nonprofit offers homeless people one-on-one attention

Thursday, December 30, 2004

They're an eclectic group of people. Some are from Needham, others from closer to the city. Some are Unitarian Universalist. At least one is Roman Catholic. At least one of them has experienced homelessness. A few of them have tried to go out to the Boston Common with a can to collect change - just to see what it is like to be homeless.
"Most people will give you money," said John Mark Thomas of Lawton Road in Needham, who has tried collecting. "Some people will look you in the eye and say, 'Get a job.' Other people will just look the other way."
They are volunteers for Generic Ministry Inc., a nonprofit organization just over a year old that serves homeless people. Volunteer William Stuart of Quincy came up with the name to reflect the diverse faiths of the people in the group, which does not officially promote any one religious view.
"We're different," Thomas said of the group, which has just eight core volunteers and others who help on a less regular basis. Other organizations that help the homeless provide services such as shelter or food to large groups of people.
"We find one person and we stay with them," Thomas said. "We'll stop and mess around with one person for a half an hour." Just last week, Thomas called 911 for one man and helped another woman, who refused to go to a shelter, into an ATM foyer for the night.
The group, he explained, travels throughout the city two nights a week and passes out food, clothing and blankets to the homeless.
But Thomas said, "The most important thing we do ... is to talk to people. We talk to them and we say right up front, 'What can I do to help you get off the street?' "
On Tuesday nights, the group parks its van at the Park Street MBTA station and works from there. Some people from the homeless community have learned to recognize the members and will come to them for food or clothing on their own. That sort of service has been provided to homeless people before.
"I used to go to a van when I was homeless," Stuart remembered.
But Generic Ministry takes things even further.
On Wednesday nights, the group seeks out people who are even more desperate than those who come to the van on their own. They are the ones who are huddled in doorways or on benches who are too sick or frail to find the van. They are the people who may have been turned away from shelters after having misbehaved.
"These are the people who have been rejected by society, by their families and by the institutions that are supposed to help them," Thomas said. It's possible, he said, for the volunteers to find a boy, as young as 19, homeless in the streets, to call up his family and tell of his plight and to have the family tell them they want nothing to do with the boy.
Talking with homeless people helps Generic Ministry volunteers to form relationships with them. Occasionally, a homeless person will trust them enough to accept the long-term help that they have to offer.
"Some of the folks on the street suffer from drug addiction or alcoholism. Some are also mentally ill," Thomas said. If a homeless person is willing, the volunteers will take them to a shelter, pick them up in the morning, get them the professional help they need and, over the long term, help them get a job and housing.
"You take them to a detox and you go visit them, and you tell them you care about them and you'll be there for them when they come out," Thomas said. "And we keep our promises."
Though Generic Ministry has been around for less than two years, the concept of it was born more than a decade ago, when volunteer Susan Gallagher of Weymouth used to do something similar on her own.
"I started out with one particular person," Gallagher said. She was going to church in Boston while her regular church in the suburbs underwent renovation when she noticed two people on a blanket next to the church. It looked like a picnic, Gallagher said. But the people were there when she came out and continued to be there week after week even as the weather got colder. She knew she had to do something.
"I was thinking, how can I go to Mass when there are people who need my help?" Gallagher said. Over the course of a decade, she worked with the same two people, trying to get them into a detox program and off the street, she said.
One of those people was Stuart. But Stuart said that the day he went to a detox program, he made the decision on his own and he went on his own. Gallagher, however, visited him there.
It was in that detox facility that both Stuart and Gallagher met Thomas, who, having retired from a job in software, was working there as a counselor. Thomas, knowing that Stuart had no home to go to after finishing the program, helped him to find housing and a job and even provided him with temporary shelter in his own home for a few weeks.
Thomas, Stuart and Gallagher never lost touch and ultimately came together to form Generic Ministry. They were soon joined by Sharon Colley of Quincy, a friend of Stuart's, and Beverly Johannesen and her husband, Will Totton of Needham, who knew Thomas because all three go to church at First Parish in Needham.
"I heard him say something about it, and I thought, 'Jeepers, could you use some help,' " Johannsen remembered.
A retired nurse, Johannesen spends much of her time helping to gather food and clothing for Generic Ministry services. She shows up at Sudbury Farms, which donates much of the food to the group, at closing time and loads up several carts with leftovers. She and Totton go to discount stores and flea markets to buy clothing and other supplies that homeless people need.
A retired nurse, Johannesen also speaks with some of the homeless women the volunteers encounter on the street, although Thomas said most of the homeless people on the street are men.
For the most part, the volunteers find their work to be very satisfying.
"We have a good time when we go out," Stuart said.
Thomas said when he first started doing the work, he worried that he wasn't really helping. But that feeling went away.
"You build relationships," he said, "and you realize that you really can do some good."

