deputy mayor Danny Gibson said the Thursday council meeting was a harrowing but eye-opening experience.
"I felt moved by the stories and the bravery that were shared with us at the council meeting," he said.
"It takes a whole lot of courage to expose your story and your circumstances and to put that forward in the hope that someone will be able to do something."
Launceston Benevolent Society chief executive officer Rodney Spinks said while it was good to have people addressing the issue of homelessness, it was not an issue caused by council.
"I'm pleased the council is discussing this issue," he said.
"The council has not caused this predicament, yet they do need to be part of the solution as we just don't have enough facilities in Launceston for the homeless to access in order to stay safe and to maintain some dignity and resemblance of a normal life."
Benevolent Society offer support such as clothing, food packages and expense assistance.
Mr Spinks said safe shelter was a basic and immediate need.
"Firstly we need to support those on the street and those living in their cars with more basic services," he said.
"We need to provide safe places for the homeless to shelter in their tents and swags. Not one big area, but multiple areas so people can feel safe in smaller groups."
Mr Spinks suggested designated some safe areas around the City and suburbs for this purpose as have previous workers in this area, such as City Baptist's Jeff McKinnon.
"People living on the street, or in their car, also need access to toilets, shower and laundry facilities," he said.
"We could set up mobile units close to these designated areas and the charities could work with council to help manage these. If we have designated areas it will be much easier for charities to work together and support those on the street."
Mr Spinks wanted to see more crisis accommodation
"It is particularly important that we provide those escaping or needing to escape family violence, with a safe place to go on short notice," he said.
"We never have enough access to safe crisis accommodation. We have recently lost two crisis accommodation options in the Kings Meadows area alone, which has just further compounded the issue."
Long term, Mr Spinks said public housing needs to be a priority.
"Finally, we still need more public housing to be built and more vacant properties brought back onto the market much sooner and in greater numbers than what Government is currently planning," he said.
"At the end of the day, everyone should have the right to safe and affordable housing and the first and second options above will not be necessary if we could just get this final option right."
Mr Gibson added council have a responsibility to help people find shelter, find food and find a bed. "That is what we will do," he said.
"We will, as a council, be speaking about this issue at our council workshop on Thursday. In addition to that a number of our staff early next week looking at options and the facilities we have available to us."
Tasmania's Minister for Housing Guy Barnett recently spoke about an increase in public housing.
"In the month of March, we completed 78 new homes for social housing and 45 new blocks of land have been made available - that means a total of 123 social and affordable homes made available for Tasmanians," he said.
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