Homelessness
While it seems strange and somewhat surprising to see someone just casually walk in to perhaps to take shelter it seems like it is now part of the "norm". I would have thought the owners would have some sort of security. But when you are homeless I guess you have nothing to lose.
Also it seems that everywhere I walk now I am confronted with tents being pitched in public parks all around Sydney. This was not like this last year. For obvious reasons I don't want to name any locations for the welfare of these people.
While I have had to do couchsurfing away from oz for a very tough few months as a result of being made redundant overseas, I am really saddened to see people resorting to such desperate measures and that it is hardly discussed.
Meanwhile our elected governments continue to play political football on this issue. Whether it is selling public housing for prime real estate or urban development which forces some to sleep rough when they can't afford to move, tell them to "get a good job" when employers are bringing in cheap 457 workers or just sweeping the issue under the carpet it is pretty shameful really.
Now I know this is a urbex forum and you might think "meh..." about politics whether it is about homelessness or lives being uprooted by things such as my last post on the westconnex so apologies for the political rant... But I think when exploring we should be conscious of the wider issue of the homeless and respect their space if we are ever confronted by them.
For the fun of it, I inquired about a labour job (chicken catching!) that I saw in the local paper over the Christmas period a few years back. Started the next day. Crappy (literally) work but not bad pay for unskilled work. They were constantly short-staffed and looking for new employees—I'd often be asked to work double shifts. But for some reason people would rather be on unemployment benefits than do hard work.
Having a quick look now I see many similar jobs advertised on Seek. Not to mention the countless small stores with "Staff required" signs in the windows.
Mental illness also plays a big part in many cases.Aydun wrote:IMO, people need to lower their standards and not be so picky if their livelihood depends on them finding work.
For the fun of it, I inquired about a labour job (chicken catching!) that I saw in the local paper over the Christmas period a few years back. Started the next day. Crappy (literally) work but not bad pay for unskilled work. They were constantly short-staffed and looking for new employees—I'd often be asked to work double shifts. But for some reason people would rather be on unemployment benefits than do hard work.
Having a quick look now I see many similar jobs advertised on Seek. Not to mention the countless small stores with "Staff required" signs in the windows.
The amount of homeless in Melbourne has quadrupled since the Kennett Government raised the requirements for patients to be kept in mental institutions (in other words patients that had been in mental institutions had to leave & ended up on the street). The amount of police shootings mostly involving mental illness skyrocketed at the time.
Drug induced psychosis is also an issue with the homeless.
In my opinion it's a pretty sad state.
A few years ago when you found that job it was very rare to see homeless on the street.
Coming back to the current day. Many are key workers in the city who got kicked out of public housing. Knowing the options of moving to a new area are tough on the pocket they decided to find somewhere nearby to sleep or couchsurf until the right place comes up. Now maybe they are picky but having to spend all your income on transport and sacrificing the bare essentials is a bit unfair.
Then there are some highlighted by micky who are mentally ill or a bit low intellectually.
Finally most of the jobs on Seek are or are just there for the 457 requirement. Also some homeless may find it hard to make themselves "presentable" for work and don't know where to get help.
I heard on the news there was a teacher or was it a uni tutor who killed himself in the blue mountains after being shuffled around from one school to another on casual contracts for too long. Will try and find that article.
It's unfortunately not a simple issue but I'm glad I put this out as now I know everyone's opinion on here and it kind of is a bit of a shock.
At the end of the day the stupid political establishment is failing to do something about it. They should be providing better support for things like mental illness, disability, education and other services while making employment easier and rewarding to stop the homeless epidemic. Yet all they do is cut to find savings and ignore the problem.