Youth Ministry Resources

This page lists youth ministry resources supplied weekly and several reflections for youth ministry groups. The page is featured in a directory: youth ministry resources and has almost 100 reflections in it. Please add to this resource by emailing in any contributions you have.

City's homeless crisis a disgrace

The results of the 2004 Edmonton homeless count have yet to be tabulated, but ask anyone who works with the city's poor and disenfranchised and they'll tell you the outcome is a no-brainer.

The only question remaining is, exactly how much has the number of adults and children living on our streets increased in the last two years?

"Certainly, most community agencies (that deal with the homeless) are reporting that more people are trying to access their services," said John Beke, executive director of the Edmonton Joint Planning Committee on Housing, which conducted the count on Oct. 19.

The committee plans to release the final tally on Nov. 14.

Two years ago, the committee counted 1,915 people, including 267 children, a staggering increase over the 1999 count, which recorded 836 homeless.

Part of the reason for the dramatic hike is that with each count, the committee gets better at figuring out where the homeless are finding shelter, and 2004 is no exception. This year the scope of the count has expanded beyond the inner city and neighbourhoods around the downtown core.

Volunteer surveyors also canvassed the west end, notably a truck stop at the Yellowhead Freeway and 170 Street, where people looking for work have been known to live in their cars because they can't find a place with affordable rent.

Because of this, and coupled with the fact that most of surveyors doing this year's count are new at it and can't compare what they saw with the 2002 count, Beke was reluctant to even hazard a guess at what the final numbers will be.

"We expect to see an increase, but the numbers might not be up as much as you'd think," he said optimistically. He pointed to several new housing projects that have opened in recent years to address the need for more emergency shelter beds, transitional housing for people getting back on their feet and supportive housing for people who will always need a little help.

In fact, the newest project will have its grand opening this weekend. The Hope Mission will unveil its $5.2-million expansion, which will provide another 230 spaces - 70 spots for people who are intoxicated and need a place for the night, 100 more emergency shelter spaces, 41 beds for transitional housing and 19 self-contained suites for long-term supportive housing.

Eighty per cent of the project's funding came from the Edmonton Housing Trust Fund, which since 2000 has pumped $34 million into affordable housing projects around the city, helping to create 1,100 new spaces for people who can't afford to pay market prices for rent.

You'd think with all this being done, homelessness would be decreasing in Edmonton. But it seems for every person who manages to get off the streets and into safe housing, more just keep turning up at shelter doors.

Simply building housing does not address the reasons why people are out on the streets in the first place.

Edmonton's economy is booming, and this is drawing people who think the city will provide their ticket out of poverty. Problem is, many can only qualify for jobs that pay the minimum wage, which at $5.90 per hour is nothing short of Dickensian, seemingly calculated to keep people poor.

Then there are other social issues, such as substance abuse. According to the housing trust fund, 66% of all homeless are battling some form of addiction.

And then there are the people with physical and mental health problems. Many homeless are on the streets because they're trying to scrape by on government disability pensions, which aren't even keeping up with inflation.

In a province with as much wealth as Alberta, Edmonton's homeless crisis is not only a tragedy, it's a disgrace. Nobody should be living on the streets.

