Stay of eviction for Pav homeless
- Author:
- Pam Walker
- Posted:
- Wednesday, 8 July 2009
The Supreme Court has given the group of homeless men sheltering behind the Bondi Pavilion an extra three weeks to find a home but Waverley Council this week removed their bedding.
On June 26, Justice Slattery called a three-week adjournment on the eviction notice Waverley Council had served the group on June 16. The notice had asked them to remove their belongings from the back of the building due to “regular maintenance and cleansing of the area”.
The court granted an injunction on Tuesday 23, preventing police and Waverley Council officers from ‘moving on’ the group who had sought orders from the court to require the council find them alternative, long-term accommodation before removing them.
Some members of this group have been ‘in residence’ on that spot for eight years and now can’t be evicted until the court case concludes. An agreement on mediation now seems the only solution after council removed the bedding used by the homeless men.
Group spokesman Kevin St Adler said there was a lack of affordable, low-cost housing in the area. He criticised a council plan to erect a hired cyclone fence to keep people out at a cost of $30,000.
“The cost of fencing to keep us out would be enough to house us all for a year,” St Adler said, adding that efforts had been made to work things out with the council.
“There have been no offers of permanent housing by council; we already have emergency accommodation. This is one of the few places to go in winter that has adequate cover. It’s a different story when it’s warmer.”
He said the group had community support with one family donating a new toaster and a doona.
“Another gave us $50 each. They congratulated us on our efforts. This is the true sense of community,” he said.
The group’s barrister, Dymphna Hawkins, said: “These people have mental health issues, one is a wheelchair-bound veteran, and all are facing an uncertain future because of a council that appears more concerned with the appearance of its precious pavilion than the inhumanity of exposing vulnerable people to the freezing conditions of winter.”
But Waverley Mayor Sally Betts said the council was concerned about the welfare of the homeless men.
“We are working with a number of agencies including the Department of Housing, Mission Australia and Norman Andrews House to find them safe, clean and warm accommodation,” the mayor said.
“We have no intention of throwing them out to live in a bus shelter. We’re working really hard to find places that are acceptable to them.”
She said one man had already accepted a house and another had accepted accommodation.
But Cr Betts said the group could not be left at the Pavilion.
“There have been reports of health and sanitary issues, vandalism, alcohol-fuelled antisocial behaviour and a number of visitors feeling intimidated and threatened by this growing gathering. There has also been an increased level of violence among the group, especially towards the longer term homeless,” she said.
Greens MLC Sylvia Hale called on the council to work cooperatively with the group to find long-term, low cost accommodation in the area.
- By Ashley Devine
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July 26th, 2009 @ 8:07 pm
Most of these people are not even australian residents. They have refused housing in other areas, what right do they have to demand to live in Bondi?? I want to live in Bondi but cant afford it. Move on guys…
December 7th, 2009 @ 3:53 am
[...] across the road paying close to $10 million for apartments, they didn’t get to stay in the rent-free, open plan pavilion for very [...]
October 24th, 2010 @ 1:34 pm
whilst i do not agree with this , i do see where he is coming from and no he doesn’t have rights to ask for a exclusive address he doesn’t even have the grass roots .I myself found myself homeless last year with my 14 year old son. this came about from domestic violence the whole thing was out of my control. it was hard enough even though i am disabled and have lived in this area since approx 1981 i didn’t have any right really to choose where i wanted to live even though i have resided in this western suburbs area for more than 29 years . i have no support around me as i have too far to travel to catch up . THE REAL ISSUES are that unfortunately the department of housing have TOO many RIGID POLICIES, they have a web site with their policies. when you deal with them they say we are all to be treated the same . well apart from the obvious we are not all the same its time for these rigid policies be reexamined by other professional non government people that deal with homelessness and peoples real housing needs then we would have a much happier community , much less abuse as i believe after working as a community support worker for and in aged care for most of my working life that you can accommodate peoples needs in a much more humane way then a government body can. then maybe they can drop their tittle as officers we can then move on to a much happier association . there are many reasons why people need accommodation and can not obtain it by themselves for what ever reason the department needs to get with the times . give people real choice and there is no reason for complaint. they should also be more up front with the fact that some departmental staff actually live in departmental housing who chooses their accommodation? so are we all treated the same? oh and don’t ask for anything like gas or electric or brick or fibro or even that you don’t want steps because of health reasons so you don’t have to suffer any more dishevel then you have all could be housed more fairly with much less disruption, as this is seen as asking for the moon .im sorry but i have owned my house once upon a time and for the last 15 years i have privately rented im am not here by choice and if there wasn’t so much delay in my son and I’s length of time we were homeless i would of regained my health by now and maybe i could of got back to work part time and get away from this body of people that make indiscriminate choices for us. the whole process left me feeling like i was a criminal and still am,all because of something that was out of my control .