The City of Sydney released their Street Count figures yesterday. It is not surprising, but rough sleeping is up by 23% compared with the same time last year. 277 people were found sleeping rough in the local area, up from 225 in February last year.
It adds up. We are getting much greater demand on our services. We simply can’t keep up with the number of calls we are receiving for assistance directly from vulnerable people or from other services. In recent conversations I’ve had with Rough Edges patrons, two of them spoke with me about evictions hanging over their heads.
The Street Count is one way the City of Sydney looks at important markers on homelessness in the City. Not only is rough sleeping up, but there was also a slight increase for people living in assisted accommodation. According to Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, “When the city went into lockdown, people sleeping rough were rushed into temporary accommodation and many were then supported into longer term housing. We now have nearly 300 people sleeping on city streets each night, with much of the extra help available through the pandemic now dried up or discontinued.”
Funding, practical help and stronger networks are necessary to provide long term accommodation solutions to what is a growing problem in our city.
Rough Edges provides an important contribution to a complex problem. But, will 2023 prove to become an even bigger challenge than the Covid years for smaller agencies such as ours?
Gabriel Lacoba