Beatings of homeless stun most TR North students

DOVER TOWNSHIP -- It hasn't been a very good week at Toms River High School North.

On Wednesday, Dover Township police announced that five North seniors had been arrested and charged with assaulting three homeless men and a homeless woman in separate incidents that started in late June.

On Thursday, media outlets from around the tri-state area descended on North, which with 2,400 students is the largest high school in the Toms River Regional district.

Yesterday, three North student leaders said the actions of the five students are an aberration, and not at all representative of their school.

"In light of the situation, our school has been completely misrepresented," said Karla Rinaldi, 17, who is North's senior class president. "There are so many good things that happen here every day."
Taylor Sardoni, 16, junior class president, agreed that the five students' actions and the resulting media coverage have left North students angry and frustrated.

"It's totally outrageous, what these kids were doing," Sardoni said. "I had never heard anything about this happening. I was as surprised as anyone else to hear about it."

Student Council Treasurer Chris McGowan, 16, said he is disappointed that people rarely hear about the good things that happen regularly at North, including the fund-raising drives and community service frequently undertaken by students.

"It's just a shame we're not in the news for all the good things we do," McGowan said. "So many students are involved in so many positive things."

High School North's principal, Jim Hauenstein, who started that job in September, said Student Council President Jaclyn Schiller approached him Thursday to suggest that North students do something to help the homeless and the less fortunate in Dover Township.

"The whole situation has people embarrassed and angry," Hauenstein said. "It's really been devastating for the school community."

Hauenstein said students plan to start a clothing drive to collect coats, hats, gloves and scarves for less-fortunate residents and also hope to hold a food drive sometime soon.

"We are beginning plans to start, in a week or two, a jacket drive," Hauenstein said. "We would like to make sure something positive can come out of something so terrible."

Late Tuesday afternoon, the five North seniors were arrested and charged with aggravated assault in connection with the attacks on the homeless. The students, who may have been imitating a controversial video series called "Bum Fights," apparently called their activities "bum hunting" and boasted about it later at school, police have said.

Police have estimated there are between 10 and 20 homeless people living in Dover Township, mostly camping in wooded areas off Route 37 or near the Garden State Parkway.

During the assaults, the suspects used weapons, including baseball bats, a golf club, metal rods, bricks and hockey pucks to attack their victims. One victim, 50-year-old Larry Radomski, suffered five broken ribs, a punctured lung and a fractured right arm.

A 42-year-old female victim suffered facial lacerations when bricks were thrown at her tent, and a 44-year-old man suffered injuries to his face, arms and shoulders when he was struck with a golf club and fists.

One of the suspects has been identified by police as Frank Novak, 18, of Bowling Green Drive, who is free on $50,000 bail.

The other four male teenagers are 17; their names have not been released by police because they are juveniles. Two were being held in the Ocean County Juvenile Detention Center, while the other two were released to their parents' custody.

School Superintendent Michael J. Ritacco said the school district is prohibited by law from suspending the students involved in the assaults because the crimes did not happen on school property and were not connected to the school in any way.

He said the students arrested had never previously been charged with any violent incidents, but there has been previous disciplinary action against them.

At a pep rally held yesterday at North only hours before the North vs. Toms River High School South football game, marching band members played while cheerleaders exhorted the crowd.

McGowan said before the pep rally that almost all students are angry about the attacks because of the bad light cast on their school.

"It's not just the Student Council officers," he said. "It's everyone that you talk to. Everyone is upset about this."

My 2 cents:

The students are very lucky they picked the right group of homeless people to attack. Otherwise the headline would have read 'Students killed by local homeless.' None of the students from that school should feel safe walking the streets now. They have no idea what a violent and unforgiving would the streets are.

The Homeless Guy

One of the most interesting and useful voices on homelessness is Kevin or The Homeless Guy. His blog has been going for some years and is a very interesting for anyone wanting to learn more about homeless people or homelessness. Check it out: The Homeless Guy. I noticed he recently added his Christmas Wish List to amazon so you can make a selection and send him something for Christmas too.

