Why HOME?

In western societies the most crippling of all poverties is, what I call, Relational Poverty: an entrenched isolation in which there is minimal and, often times, no meaningful human contact. Amongst the homeless mentally ill, for instance, this is an all too pervasive reality; one that leaves people who are very sick fending for themselves on the streets, in refuges, gaols and public housing estates throughout the nation.

When people are confronted with Relational Poverty their capacity to engage; to find work; to get better; to ‘get up’; and to live with dignity, is significantly diminished and, sometimes, extinguished.

Much of our approach to welfare and homelessness (governments, community, churches) is underpinned by impersonal charity which focuses on relieving material poverty – e.g. through the provision of low-cost housing, welfare benefits, soup kitchens, refuges, second-hand clothing bins, vouchers etc. This has its place and, in many instances, is critical; but it has little, if any, impact on addressing Relational Poverty. More often than not, our ‘impersonal charity’ helps people survive/exist only; lives are not transformed.

In relation to accommodation, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the crisis approach tends to be reactive and superficial only – a “one-night stand” type of care that has little long-term impact. Within this milieu, relationships are not fostered or encouraged, so people become entrenched in a never-ending cycle of homelessness: bouncing from refuge to refuge and back again. Thus, the often complex issues that underlie peoples’ crises are never properly addressed, so nothing really changes; we just re-cycle homelessness.

It is my belief that this approach tends to address ‘houselessness’ (physical needs), rather than homelessness (relational/spiritual/emotional needs).

In contrast, environments that foster relationships create opportunities for people to share what is at the heart of their predicament. This, in turn, means that more accurate assessments can be made and suitable paths/actions for recovery and long-term solutions can be mapped-out; and critical to this is employment.

Innate in all of us is a hunger to belong; to share with others; to not just be part of the ”village”, but to contribute to it as well.

In a nutshell, people need people.

Tragically, due to the lack of adequate and appropriate levels of care, there are too many people afflicted by mental illness who are homeless; and/or left to fend for themselves in refuges, boarding houses, gaols, and public housing estates throughout Australia.

It is not so much a lack of available funding, but rather the misplaced allocation of monies and the consequent lack of appropriately targeted facilities that leaves our brothers and sisters living in various states of squalor without care and dignity. Housing Departments do their best to accommodate some, hospitals and the police regularly process others, while many are on the roundabout of police watch-houses, hospitals, institutions and back out on the street.

The Queanbeyan community, led by the churches, has decided that enough is enough. It is well past the time to redress this unacceptable situation. To this end, what we are proposing is not an option but, as our Patron, Sir William Deane, says: it's a must.

We want to create a place where people will be valued and cared for: Home in Queanbeyan. HOME will provide a safe, supportive environment for our brothers and sisters who fall into the gaps where there is little or no care; the gaps of homelessness, gaol, and squalor. Finally, we recognise that HOME needs to be an initiative of the whole community, with funding, support and involvement from the local people, churches, business and government; an initiative that is modest and achievable.

Research evidence indicates that on any given day in the Queanbeyan area there are at least fifty to one hundred plus people with severe and long-term mental illness who are homeless. Mental illness compounds the daily struggle to acquire, prepare and consume enough food needed to maintain health. As a result of both their mental illness and declining physical health, increased and frequents periods of hospitalisation are occurring. When alcohol and drug dependency and brain injury is added to the equation, hospitalisation increases as might periods of incarceration in police cells and gaols.