Councillor Richard Foley has been advocating for a government-run temporary camp where people in Wilks Park can move. Photo: Richard Foley/Facebook.
Several community members have written to Wagga Council urging it to set up a temporary camp for homeless people before it follows through with a threat to evict them from their makeshift homes and tents near the CBD.
Council rangers have issued notices to people residing in Wilks Park and along the Murrumbidgee River, informing them they have until Tuesday 28 July to leave or face a $1000 fine.
While the council claims Homes NSW is finding them alternative accommodation, the only option most have been offered is a temporary stay in a hotel room in the outer suburbs.
“Why would a sane person living in Wilks Park want to take up such a short-term unstable fix?” one concerned woman wrote in a letter to Mayor Dallas Tout.
The advocate attached a copy of Region’s recent article calling for council and Homes NSW to work together to set up a temporary camp in Wagga, with heating, showers, toilets and access to wraparound services.
The idea has long been pushed by councillor Richard Foley, advocate Vickie Burkinshaw and Ratepayers Association president Chris Roche.
“The need for a temporary serviced camp is essential,” Mr Roche wrote in a letter to the mayor, which also attached our article.
“With council, NSW Government and concerned residents working together, this camp can be established quickly and in a suitable location.”
He said the camp would remove homeless people from different locations and centralise them in one space, close to support services.
Former ABC journalist Moyra Shields said establishing a camp made more sense than devoting resources to forcing vulnerable people to leave spaces they had lived in for years.
“Witnessing council staff in mini dozers removing supposedly ‘abandoned’ campsites downstream of the Wagga Beach recently made me feel deeply upset,” she wrote in a letter to the mayor.
“It would be better and more humane to provide a truck to move the homeless people’s belongings to Wiradjuri Reserve where council was to set up a caravan park as part of the Riverside Masterplan back in 2017.”
Council’s use of heavy machinery at the Riverside Precinct has attracted criticism. Photo: Marguerite McKinnon.
While Wagga Council issued notices directing people to vacate their camps by 28 July, it appeared to soften its stance in a statement issued on Tuesday (21 July).
“While council has powers available for compliance action, a decision on when these powers will be exercised has not yet been made,” a spokesperson said.
“An individual genuinely engaging with support services with a view to being housed in accommodation is unlikely to be the subject of compliance action while those accommodation arrangements are being discussed.”
The spokesperson said temporary storage had been offered by council to those who needed to store personal items to assist in their transition to housing.
But with limited permanent housing available across the town, Kira Levin, principal solicitor of the Homeless Persons’ Legal Service at the Justice and Equity Centre, urged anyone receiving a threat of eviction to seek legal advice.
She also called on council to change its approach.
“Our position is that engaging in these punitive measures, to threaten to use force, is not an appropriate or compassionate or trauma-informed way to deal with this community,” she said.
Original Article published by Oliver Jacques on Region Riverina.