Vets for Animal Welfare

Have a squiz at this blog... Vets for Animal Welfare, written by a student who will one day be a brilliant vet. I don't know the first thing about Animal welfare, but I found her blog very interesting and inspiring.

Check it out.

Runaways, pose special problems for police

When Laura Hatch first disappeared after an Oct. 2 party in the Redmond Ridge development, her family called the police.

The King County Sheriff's Office opened an investigation into the missing 17-year-old from Redmond, assigned a detective to the case and began to interview family and friends. Until Hatch was found in her wrecked car a week ago today, the police considered her a runaway.

``People have accused us of stigmatizing the girl by putting that label on her,'' said Sgt. John Urquhart, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.

Whether to classify someone as a runway or just missing is up to the investigating officers and a dose of common sense.

In Hatch's case, there were no indications of foul play, Urquhart said. Secondly, he said, ``there were indications she was most likely one of the runaways.'' Those indications would be based on what was going on in her life at the time. He didn't provide specifics, and Hatch's family disputes the notion that there was anything going on to make her want to leave.

Hatch is now recovering in Harborview Medical Center. She was listed in serious condition Saturday in the intensive care unit.

The police went out and searched along Novelty Hill Road, a likely route home from the party, but had no clues indicating where she might be.

It turned out later Hatch had taken an alternate route home and gone off the road into a heavily wooded ravine. A family friend eventually found her, but only after several hundred volunteers had gone out the previous day to search for her.

In most cases, runaways present a particular problem for police.

``There is not a whole lot you can do,'' Urquhart said. ``Basically you can talk to people, as we did in this case.''

Urquhart was unable to provide the number of runaway cases the department takes up in a year, but it is a lot.

In 2003, the Bellevue Police Department recorded 160 runaway cases, said Officer Michael Chiu. Teens aged 13-18 were the subjects in 152 of them.

A runaway's family is often the key to finding them, Chiu said.

``The people who are most effective at getting runaways are the parents,'' Chiu said. ``They know who they hang out with, the cars, which houses.''

If police find a runaway, there is little they can do if the runaway is an adult and does not want to return, Chiu said. If the runaways are under 18, the parents will be called, but even then that isn't a definitive ending to the scenario. A lot of it depends on how at-risk the kid is.

``A lot of times they voluntarily allow us to drive them home,'' Chiu said. Sometimes the kid will instead be turned over to the state Department of Social and Health Services. In some cases, a young person can be sent to Youth Services for the night until further instructions are received.

``Sometimes we notify the parents and they say `Just let the kid go,' and we release them on the street,'' Chiu said. ``The more dysfunctional the family, the more difficult it is for us to help them.''

``There are many places a family should go for help before a child runs away,'' Chiu said.

The standard operating procedure when a runaway or missing teen is reported is to put out a bulletin to all officers and other police and fire departments. The subject is entered into a statewide computer network as a runaway or missing. After 30 days, dental records will be obtained and the entire case will be forwarded to the State Patrol.

``The vast majority of the time we don't hear anything,'' said Kent police spokesman Paul Petersen. ``They come back. Sometimes the family calls us, sometimes the family does not.''

``After 30 days, we call the family, and they tell us `Oh, she came back two weeks ago,''' Petersen said.

Petersen said that at the Kent Police Department, maybe one case in 50 gets sent up to the state level.

The difference between a runaway and someone who is just missing depends on a lot of external factors.

``We would need an indication from reporting people or family that this person was of a mind to run away,'' Petersen said.

In Laura Hatch's case, she just disappeared. Her family did not believe she had run off. Laura had been at the party with her twin sister Karen that evening, and Karen had all of Laura's identification and debit cards. Laura Hatch had also never run away before.

Police need at least some kind of tip before they know where to look.

Petersen recalled the case of Gregory Milner, a 41-year-old Kent man who disappeared Dec. 30, 2002, somewhere along a long drive from Minnesota back to Kent. The police traced his last cell phone call to Circle, Mont., some distance from Milner's usual route along Interstate 94.

