BERWICK
Thursday, 22 March, 2018
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Homeless hell By Cam Lucadou-Wells Casey's growing tide of homelessness has swelled well over 1000, according to the latest statistics. There were about 1280 homeless in the municipality in the 2016 official Census period up by 33 per cent from 2011 figures. It soared by double the rate of Casey's population, while at the same time Victoria's homelessness rate remained steady. "That is incredible," says Keith Vethaak, who runs Transit Soup Kitchen in Narre Warren. If anything, the number would probably have grown since then, he says. Each week, his kitchen provides groceries and hot meals to about 1400 people, including the homeless and an underclass just hanging on to their homes. Ray Roberts, 57, dines at Transit. He and his hyper young dog Abby sleep on a single bed with blankets and an unzipped sleeping bag inside a van. They move between car parks in Dandenong, Narre Warren and Pakenham, meeting other long-term car dwellers in the South-East. "I regard myself as lucky, not even as homeless. "I'm lucky because I wouldn't want to sleep rough." He did that once in a Dandenong park about 20 years ago. He says he'd never do it again. Yet by the figures, there must be many who do sleep rough in Casey. Mr Roberts had boarded with a Doveton landlord. Overnight, he lost his shelter when the landlord died suddenly in bed. He'd lost work as a fruit-and-veg courier and couldn't afford the $400 weekly askingprice for a simple rental dwelling. "You don't take any notice (of the housing market). "I appreciate that I'll be driving around this country (in a mobile home) until I drop." He and Abby have been dependent on charities, while he trains in traffic worksite management.
Ray Roberts and dog Abby in their shared bedroom in the back of his van. 179045 Mr Vethaak says cost of living pressures are crushing people. The kitchen has recently introduced a meal-time for families with schoolaged children. "It all boils down to a shortage of affordable housing." Mr Vethaak says more elderly people are
under housing stress, such as newly-widowed people whose household income halves with the loss of their partner. "We've got a few old people who we are trying to pair with someone else." During a sit-down dinner on 19 March, about seven new faces joined scores of others
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Picture: CAM LUCADOU-WELLS for a feed - as well as a free shower, haircut and laundry service. A young couple arrives with just 40 cents to their name and "nowhere else to go", Mr Vethaak said. Continued on page 3
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