Homelessness

[mantra]

There are many people who believe that the boat people should be entitled to priority housing before anyone else, but it is obvious that Australian citizens aren't given the same consideration as a refugee who is always given shelter, medical attention and services. Perhaps our homeless haven't fled from a war zone, but their lives have often been compromised seriously through ill health or misfortune. Many of them have spent their lives working and paying taxes, but when they find themselves homeless - a stray cat or dog would have better luck finding food and shelter.

It isn't only refugees in detention centres who try to kill themselves - many Australians suicide also as they can see no other way out of their predicament.

ANNA Hamilton is not that different from you. Except that until last week she was sleeping rough - rejected by a bureaucracy that homelessness groups say is tightening the purse strings.

This story may leave you thinking she's too normal to be on the streets. But Ms Hamilton is the changing face of homelessness. And were it not for coincidence, she could be dead.

Ms Hamilton, 49, was a police officer for a dozen years and a flight attendant for another five. Things began to go wrong four years ago when she had to sell her home at a loss after discovering the slab was cracked.

Broke, she had to live in her car. Shortly after she lost her job as an insurance investigator. Then she lost her car. She was homeless.

"I used to think homeless people made choices to be where they were," Ms Hamilton said.

"But it doesn't take too much to fracture your security. I liken homelessness to being on life support - your heart still beats, you breathe in and out but there are no other signs of life. At some time it becomes necessary to switch the machine off."

Two Saturday nights ago, Ms Hamilton decided that time had come. She was camping under an awning of the Campbelltown Civic Centre after Housing NSW turned her down for rental assistance - by text message.

She wasn't the only one sheltering under that awning.

Suburban homelessness is soaring. Sydney's Homeless Person's Information Centre received 3517 calls for help from the Campbelltown area in 2011, compared with 1417 in 2008.

"We are drowning out here," said Jane McIvor, director of Sector Connect, the umbrella group for not-for-profits in Sydney's southwest.



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[AiA in Atlanta]

A sad tale of someone who did everything right.

[former homelss individual]

Have been homeless, sleeping out of cars or setting up self made tents in the bush from plastic sheet 4 times in 45 years. Sometimes for only 4 days or a couple of months, but on 1 occasion for nearly a year. Refusing to dump my dog didn't make it any easier, but I don't believe in betraying the loyalty of a best friend.

Generally up to 90% of homeless individuals are male, but 70% of crisis accommodation in refuges and the like is for females only.

If I ever become homeless again, at least I know I will be justified in eating foreign refugees.

[mantra]

Have been homeless, sleeping out of cars or setting up self made tents in the bush from plastic sheet 4 times in 45 years. Sometimes for only 4 days or a couple of months, but on 1 occasion for nearly a year. Refusing to dump my dog didn't make it any easier, but I don't believe in betraying the loyalty of a best friend.

Generally up to 90% of homeless individuals are male, but 70% of crisis accommodation in refuges and the like is for females only.

If I ever become homeless again, at least I know I will be justified in eating foreign refugees.

Unless you've been homeless it's hard to imagine how miserable it would be. At the local beach there are a few homeless men and women who sleep there at night. During the day they sit on benches and are moved along by police or rangers. Most people walk past looking the other way.

My area hasn't got a huge population so there's very little accommodation for either sex. Over the years I've seen them set up rough little tents amongst the bushes on vacant blocks of land. They don't seem to have money so you can assume they're not eligible for Centrelink benefits because they have no address.

The statistics for homeless people would be very underestimated.

[ex no where dweller]

... so you can assume they're not eligible for Centrelink benefits because they have no address.

That's exactly how it is.
When you've got no home and no job the last thing you do is inform Centrelink that you are homeless. If you're smart, you find an unoccupied dwelling and use that address. Then regularly check the letterbox. Not always possible though, because sometimes Centrelink want proof you live there from land lords or property managers.
After sleeping under plastic in a bush camp hidden aprox 2 km into the bush for several weeks, I broke into an abandoned town house, rigged the back door so I could re-enter at will, turned the power on in the afternoon so I would have hot water in the morning, cook dinner and charge a mobile phone. After showering in the morning, I would stash my rudimentary bedding in a storage compartment under the stairs and go out for the day.
I repaired damage done by the previous tenants, collected the mail, put the garbage bins out, parked a car in the carport, and nearby neighbors never realised I was squatting.
One morning the police knocked on the door looking for one of the tenants who'd abandoned the dwelling. I said "He moved out three weeks ago" and they never cottoned onto the fact I was a squatter either.

If you have a job but no home, you shower and cook food at work, and camp out of a car during the night.

[AiA in Atlanta]

Hear a lot in the media these days about gay kids who are kicked out of their homes (for being gay) and forced to make it on the street. Jesus wept. Such fine Christians these parents turned their own children out of their homes.

[perky Lurker]

Hear a lot in the media these days about gay kids who are kicked out of their homes (for being gay) and forced to make it on the street. Jesus wept. Such fine Christians these parents turned their own children out of their homes.

Was reading pastafarian [the church Pasta belongs to ] forums one night, and a christian complained that pastafarianism is not a real religion, but only a spoof religion created to ridicule christians.
One poster replied "christians are all gay".
A second poster replied "not all christians are gay, some are peodophiles"

[T.G. of IK]

Hear a lot in the media these days about gay kids who are kicked out of their homes (for being gay) and forced to make it on the street. Jesus wept. Such fine Christians these parents turned their own children out of their homes.

Yep many fine christians out there.

[TomB]

There is much more to the OP story than meets the eye. People don't sell at a loss and become homeless just because a slab is cracked. I would bet that she has serious mental health issues, probably due to her policing career, and that the police union and others have failed to provide suitable support.

[Fukkitt]

Its easy to become homeless and disenfranchished Tom.....

"Re: Homelessness

Unread postby TomB » Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:41 pm
There is much more to the OP story than meets the eye. People don't sell at a loss and become homeless just because a slab is cracked. I would bet that she has serious mental health issues, probably due to her policing career, and that the police union and others have failed to provide suitable support."

Hmmm has she bought at a loss, is her mortgage too big on her wage/disabilty is she trapped in negative equity? Or are you doing some amatuer psychology and blaming PSD and mental illness?