Milner's family eventually rented a plane and flew over his route. Seven days later, they found his truck down a deep ravine in eastern Montana. Milner was already dead.

``When we have reason to believe that there may have been an accident like (Hatch) had, then we would be out there searching,'' Petersen said.

Study reports 52,000 homeless in Britain

London, England, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- A study by a British charity published Monday said at least 52,000 young people are homeless in England, the Daily Mirror reported.

Working for the charity Centrepoint, researchers at York University used statistics from all local authorities to calculate the number of 16 to 24 year olds homeless in 2003.

The study counted young people as homeless if they had nowhere to live, were based in temporary accommodation, could not stay at home because of violence or if they were living in unfit housing.

The study found there were more young women than men, and the charity's chief executive, Anthony Lawton said he fears the true number is higher, as thousands of people do not appear in any official figures.

As many as 6,700 -- or one in eight homeless youths have had recent experience of sleeping on the street, the newspaper said.

Rosies Youth Mission

General Cosgrove to Launch Tapestry Fund for Rosies Youth Mission

General Peter Cosgrove is going to launch the Rosies Youth Mission Tapestry Fund at the Queensland Irish Association on Friday 22nd of October. The brunch, which starts at 10:00am is $45 per person, will feature an address by General Cosgrove as he launches the fund in memory of Teresa and Greg Jackson who passed away tragically at the start of the year.

If you would like to purchase tickets for the launch or would like to make a donation to the Tapestry Fund, please e-mail admin@rosies.org.au or call 1300 ROSIES (fixed line only).

If you live in Brisbane I encourage you to support this event.

Australian Idol

Follow the progress of Australian Idol performers online today. Australian Idol is on again, vote now for your winner of Australian Idol in this online poll.

Homelessness for rent

TOWNSVILLE is suffering a rental crisis which places the city high on the list for the greatest number of homeless people in the country.

Tenant Advice and Advocacy Service principal Shaun Watson said yesterday the homeless in Townsville were not confined to drunks in parks but families including children under 12.
Some families were living in cars.
Mr Watson's concern for the city's situation has prompted a pre-election forum on affordable rental housing on Saturday at 3pm at The Strand Amphitheatre in Gregory St, North Ward.
Mr Watson said it was "a bit difficult to ascertain the Townsville figure for homelessness" but maintained there were 1300 households on the long-term waiting list for public housing.
"But of those in public and private rental housing there are at least 3000 families in financial stress because they are paying more than 30 per cent of their income in rent."
Mr Watson said there needed to be a multi-government co-ordinated strategy to overcome such a situation and the Federal Government needed to take the lead following a 54 per cent decline in its contributions to public housing in the past 10 years.
"The Commonwealth is just not supporting the lower socio-economic sector in housing.
"The facts speak for themselves and without further assistance from the Commonwealth the situation will continue to get worse."
Mr Watson said people in housing crisis shelters, living on the floor at friends' homes or prostituting themselves for a roof over their heads were included in the homeless figures.
"In 2001 there were 100,000 homeless people across Australia.
"Of those, 10,000 were under the age of 12 and a staggering 26,000 were aged 12 to 18 years.
"There needs to be a co-ordinated effort with the Federal Government nominating a federal housing minister to work with State and local governments in a bid to address this problem."
Mr Watson said in the 2001-02 census there were 943,000 people receiving rental assistance and since then about 35 per cent of those had had rent increases of at least 30 per cent.
About 9 per cent were now spending up to 50 per cent of their income on rent even after receiving rent assistance.
"This shows that rental assistance as a sole housing strategy has failed and has the potential of ballooning out even further."

