I am 51 and have been homeless for eight years. I live in a van in a paddock. In my younger years I never imagined I would find myself in this situation. Life is full of surprises.
There’s always a complex web of circumstances preceding homelessness.
As the numbers grow exponentially, the stereotypical image of a homeless person (living on the street) is being challenged. With people from all demographics suddenly finding themselves unable to afford housing, the image of a homeless person is becoming more expansive.
I have been in the Northern Rivers region of NSW off and on for the past five years. Several years ago I discovered Wallum, a magnificently diverse and fragile coastal heathland teeming with life, just south of Brunswick Heads. It is a place where I walk and meditate, fill my lungs with fresh air and where my soul finds peace. Any day now this precious ecosystem could be bulldozed into oblivion all in the name of ‘progress’. The idea of houses built on Wallum fills me with despair, not hope.
Nature is what helps me the most through difficult times; it’s where I find solace. It’s where I go when the weight of the world feels too heavy to carry. Spending time in nature helps me to feel stronger, more connected, more at peace and more appreciative of the little things. Mother nature is a powerful healer. Only a fool refuses to protect and nurture her in return for all that she gives.
The housing crisis is ‘diabolical’, as Byron Shire Mayor Michael Lyon expressed in a recent ABC article by Stephanie Smail and Hannah Ross. I would be the first to agree. But it appears that this crisis is what both the mayor and the Clarence Property Group are using to propel this Wallum development application (DA) forward. It’s the poignant truth upon which lies are being built.
The reality is that the people in the most urgent need of housing will not benefit from this estate. This estate will destroy 13 hectares of fragile and rare heathland, including 24 endangered species. Housing solutions for this crisis need to be sustainable and affordable. Wallum Estate is and cannot be either of these things. It will only help to further widen the divide between the rich and poor.
Save Wallum are a group of people passionately lobbying to protect this area and they have substantiating evidence affirming that a development would inflict irreparable ecological damage. If that wasn’t enough weight for the government ministers to seriously investigate this DA then they may want to take a look at some considerations from a construction perspective.
Two important facts: Firstly Wallum is a wetland, and for those who may need a more detailed explanation of a wetland, it’s land that can flood. Secondly, the soil is a highly acidic peat that is unstable and unsuitable for building foundations.
When all these factors are taken into consideration, one could be forgiven for thinking that this development is being driven purely by greed and self-interest. Housing in the region is unquestionably needed, but not on Wallum.
If this development goes ahead, aside from the destruction of a rare, fragile and pristine ecosystem, there’s a very real possibility that after a few years the foundations of these houses will shift and crack due to rising water tables and unstable ground.
Maybe then it will become clear to everyone who was telling the lies.
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. 
