ORGANISERS estimate that 2000 people arrived at Newcastle Showground yesterday for the first Hunter Homeless Connect Day since COVID-19 forced the annual event into a two-year break.
Michelle Faithfull from Hunter Homeless Connect said final numbers would not be known until a full count was taken but it appeared as though the event was as busy or busier than the most recent event, in 2019.
More than 120 service providers from the public, not-for-profit and private sector were represented at the one-day gathering, which ran in and around the exhibition centre at the showground.
"Home matters, help matters and hope matters and this important annual day helps to shine a spotlight on homelessness in our region and gets people vital support in a safe, non-threatening way.," Ms Faithfull said.
"People experiencing homelessness were particularly vulnerable during the pandemic and need support more than ever.
Many people have lost their jobs because of Covid restrictions, and many remain at risk of homelessness. They face hardship and also have no idea where to find support.
"Today is a great example of what service providers, government agencies, businesses and individuals can achieve by working together."
As well as housing and accommodation services, the event provided access to family help, health providers, legal and financial advisers, community groups, training organisations, youth groups, sport and recreation services, pet help and wellbeing offerings, including very popular free haircuts.
Although the promise of free food, live background music and the bonhomie of a mass gathering meant the showground had plenty of smiles and laughter, the seriousness of housing availability and affordability was never far away.
Ms Faithfull said it was difficult to give accurate numbers on homelessness, because the most recent official figures were from the 2016 census, and were now six years old. They indicated 116,000 people nationally and some 1750 in the Hunter were homeless, but Ms Faithfull said a range of indicators showed the situation had worsened since then.
Asking around, the Newcastle Herald found a number of people who were sleeping in cars or staying in temporary accommodation, but they wanted to keep their situations private.
Kim Berry, of Homeland Park caravan park at Wadalba, near Wyong, said she had made the trip north because the park was closing in mid-November to make way for a retirement village and she and the rest of the permanent residents needed to find somewhere else to live.
"I've been there 17 years and when I went to the housing department they said it was a 20-year waiting list and that we wouldn't be on the 'priority' list unless we were homeless," Ms Berry said.
Ms Berry praised the services on offer at the showground yesterday, and said she was angry that the housing department staff she had spoken with in Wyong had not offered any help or directed people towards such services when they found out the owners of the caravan park were evicting them and closing it.
"At least we got five months notice, it could have been worse, at least it wasn't just a month," Ms Berry said.
She said some of the agencies she spoke with were unable to help people at Wyong because it was not in their area and she said the Central Coast should hold a similar event.
Homelessness in the region made headlines at the start of the month when the state Labor opposition called for the closed disability centres Tomaree Lodge and the Stockton Centre to be reopened as temporary emergency housing for homeless people.
The NSW government has rejected the proposal for reasons that include claimed problems with the sewage systems at both places.
Port Stephens MP Kate Washington said this afternoon that as far as she knew the sewage system at Tomaree was certainly working; she was seeking confirmation that Hunter Water was still charging the government department owning the site for sewage services.
Ms Washington said she was due to speak in state parliament tonight on the subject.
Ms Faifthfull said Hunter Homeless Day began at Broadmeadow PCYC in 2009 before outgrowing that venue, and the nearby basketball stadium, to take up digs at the showground, where it had been ever since.
She said a survey at the 2019 event showed that women outnumbered men among those seeking help for the fourth straight year, with the 50-to-54 age group being the most represented.
"We need to dispel myths about homelessness and highlight its hidden nature," Ms Faithfull said.
"For example, about seven per cent of people experiencing homelessness are sleeping rough, with many more couch surfing, or in refuges, boarding houses and emergency accommodation.
"Homelessness has appalling effects on people's health and well-being, which is made worse by the fact that around one in ten have a disability and one in four suffer from a mental health issue."
Cardiff area faith-based charity Our Backyard provides a safe place for people sleeping in their cars to sleep at night and project manager Danielle Whyte told the Herald that they usually had about half a dozen cars a night staying at their property.
Ms Whyte said they had built an amenities block after a $50,000 grant secured with the help of federal Labor MP Pat Conroy but the Macquarie Care operation was funded entirely by donation.
Their big annual fundraiser - a Night Under the Stars, in which people would be sponsored to sleep in their cars - was on Saturday, August 20, and people could register at macquariecare.org.au.
Ms Whyte said the "Car to Home Project" had hosted the occupants of about 100 cars a year for the past eight years of its operation.
She said the Cardiff space gave people a kitchen, showers, a laundry and toilets as well as casework support.
Ms Faithfull said it would take a combined effort from the public and private sectors to make real inroads into Australia's housing shortage and homelessness crisis.
'The Albanese Labor government has promised to fund 30,000 affordable housing starts, but the truth is we need half a million," Ms Faithfull said.
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