Cycling to help homeless people

SLEEPING in doorways and scavaging in bins for food was a big fall from grace for a man accustomed to driving a Porsche and wearing Armani suits, but Paul Mack says he is richer for the experience.
A self-made millionaire, Mr Mack said he spent six months on the streets in Sydney's Pennith Hill in 1999 after drinking away his savings.
Five years on he has devoted his life to helping other homeless people and is more than 2000km into a charity ride around Australia.
"I'm much richer today, I'm spiritually rich, money's not my goal, I go out and help the homeless and give them my love," Mr Mack said yesterday after arriving in Port Campbell lugging 125kg of supplies.
Along the way he is appealing to the public to donate or sponsor blankets for people living on the street. He wants to establish a national appeal day for homeless people.

Mr Mack said he had dedicated his trip to his best mate Lenny, a homeless man who died in 1999.
The 43-year-old, who has two homes, in Avoca and Byron Bay, said the turning point in his life came when a priest gave him his last rites in 1999.
He decided to get himself out of his dismal situation and set about helping others rebuild their lives.
"This is not about money, it's about bringing awareness to the Australian public about homelessness, it's about love," he explained.
Mr Mack said there were more than 100,000 homeless people in Australia and said his ultimate aim was to open a large rehabilitation centre for homeless people on the NSW/Victorian border.
He said most homeless people needed to be rehabilitated and said their six-week stay at the centre would be followed by a one-week stint on the streets helping other people.
Mr Mack said he had offered support to about 6000 homeless people since his ride started in Gosford, NSW, on May 15 and has also collected more than 1000 blankets and has secured the support of 2000 businesses.
He is also making a movie about his experience and posts weekly accounts of his adventures on his website.
Mr Mack will pedal into Warrnambool about 4pm today and said he planned to stay in the city for several days before continuing his journey which will end in Byron Bay on New Year's Eve 2005.

Vinnies names first National CEO

150 years after its Australian founding, the St Vincent de Paul Society has broken new ground by appointing a Sydney businesswoman as its first ever national chief executive.

The Society has appointed Helen Cameron, a company director and former finance executive, to the new position.

National Council President John Meahan said Ms Cameron's appointment is part of the Society's National Council review of its management team and organisational structure "to improve its effectiveness in helping Australia's disadvantaged".

"We chose Helen because of her extensive background in business, her experience with Foodbank and in dealing with government," he said. "The St Vincent de Paul Society is at a pivotal time in its long history in this country and needs to meet the changing needs and increasing demands of the community."

Mr Meahan said that as Australia faces a massive increase in the gap between the rich and the poor, Vinnies needs to "harness [its] energies to work towards innovative solutions".

The St Vincent de Paul Society has 38,000 members and volunteers in Australia, with over 2200 staff. It helped nearly one and a half million Australians last year. The Society is well known for its retail chain of 600 "Vinnies" stores. It is a major provider of services in aged care, to migrants & refugees, and to the homeless, through places such as the Matthew Talbot Hostel.

Ms Cameron has extensive business experience, with a background in finance as a director of a major global bank, senior management roles in two multinational consumer food organisations and as a director of a number of publicly listed companies and government organisations.

She was on the board of Foodbank NSW for nearly five years where she was Deputy Chairman. During that time she fostered a number of relationships with both corporations and the NSW government to help support that organisation.

Ms Cameron is keen to develop the Society's national strategy to enhance its ability to support its services to the community. "I am very much looking forward to contributing to the great variety of different activities the Society conducts in helping many Australians each year from different walks of life. As the needs of the Australian community evolve, the Society needs to remain flexible and adapt its activities to meet the changing demands of the community", she said.

