NEWS DESK
Sleepout highlights the homeless Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au SLEEPING out in the cold is a tough ask even for one night – let alone on a regular basis. But it’s a common plight on the Mornington Peninsula for many people without jobs or on low incomes – and one being made worse by the scarcity of affordable rental properties and the closure of several traditionally cheap and accessible caravan parks. Mt Martha-based Fusion Australia – an organisation which works with the homeless – estimates up to 2000 people sleep “rough”, or in their cars, on the peninsula every night. To help them, it is running its third Sleep in Your Car 2017 event during Homelessness Week at Mornington Park on Saturday 5 August. The event aims to raise $30,000 which Fusion says will help “continue to change the lives of vulnerable young people in our community”. Fusion Mornington Peninsula housing co-ordinator Stuart Bell said those experiencing homelessness resort to sleeping anywhere they can, whether in a friend’s garage, on a couch, underneath a beach box, in a park or a building site. “Others may be lucky enough to access some form of emergency accommodation,” he said. “In other cases, people may end up in boarding houses which are often exploitative and sometimes unsafe places to live.” Rental affordability and availability is problematic, Mr Bell said. “With
Christmas lunch A TRADITIONAL Christmas in July lunch at Rosebud next month will aid the Cloverleaf organisation which provides a caring and supported permanent residence for those living with a disability. The lunch is 12.30pm, Sunday 23 July, at Rosebud Country Club, 207 Boneo Rd, Rosebud. The cost is $60 per person with drinks at bar prices. The event is billed as a fun-filled afternoon with entertainment, door prizes, auction and a raffle. To buy tickets call Carole 5991 5117 or 0409 253 651 or email sclowther@ bigpond.com Those attending should RSVP by 14 July. Those unable to attend are welcome to talk to Carole about making a tax-deductable donation.
Wrong way, go back
Cold comfort: The views might be good, but sleeping rough is a nightly experience for many on the Mornington Peninsula. Picture: supplied
people now competing for available rental properties, young people, who are often on very low incomes, may find accessing a tenancy extremely difficult if not impossible in the current environment. “There is a very low stock of available social and community housing.” Sleep in Your Car 2017 organiser Stephanie Byrne said those attending the 5 August event, but who are
unable to sleep out, were welcome to join in from 5.30pm to “learn about homelessness in the community and break down some of the stereotypes around young people experiencing homelessness”. They will be invited to “walk in the shoes of someone experiencing homelessness” through Fusion’s Walk Without Home simulation, and hear advice from homelessness services
and support systems. They can learn how to support someone at risk of, or who is experiencing, homelessness and “interact with the group’s art installation and local musicians around the narrative of the night”. Register for the Mornington Peninsula event at sleepinyourcar.com.au Food and coffee will be on sale.
A SILVER Great Wall utility drove south – in the north-bound lane – of Nepean Highway, Frankston, last week, with concerned police shadowing it on the left side of the road. Sergeant Phil Hulley, of Frankston police, said the crew of a divisional van spotted the ute with its headlights off at traffic lights in Wells Rd, 1.47am, Friday 16 June. The ute did a U-turn onto Nepean Highway and, with police driving alongside it in the correct lane, drove down the wrong side of the road across several intersections at about 40kph. Luckily there were no collisions. The police air wing and dog squad were called in but the car managed to elude police and went missing near Nursery Av, Frankston. The ute had been stolen from Somerville the night before. The divisional van damaged a rear tyre trying to apprehend it.
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Mornington News 27 June 2017
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