Annie Radermacher, Brunswick Heads.
Australia must be at crisis point for so many homeless people.
Byron shire is being overwhelming swamped by the numbers of homeless.
What is the answer? Job creation would be a great start.
A supply of housing commission homes another.
The new-age affordable housing is not affordable as it works on the principle of some of the housing provided by developers investing in affordable housing charging a rate of 20 per cent less than the going rate charged on the average rental rate. Ha ha, no job, how can anybody afford that?
It is a big, big problem. Nobody has an answer. Where do all the people go? In a clearing near you.
We all need to find a solution soon this problem is not going to go away.
Council have wiped their hands.
Land owners are doing the best they can.
Government have sold off our council-owned caravan parks and the rates are too high for people to camp unless you have an income.
Government have made it hard to access welfare, many departments shut down along with mental health facilities.
These people have to be somewhere – but where?
I have been told that the Mullumbimby showgrounds have been moving people out.
So where do they go?
If we do not address this most serious problem it will get worse.
Solutions are what is needed: somewhere for them to go to the toilet and to have basic needs such as water and shelter.
Stop sending funds to third world countries – we have a crisis right here.
I guess if you have to be homeless, you’d rather be homeless here than in the big cities. People have realised that you can get away with it here.
A huge issue is that the “affordable housing” that the council has let be built in back yards is being used to generate a tidy income through AirBnB and festival rentals. Our area has become hugely popular due to the festivals and permanent rentals are unaffordable even for those who have jobs. The community needs to stop trying to make a fast buck and support the people who live and work here.
Well said Annie.
There is land alongside the rail line in Mullumbimby which the cashed up state government should be building desperately needed social housing on, but is choosing instead to sell the land off for development.
They’d sell off their own grandmother for a few dollars, as long as they hang on to their well-paid jobs and lifelong benefits