Police officers and Wagga Council workers move through the campsite issuing letters. Photo: Supplied.
Wagga Council has threatened to fine homeless people living in makeshift tents at Wilks Park if they do not leave the site, prompting accusations the council is using “fear and intimidation” against some of the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Council compliance officers, accompanied by four police officers, visited the park on Tuesday (11 August) and issued dozens of letters to people living at the camp because they have nowhere else to live.
The letter told residents they were not permitted to camp in the area and had to vacate the site by Tuesday, 25 August.
Anyone who failed to comply with the notice was “guilty of an offence”, with the council holding the “power to issue a penalty notice [fine] for non-compliance”.
Housing advocate Vickie Burkinshaw said the action was a cruel response to people already facing considerable uncertainty.
“This is fear and intimidation to our most vulnerable and it’s something we should all be ashamed of,” she said.
“Once again, all our effort is going towards compliance — if we have the time and resources to send police officers and council workers to the camp, why don’t we have the time and resources to help them?”
Advocates who observed the compliance action said council workers and police were respectful and polite, but argued it represented a backflip from the more compassionate approach they believed the council had agreed to just two weeks earlier.
“Our understanding was no enforceable action until September, to give Homes NSW the time needed to house people,” Ratepayers Association president Chris Roche said.
“We had hoped that council was going to take a more compassionate approach moving forward … but this shows the cruelty of council to people that are vulnerable.”
Wagga Council defended the action in a statement issued on Tuesday.
“The letter has been issued after council was informed that the rough sleepers had been given misleading information that suggested council was not going to exercise regulatory powers,” a spokesperson said.
“The letter details the conditions of staying at the park, what powers council has in enforcing these conditions, and also details the support services that are available to anyone who needs them.
“Wilks Park is a primitive campground, with a 72-hour limit and basic facilities meant for the community and for people travelling through Wagga Wagga as a short-term location where they can stay in their own self-contained accommodation such as campers or caravans. It is not designed as a place for someone to stay in a tent or other temporary accommodation for prolonged periods.”
The council said it had so far chosen not to undertake compliance action against anyone experiencing homelessness in Wagga Wagga and would continue to take this approach where people were actively engaging with support services to access more suitable accommodation.
But advocates say the people being ordered out of the park have nowhere else to go.
They say a lack of social housing means many homeless people are instead being directed into hotel rooms, which the advocates argue are not a sustainable alternative.
“Moving from one hotel room to another is not a viable option for someone trying to rebuild their life,” Ms Burkinshaw said.
“There aren’t enough in Wagga. I heard some homeless were moved out of their rooms during the NRLW Magic Round, when we had an influx of visitors.
“If you are stuck into a hotel room that has no way to cook for yourself, and you can’t have visitors, what do you do? We are further isolating people who need community support.”
Former ABC journalist Moyra Shields said the new approach represented the worst of both worlds.”We have privatised the homeless industry,” she said.
“We are paying private operators who own motels to house the homeless because we’re not building enough public housing. It doesn’t make sense because taxpayers are paying so much more — it also pushes up prices of hotel rooms for the rest of us.”
Original Article published by Oliver Jacques on Region Riverina.
