‘Such a clear message’: homeless community kitchen told to move last-minute during Sydney’s Vivid festival

Carly Hall and Tash Sanjay, who run the Alfresco Food Kitchen, have been told they cannot use their usual Sydney CBD location during Vivid. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

A soup kitchen that serves hundreds of meals each week to Sydney’s homeless community has been told at the last minute that they will not be able to set up during Vivid, leaving them nowhere else to go.

The Alfresco Community Kitchen runs on Tuesdays and every second Sunday in Martin Place, next to the train station in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. But on Monday, two of the kitchen’s organisers, Tash Sanjay and Carly Hall, were sent an email from the City of Sydney telling them they would have to move. The email, seen by Guardian Australia, said that between Friday 23 May and Sunday 15 June they would have to find a new location.