Although she’s been homeless for several months and struggles to find money to eat, Tracey Wilson insists there's “always someone worse off than I am”.
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“I’d give them my last five dollars - if I had five dollars,” she said.
Wollongong Homeless Hub clients Ms Wilson, 50, and friend Gary White, 51, are currently staying in temporary accommodation in central Wollongong.
The friends were living in a unit at Blackbutt, but have been homeless since June after Mr White lost the unit following a dispute.
Opened in October 2013, the Wollongong Homeless Hub is a one-stop shop for homelessness resources.
Clients are able to access multiple agencies from a single point.
Ms Wilson receives the Newstart Allowance, while Mr White is on a disability pension. They have been staying at their current accommodation for about a month.
Prior to that they were living on the streets, in cars and at her sister’s place, finding shelter wherever possible in the Illawarra and beyond.
“I appreciate it, it’s a roof over our head, but it’s $350 a week which is not on,” Ms Wilson said of their current accommodation.
“My door’s hanging on by one hinge, the windows are boarded up, the carpets are stained, I’ve got nails sticking out of my shower, my toilet roll’s broken.”
Ms Wilson said she received $440 a fortnight, in addition to “a little bit of rental assistance”.
After paying for accommodation, as well as storage costs, she said she’s left with $20 a fortnight. “I can’t eat, I can’t buy food, I can’t get petrol, credit,” she said.
“I come here to the hub at least four out of five days for brekkie.
“The hub’s wonderful - shower, food, support when you need a cry or a chat. They’re there for you.”
Ms Wilson said she had been homeless once previously, for a period of about six weeks in Coonabarabran due to a domestic violence situation.
However, she described the past six months as “full on”, especially due to the associated costs of having “a lot of health conditions too”.
Speaking to the Mercury earlier this week, Ms Wilson said they had a busy several days ahead of visiting potential rental properties, but even that process proved difficult.
“But now we don’t have money for petrol, I’ve got no credit on my phone,” she said.
Fellow Homeless Hub client Alfonso Hermosilla, 43, attends the hub for breakfast and also to seek assistance with searching for rental properties. Having grown up in the Illawarra, he is on a disability support pension.
Mr Hermosilla has been homeless for about seven months, after what he describes as a dispute with Department of Housing.
Since then he has been couch surfing and sleeping rough throughout the Illawarra, other parts of the state and Brisbane.
“Getting the required sleep, especially through winter (is difficult)... The required sleep is essential,” he said.
“I noticed that through the day, I’m carrying a backpack or something like that and it just wears you out completely.
“The safety overall is so much better in a bedsit or an apartment block than out there... It can be very dangerous out there in general, to be homeless.”
Mandy Booker, manager of Wollongong Emergency Family Housing and Wollongong Homeless Hub believed there had been a recent increase in homelessness in the Illawarra. “Due to the lack of affordable housing within the area, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for people to find stable accommodation,” she said.
“At this time of year particularly for our clients, and for the community, the beautiful thing is we live in a wonderful part of the country... The hardest thing for our people is that it means that we’re a tourist destination.
“That means that this time of year, the lack of availability through caravan parks and hotels that would normally be used for temporary accommodation are just not there.
“They’re being moved on and they’re being moved out because of the increasing rates that those places can charge... This year alone, as a service we’ve seen an increase in the middle income families utilising the service that have never usually accessed welfare services.
“So that tells me that we’re in a lot of trouble. If middle income families are struggling, then our really vulnerable people are really, really struggling.
“People are extremely isolated at this time of year when they don't have those family and social supports. So services like this one and others that support people at this time, their need is increased but also it’s so vital they get that support, because you’ve got the higher risk of suicide and things like that around this time of year."
Earlier this year, the Mercury spoke to Illawarra man Glenn Lillico, who had essentially become homeless overnight.
In July, he was sleeping on City Beach, Wollongong in a tent provided by Wollongong Homeless Hub. “I had a staph infection in my leg, so I lost my job, and I lost my place because I couldn’t afford to rent any more,” he said earlier this year. “You can have everything going good in your life one minute and be on the street the next.”
Ms Booker said Mr Lillico now has stable accommodation in affordable housing and was reportedly working part-time again.
Meanwhile, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the 2016 Census estimates of homelessness in 2018.
Ms Booker suggested that the Census figures may “not be as accurate as we'd like them to be”.
“I was part of the collection for the Census for the homeless in the outreach capacity on that night. The areas targeted within the demographic regions that we were given to actually find people to mark off on the Census were not what we traditionally know of where people are.
“So I think there will be a lot more hidden homeless that we don’t get counted.”
The Homeless Hub is located at 24 Kenny Street, Wollongong and can be contacted by phoning 4228 0955.