s p a c e: Collaboration, Co-operation and Conversation: Homelessness in the Northern Rivers: The Power of Discussion

When you hear the term ‘homeless’, what springs to mind? Images of dishevelled, angry men sleeping on cardboard boxes? Drug-infested, piss-soaked side streets where drunks fight over the last drop of cheap wine? Or maybe you conjure up images of a man, on his knees, head bowed and hand out, begging for some change. Believe it or not, homelessness, or ‘living without a fixed address’ is nothing like the Hollywood-induced narrative that is constantly portrayed in the media and instead, is more prolific and closer to home than you think. Take a moment to absorb the fact that, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), more than 116,000 people are homeless, 58% of those are male and 21% are aged between 21-34, with 20% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. 

Furthermore, according to the Bureau, Australians known to be at particular risk of homelessness include those who have experienced family and domestic violence, young people (51%), children on care and protection orders (50%), Indigenous Australians (46%), people leaving health or social care arrangements and Australians aged 55 or older.

Unfortunately, the statistics speak for themselves and the forecast is for numbers to increase, rather than drop, over the next decade. For a country that prides itself on ‘the great Australian dream’, the figures are undoubtedly closer to a nightmare and represent the deepening inequality throughout Australian society.

Silver Lotus, a passionate woman who has personally experienced ‘living without a fixed address’ in the Byron Bay region for around five years, spoke openly about what she believes are some of the reasons people find themselves without a permanent abode.

‘In my experience, a lot of people experiencing homelessness have gone through some form of trauma in their lives, be it when they were a child or more recently, which makes recovery complicated and more often that not, this ordeal develops into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),’ she said.

‘When you know you don’t have a stable place to sleep at night, your brain also shifts into a kind of survival mode and you constantly run on adrenalin, which leaves you feeling absolutely exhausted, both physically and mentally. As a result, your decision making abilities and the choices you are sometimes left with, place you in unfavourable situations. 

‘I guess you end up surviving, not thriving,’ she said.

CJ Holden, Experientialist and Creator of s p a c e, an organisation that that engages unlikely people in unexpected conversations with the objective of breaking down silos and exploring problems in new perspectives, believes that homelessness should simply not exist in a country as fortunate as Australia and as a result, decided to host an ambitious conversation regarding such a complex issue.

Involving the founders of Orange Sky, Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett, as well as Delta Kay, Silver Lotus and Adam Ferrier, co-founder of s p a c e, the panel not only provided some background context regarding homelessness in Australia, but also allowed attending guests to explore what Australia would look like without it.

‘The format of the event was for people to share ideas and leave inspired, rather than deflated or overwhelmed by the issue at hand,’ said CJ.

‘Given that we heard both Silver and Delta’s powerful personal stories regarding the issue, the event was exceptional and the attendees themselves presented some incredible ideas and suggestions regarding ways to quell the increasingly number of people who end up without a fixed address in Australia,’ he said.

Orange Sky, an organisation that provides every day Australians the opportunity to connect through a regular laundry and shower service, with a focus on creating a safe, positive and supportive environment for people who are too often ignored or disconnected from the community, is just one example of an idea that started out as way to improve hygiene standards and restore dignity to people doing it tough, which evolved into something more powerful. 

It too was an idea that began with conversation, connection and collaboration.

‘We launched our first service in Brisbane five years ago and naively, when we started, we purely saw it for it was - a laundry service. However, it’s more than just clean clothes, it’s actually the beautiful human connections our volunteers, users and supporters get out of the experience,’ said Nic.

‘You know it’s funny as most of us use statistics to create a business, or categorise people, but at the end of the end day, we’re all made of the same stuff. I think that is something we need to keep reminding ourselves when discussing issues such as homelessness. People are more than numbers,’ he said.

When discussing a range of solutions and ideas surrounding homelessness through the platform provided by s p a c e, the complexity and level of depth of homelessness in Australia became apparent.

’Unfortunately, you can’t just give a person with no fixed address a bit of support and a bed for a night and say ‘carry on with your life’ - the issue runs much deeper than that,’ said Silver.

‘What we need is wrap-around support. The transition to a happy life is a very slow and complicated process - we need to address the mental health, abuse and trauma issues faced by so many people without a fixed address.

‘There is also a great deal of judgement and stereotype towards those experiencing homelessness - people perceive you in a certain, mostly unsavoury way, and that also really affects your mental health and self-esteem.

‘Personally, I don’t think mainstream society realises that homelessness is a very complex and multi-layered process, and this creates major obstacles in moving forward or creating change around the issue,’ she said.

Adam Ferrier also spoke of the highly compounded problem.

‘Without a doubt it’s a bloody complicated issue and I’m not really sure what the answer is yet. Regardless, that doesn’t mean we can’t start doing something to stop the increasing levels of homelessness in Australia.

‘s p a c e is all about raising discussion surrounding issues people are usually uncomfortable talking about, which is something we want to change throughout Australia. The power of the mind is like no other, and we have some incredible minds in this country that need to be brought to the forefront,’ he said.

Although Silver believes change is not going to happen overnight, she too holds hope for the future.

‘People need to realise that at the end of the day, we are all people, we are all human beings - we all want a happy and purposeful life, but sometimes things just get in the way and drag us off the right path. Together, however, change is possible,’ she said.