I’ve been living in Brunswick Heads for two years with my children and I’ve always been saddened by the lack of community, at least in this section.
A few friendly people have come and gone from rentals here, driven away by the housing crisis but we’re largely surrounded by empty houses and holiday lets. It’s been so lovely to walk out the front and have a chat with the van dwellers.
They’ve brought life and character back to a suburb that was becoming extremely dull. Perhaps homeowners should stop peeking from behind their curtains and over fences and come out and say hello.
My friends in vans offer me a cup of coffee, invite me to sit down on the rug and share stories and what they have with my kids. A lot of them are women, drowning in parking fines, hounded for existing. Has Byron Council thought about the consequences of pushing homeless women out of safer, better-lit areas and into the darkness? These people are part of our community too.
Let’s not use one or two badly behaved van dwellers to tar everyone with the same brush.
There are so many empty houses in this town and so few places to live.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
