Alternative Media Group

February homelessness street count

Author:

Ehssan Veiszadeh

Posted:

Thursday, 4 February 2010

The Council and Mission Australia are calling for volunteers to take part in this year’s street count of homeless people.

Approximately 170 volunteers and a small group of homelessness advisers will walk streets and parks early in the morning to conduct a head count of all of the people sleeping rough in that area. The City conducts Street Count’s bi-annually to mark seasonal changes within the population.

The objective of the counts is to collect accurate point in time information on the numbers of people sleeping rough in the Local Government Area (LGA), a Council spokesperson said.

“Pervious results have been used to inform ongoing policy development as part of the City’s aim to assertively address homelessness in the LGA,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“This has included targeted advocacy to other levels of government for resources necessary to create enduring solutions to homelessness.”

Since the Counts started in 2008 over 400 people in total have participated in at least one of the bi-annual street counts. Many have participated in all three previous street counts.

“Volunteers come from a range of backgrounds and include local residents and business, service providers, government departments, students and include people with direct or lived experience of homelessness who provide advice and guidance to the counters,” said the spokesperson.

Mission Australia has been taking part in the count since it began in 2008. Service Manager Daniel Petsalis said the count provides vital information to groups that provide support to homeless people. “It’d important for us to know how many people are out there physically sleeping rough on the streets at any one night so we can better utilise our resources to those areas and locations where the need is highest,” Mr Petsalis said.

According him, the number of rough sleepers has increased recently, making this years count particularly important. “Also the number of people we’re seeing on the streets that are newly homeless is increasing. So it’s not the older homeless person sitting in the park with a brown paper-bag that we’re seeing,” he said.

“We’re seeing people that have been housed recently and that have had jobs and careers, and maybe due to the financial downturn they’ve lost their jobs, they’ve ended up on the streets and have found it very hard to get into the rental market.”

Mr Petsalis encouraged people to contact the council and to get involved in this year’s count. “It’s quite an enjoyable morning, if you don’t mind the early mornings. And you’re really making a difference in these people’s lives, because you’re out there, helping the council find out how many people are out there. You also see another part of the world that you may not necessarily see ordinarily.”

“And also getting to mix with all sorts of people, whether it be service providers, university students, City of Sydney councillors that are even out there in the early hours of the morning walking the pavement and counting the number of rough sleepers.”

The next Street Count of Rough Sleepers is on 1-3am Tuesday16 February 2010 (arrive Monday night at 11.45pm). Volunteers can register online via the City of Sydney website.

by Ehssan Veiszadeh

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