What if the money spent on keeping homeless people out of the old high school site had been spent on ensuring they had a roof over their heads? By Graeme Charles
LAST Saturday August 10 in Wonthaggi saw a celebration of the various efforts being made to support people who are “experiencing homelessness” in the Bass Coast. (I'm not sure that being homeless should really be called an “experience”. That seems to me to soften the unfortunate state that homeless people find themselves in.)
Organisations including Wonthaggi Neighbourhood Centre, Housing Matters Bass Coast, Rotary Club of Wonthaggi, YES Youth Hub, the Wonthaggi OWLs branch of the Country Women's Association, and Uniting Church Wonthaggi are all involved in advocating and doing something for homeless people, and they must be rightly commended.
LAST Saturday August 10 in Wonthaggi saw a celebration of the various efforts being made to support people who are “experiencing homelessness” in the Bass Coast. (I'm not sure that being homeless should really be called an “experience”. That seems to me to soften the unfortunate state that homeless people find themselves in.)
Organisations including Wonthaggi Neighbourhood Centre, Housing Matters Bass Coast, Rotary Club of Wonthaggi, YES Youth Hub, the Wonthaggi OWLs branch of the Country Women's Association, and Uniting Church Wonthaggi are all involved in advocating and doing something for homeless people, and they must be rightly commended.
On Saturday morning a Walk for Warmth was held and we were invited to join a tour of some of the above to learn a bit more about what they are either doing or planning to do for homeless people, ranging from stocking food pantries, supplying swags and a washing machine and drier available for homeless young people at the Youth Hub.
As we strolled along between sites our route took us past the old Wonthaggi Secondary College, fronting McBride Avenue. I marvelled at the magnificent newly erected two-metre cyclone wire fence that now circumnavigates the entire site.
As we strolled along between sites our route took us past the old Wonthaggi Secondary College, fronting McBride Avenue. I marvelled at the magnificent newly erected two-metre cyclone wire fence that now circumnavigates the entire site.
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I assume its purpose is to keep unwanted visitors from entering the buildings within the site. It's reasonable to assume that some of these visitors were homeless people seeking a bit of shelter from the elements there, rather than under a tree or wherever else they can find protection.
Ever since the extensive school site with its multitude of different buildings became unused, I have considered one of its potential uses could be a shelter for homeless people. Instead of which, we now see a barrier, erected at considerable expense, I imagine, preventing desperate people from sheltering within. Oh the irony of this!
I understand that not all of those who have been accessing the site were homeless, but for those who were, and still are homeless, surely we can with a dose of goodwill and the same sense of community already exhibited by the aforementioned organisations, do something for our homeless now. Not next year, or some as yet undetermined time, but NOW.
Whenever I mention the possibility of providing a homeless shelter within the old school site, I hear a litany of reasons for why it can't happen there. This unfortunately is often the initial response one receives when suggesting something that will invariably have a number of hurdles to overcome before it can come to fruition. The architect Daniel Burnham said, in the aftermath of the great fire that destroyed much of Chicago in 1871, “Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood, and probably themselves will not be realized.”
This is the problem we face when considering possible solutions for our unfortunate brothers and sisters who find themselves homeless.
Surely somewhere within the range of existing buildings on the old secondary school site there lies the possibility of creating safe, warm, temporary shelter for homeless people, should they choose to avail themselves of it.
We are not talking about building a Taj Mahal. A bit of creative thinking together with some basic carpentry, I'm sure, could be applied somewhere in there to give a homeless person a roof over his or her head, hopefully somewhere to wash themselves and their clothes, and the sense that their community really does care about them NOW.
Postscript: Out of interest I got a quote for the fencing around the old secondary school site - $120,000. Could have done quite a bit of carpentry and joinery for that amount.
Ever since the extensive school site with its multitude of different buildings became unused, I have considered one of its potential uses could be a shelter for homeless people. Instead of which, we now see a barrier, erected at considerable expense, I imagine, preventing desperate people from sheltering within. Oh the irony of this!
I understand that not all of those who have been accessing the site were homeless, but for those who were, and still are homeless, surely we can with a dose of goodwill and the same sense of community already exhibited by the aforementioned organisations, do something for our homeless now. Not next year, or some as yet undetermined time, but NOW.
Whenever I mention the possibility of providing a homeless shelter within the old school site, I hear a litany of reasons for why it can't happen there. This unfortunately is often the initial response one receives when suggesting something that will invariably have a number of hurdles to overcome before it can come to fruition. The architect Daniel Burnham said, in the aftermath of the great fire that destroyed much of Chicago in 1871, “Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood, and probably themselves will not be realized.”
This is the problem we face when considering possible solutions for our unfortunate brothers and sisters who find themselves homeless.
Surely somewhere within the range of existing buildings on the old secondary school site there lies the possibility of creating safe, warm, temporary shelter for homeless people, should they choose to avail themselves of it.
We are not talking about building a Taj Mahal. A bit of creative thinking together with some basic carpentry, I'm sure, could be applied somewhere in there to give a homeless person a roof over his or her head, hopefully somewhere to wash themselves and their clothes, and the sense that their community really does care about them NOW.
Postscript: Out of interest I got a quote for the fencing around the old secondary school site - $120,000. Could have done quite a bit of carpentry and joinery for that amount.