Program 3: “Homeless Voices” Part 2, 6 Jan 2020

Room With A View 102.7FM

Homeless Lives Matter

“Homeless Voices” – Program 3, Part 2

Monday 6 January 2020 – 12 midday 😆

This program is produced by those homeless and with lived experience.

Program broadcast audio:

CLICK:

https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/room-with-a-view/episodes/10310-room-w ith-a-vie w-6-january-2020

CD1: Cush Ryder, ‘Don’t Let it Burn’, Track 2 (3.46)

INTRODUCTION

This program is Room with a View featuring new programs. This program is called Homeless Lives Matter, my name is Susan Carew. In the last hour you were listening to the Grapevine with Judith Peppard.

The motto of this program is ‘home is where the heart is’.

Homeless Lives Matter aims to give a voice to those homeless and to tackle the real issues of homelessness in our society. There are solutions on my website ha.worldpeacefull.com I am looking for people in the community to help build the Courtney’s Patch ecovillage to end homelessness for 50 women and girls. I wish to organise Random Acts of Kindness to bring cheer to those so isolated and without homes. Let’s end homelessness and isolation together. I also invite people to join Homeless Lives Matter and become involved.

Homeless Lives Matter is dedicated to the memory of Courtney Herron who was homeless and is also inspired by Dr. Patch Adams, the American clown doctor who overcame depression and suicide to discover healing through humour.

If anyone is distressed or triggered by the issues raised in this program please call lifeline on 131114.

Homelessness is a national emergency. In Australia there are over 116,427 people homeless every night.

In the last program I introduced to listeners Australia’s international obligations in respect of The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Australia as a signatory. I will briefly recap two critical articles in the public interest.

Article 11 Part 1 …recognizes the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living …including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.
Part 2. …recognises the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger…

Article 12: Part 1. …recognizes the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

The fires are top of the news as we witness the worst fires ever seen in this country and the hottest days on record. Australians have become homeless having lost everything. The media has cast a spotlight on their lives and hardships. Some Australians have sought to help each other and some are erecting temporary shelters, providing clothes, offering food and counselling.

Homeless Lives Matter sends love and heart felt compassion to those suffering at this difficult time. Every homeless person should be given immediate assistance, shelter and above all, support.

Homeless people deeply empathise and stand with those who have lost everything. We know the trauma, the hunger, the uncertainty of the next meal and the deep despair. We understand the feeling of not knowing what to do next when you don’t have the financial means to help yourself.

Similarly, the fires and homelessness in our society are both national emergencies that require an urgent crisis response. Yet for hundreds of thousands of people homeless this is an ongoing tragedy of neglect.

The stigma of homelessness can justify: judgement, inaction, victim blaming, bullying and indifference to suffering towards those on the street or the majority invisible in the suburbs who may be couch surfing, house sitting, staying with friends, in overcrowded accommodation and boarding houses.

Those without homes know the hardship of moving constantly from one place to another. The real pain in homelessness is when you feel people don’t care, when others don’t follow up on calls for help or the homeless find themselves on a treadmill with no real solutions to solve the problem. The despair is in the feeling of no exit from severe poverty as people generally don’t relate. That is the hopelessness and loss of dignity many feel today.

INTERVIEWS

Interview 1 – Macca

I will now share with you the story of Macca who is homeless on the streets of Melbourne who says all he needs is a shelter. In this interview he highlights his trauma, drug addiction and the tension with police given unquestioned stigma as he constantly moves on when what he needs is basic shelter or a container. It is the same outcome that those homeless in the fires are requiring in a natural disaster yet this economic crisis is a human disaster which is viewed and responded to differently. There is denial around the real structural violence caused by poverty and inequality and the social breakdown of families and communities which catalyse the conditions for homelessness.

Here is what Macca said…

T1 Macca: Homeless on the Streets of Melbourne (4.10)

Homelessness is a national emergency that is human made and the impact is traumatic. When people fall through the cracks we have to reach out to them without discrimination and help them get back on their feet. Just as we would for those facing a natural disaster.

(TIME) You are listening to Homeless Lives Matter, I am Susan Carew and this is Triple R 102.7

COMING UP is a live interview with Daniel Jones who has responded to the homeless problem in Northern NSW by offering Sheds of Hope as transitional housing for those who have lost their homes. I will be speaking with him after the break. First lets go to our station sponsors.

CD 2: Jewel, Pieces of You, ’Little Sister’, Track 3 (2.29)

TELEPHONE: Interview with “Sheds of Hope” Daniel Jones 0406 135 936 (15.00)

The premier of New South Wales has declared a state of emergency as deadly bushfires continue to rage. My guest is Daniel Jones who in on the line from NSW. Daniel and his friends have been providing shelter for the homeless affected by the fires in Northern NSW. Their initiative is called Sheds of Hope.

Welcome to the program Daniel.

(interview questions)

During the fires, ABC news reported in an online article that …

“A family of six, including a two-month old baby, who were left with only their car, are eternally grateful for bags of donated clothes and bedding. But without a home, it’s becoming an effort to squish it all into the vehicle with the kids, as they trundle from hotel to hotel. That’s when you need a shed…” they said.

In a natural disaster there is a crisis response and extensive media reporting on homelessness. In a economic disaster of homelessness, the problem is dealt with differently. The following recording is from the Homelessness Conference held in Melbourne on the 14-15 October 2019. The speaker is Julie Bamblett who is the Homeless Outreach Support and Local Justice Worker Program Team Leader, VACSAL (Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Association Ltd). She describes a situation of a grandmother living in her car with 8 grandchildren. Here is what she said.

Interview 2 – Julie Bamblett – Homeless Outreach Support, VACSAL

T2 Julie Bamblett, Speaker at the Homelessness Conference (5.05)

My next guest is Trevor Brown has lived experience of homelessness, he is an Ambassador with the Council to the Homeless, He shares his ideas regarding solutions.

T3: Trevor Brown – Pt 2, Tiny Houses, New Rule Book (8.19)

Continued

T4: Trevor Brown, Solutions (2.59)

You can contact Susan Carew at homelesslivematter@worldpeacefull.com or Triple R.

Remember:

Home is Where the Heart is!!