By Kyra Gillespie
Community members put Cardinia Shire on the map for all the right reasons, joining a national push to end homelessness.
As part of Homeless Week, over 50 locals gathered at Outlook Community Centre to spotlight the growing issue of homeless in the municipality on Thursday 9 August.
Homelessness Week is an annual week coordinated by Homelessness Australia to raise awareness of people experiencing homelessness, the issues they face and the action needed to achieve enduring solutions.
Run from 6 – 12 August, this year’s Homelessness Week theme was ‘Ending homelessness together.’
There was a performance by Outlook’s All Together Choir, rock n’ roll dancing, door prizes and presentations from guest speakers.
Event organiser Dot Letch, CEO of Oasis Affordable Housing, said the event was a roaring success.
“It was a great event; we raised over $500 on the day.
“Housing affordability is the biggest problem in Cardinia; people can’t get into the housing market because the rent is too high and tenancy is not secure.
“A lot of people who attended on the day were not aware of the extent of homelessness in Cardinia.
“Social housing is basically non-existent in this area and many people are facing a housing crisis.”
Latest census data revealed a spike in homelessness in Cardinia, with 52 per cent more people in crisis than on census night in 2011.
“Oasis aims to provide affordable housing in many locations nationwide,” Dot said.
“We participate in fundraising, lobbying and generally working towards seeing the end of the housing affordability crisis in Australia.
“We want to see the day come when everyone has a place to call home.”
In keeping with the theme of ‘Ending homelessness together,’ Homelessness Australia is encouraging the community to get active as citizens to call on political leaders to make the changes needed to end homelessness.
“We encourage you to connect people participating in Homelessness Week to the Everybody’s Home campaign calling for national action to end homelessness,” a Homelessness Australia spokesperson said.
You can find the campaign at everybodyshome.com.au; on Twitter at @_everybodyshome and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/EverybodysHomeCampaign/.
