By KATRINA BRANDON
MORE than 1500 origami houses were displayed during Homelessness Week (August 4 to August 10), with the Gippsland Performing Arts Centre (GPAC) hosting the local closing event.
On Friday, August 8, the Gippsland Homelessness Network gathered at GPAC to talk about and recognise the ongoing issue together.
About 40 people attended the event, including local state politicians.
Quantum’s Gippsland Housing Supports General Manager, Mitchell Burney emceed the event, with local film-maker Jessika Mylne, Aunty Eileen Harrison, Member for Narracan, Wayne Farnham, Shadow Minister for Housing, Richard Riordan, Member for Gippsland South, Danny O’Brien, and Member for Eastern Victoria Region and state Housing Minister, Harriet Shing speaking.
Aunty Eileen spoke about her experience with homelessness and her journey to where she is today.
“In the middle of the late 70s, I probably would have been about 16, I ran away from home with my boyfriend, who would later become my husband,” she said.
“(The) reason I left home was because of domestic violence. Back in those days, it was unheard of, and it made me think about my own life.
“Every step that you take forward is a step towards your own hope. You are walking a path that others once stood on, and you are not alone in this journey. Remember that it’s not your fault. Chin up, shoulders straight and walk forward.”
According to Mr Burney, there has been a 32 per cent increase in people in Gippsland sleeping rough, and 3644 people in the last year have walked through the doors of the Gippsland Specialist Homelessness Entry Point for housing support.
Across the state, the Victorian Homelessness Network and Cooperation with the housing and homelessness peak bodies continue to call for at least 60,000 new social workers to be built in Victoria to meet current demand for social housing wait lists and for the implementation of a bold 10-year national housing and homelessness plan to reduce and end homelessness.
Mr Turney emphasised that society needs to work together to help solve the issue.
Ms Mylne reiterated Mr Turney’s point and followed with her story on the matter.
“This is a full circle moment for me,” she told the crowd.
“At 15-years-old, I also experienced homelessness. (Now) I’m also a producer of a documentary that I made to shine awareness on homelessness in Gippsland.
“I’m terrified of the cost of living, I’m terrified of the housing crisis, and I’m terrified that one day my children might add up, end up in the statistics sleeping it rough in our community that we call home.”
After sharing her personal connection to the issue, Ms Mylne laid down the statistics.
According to Ms Mylne, more than 4000 women over the age of 50 are on the brink of homelessness, and 7500 households in Gippsland are on the priority housing waitlist, with more than 15 per cent of people across the region sleeping rough in cars, tents or out in the open.
Ms Mylne also mentioned that people who experience homelessness are dying up to 30 years earlier than the general population, with three to four young people a week dying on the streets, primarily due to suicide.
“As a community, we can no longer look away and leave it to the next person or the next election or the next generation,” she said.
“All you need to do is look over there at origami houses behind me to see that we are in a crisis. These aren’t just paper. They represent real people, real families, desperately looking for a place to call home.”
After recognising Homelessness Week, the group networked and spoke on possible solutions in the warm sun and with a snag in hand.
