Homelessness not a choice’: Hard life on Perth streets
The West Australian
Friday, 6 April 2018
It took only a short walk from one side of the CBD to the other to get a sense of how deep Perth’s homeless problem might go.
Even mid-morning on a weekday The West Australian stumbled within minutes on telltale, human-shaped bundles wrapped in doonas or sleeping bags and tucked into the alcoves between buildings or down alleys.
In a nook beside His Majesty’s Theatre carpark a blanket-shrouded figure slumbered beside a shopping trolley holding their meagre possessions.
A sheltered corner by the entrance to a Murray Street bank provided a similarly suitable spot for another rough sleeper, so well-concealed that they scarcely merited a second glance from people walking by just a metre away.
Begging, in contrast, requires visibility.
Squatting beside the revamped Treasury buildings, a man with shaking hands and sun-bronzed skin politely asked passers-by if they could spare a dollar. None could.
On Hay Street, another man sat cross-legged on the dirty footpath, reading a magazine while passers-by ignored the upturned cap in front of him.
By the entrance to the train station, a young man, his possessions strapped to a battered suitcase on wheels, investigated the contents of a bin.
If any of these apparently itinerant people had homes to go to, they did not appear inclined to use them.
For the most part, the steady stream of shoppers and city workers passed by these people on the street without a second glance, eyes fixed firmly to the footpath or their smartphone, unable or unwilling to engage.
Those who wind up on the streets of Perth are the public faces of homelessness.
But they are indicative of a much wider problem. Far more common, according to Shelter WA chief executive Michelle Mackenzie, are the “hidden homeless”, who sleep in their cars at night or “couch surf” between the homes of friends and family.
Most homeless people were “not the stereotype that you might see in the City of Perth”.
“People don’t choose to be homeless,” Ms Mackenzie said.
“Homelessness is a symptom of a broken social and affordable housing system.
“You see people who are homeless in the City of Perth or the City of Fremantle, but it’s the hidden homeless who are sleeping with friends or sleeping in cars.”
Not enough affordable housing is one of the main drivers of homelessness.
Since 2000, rents in Perth had increased 135 per cent, while the minimum wage had risen only 80 per cent, Ms Mackenzie said.
Many homeless people were also fleeing domestic violence.
Ms Mackenzie said it was important to build community awareness that homelessness “can be stopped”.
“It’s not an acceptable thing in Perth,” she said.
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