The end of the line before homelessness

When George Franks moved into the Half Moon caravan park, in the shadow of the Westgate Bridge, he expected to stay for three months. Eight years later he says a combination of factors, including a downturn in the industry and illness in the family, prolonged his stay.
Mr Franks, 60, is one of about 22,000 Australians living in caravan parks, part of an underclass the Victorian Council to Homeless Persons says often lives on the verge of homelessness.
"A key issue is the low level of public housing stock. People are forced to live in caravan parks, which is not a reasonable long-term option," said chief executive Deb Tsobaris.
About 100,000 Australians were homeless at the last census in 2001, and caravan parks, accommodating 3400 Victorians, were "the end of the line" before homelessness, said Ms Tsobaris.
"It is insufficient to expect the private sector to meet the needs of the most vulnerable Australians. We want the major political parties to address the issue of affordable housing in the election campaign. The Federal Government needs to commit to a public housing strategy for people living on the margins so they can live stable lives," he says.
The council and six other Victorian welfare agencies - Anglicare Victoria, the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Good Shepherd, the Society of St Vincent de Paul, VCOSS and the Salvation Army - hope to fire a discussion of social justice during the election campaign. "The main parties have highlighted truth and integrity as key issues of this campaign," said Anglicare Victoria chief executive Ray Cleary yesterday. "But the plight of the most vulnerable members of our society seems to be missing from the election debate so far. The biggest challenge facing the incoming federal government will be returning Australia to a just and decent society."
Council to Homeless Persons policy officer Michelle Marven said caravans generally cost between $120 and $250 a week, an amount largely unsustainable for a person on welfare benefits.
While people were often referred to caravan parks as a matter of last resort byagencies, they were far from ideal.
And while people were often referred to caravan parks as a matter of last resort by agencies, they were far from ideal, especially for families.
Mr Franks, with about $250 left to live on each fortnight after paying rent, has seen it all - drugs, alcohol and violence. "There are problems in every park. You get all forms of life here. I tend to keep to myself," he said.
Some do a "moonlight flit", leaving under cover of darkness to avoid paying rent. Mr Franks plans to move into a house or unit by Christmas, but says the stigma of living in a caravan can derail such plans for residents without contacts.
As for the election campaign, it means little to him: "I don't take any notice. I've seen it all before. They talk a lot and then they do nothing," he says.

Struggle to handle flood of homeless

HELEN KEMPTON reports on a real need. IT IS A CRUEL irony. Thousands of dollars and man- hours are spent each year looking for people lost and exposed to the elements in the bush.

Yet every night people are sleeping in doorways in Devonport's shopping district and society turns a blind eye.

Along the North-West Coast more than 2500 people are without a home and while most manage to cram in with friends or relatives or access emergency accommodation, on any given night about 200 are sleeping rough.

At a soup and sandwich service in Ulverstone's Apex Park at least 20 of the people coming for food also need shelter.

And last week a Burnie crisis centre was forced to turn away a mother with seven children because they could not be accommodated.

The latest official statistics were prepared three years ago - before Tasmania's upgraded passenger-ferry service brought in a wave of people looking to escape poverty on the mainland and investors looking to snap up rental properties.

At a North-West Social Justice Network forum in Forth this week, representatives from Anglicare, St Vincent de Paul, the Salvation Army, Housing Tasmania and the Warrawee Women's Shelter said welfare agencies along the coast could not meet demands for shelter.

"If you go down to Devonport's CBD at 2am on any night, every doorway has someone sleeping in it," a woman told the forum.

Housing Tasmania said a new development similar to one in Launceston where a hotel was being refurbished into hostel rooms would happen in Burnie soon to ease the situation.

"But again, it will not be enough," she said.

A North-West Social Justice Network spokesman said it was perceived that a lot of the region's crisis housing was being used to accommodate the influx of homeless people arriving on the Spirit of Tasmania rather than locals in need.

A lot of those arriving in Devonport by sea with nowhere to go, head straight to St Vincent de Paul in East Devonport.

"Volunteers arrive to open the office and people who have been there since the ships docked are waiting," a volunteer said.

"They have to be told no, that nothing is available." Emergency hostels are solidly booked.

If there is no hope of slotting them into the region's crisis accommodation network some are helped with ship fares back to the mainland.

Others are sent by bus to Hobart's Bethlehem House.

"We can help people with food or emergency money but we don't have houses," the volunteer said.

Anglicare has offices in Devonport and Burnie and last financial year it assisted 640 clients.

"Most of the people we see have been evicted," an Anglicare representative said.

"Houses they were renting have been bought and when they are evicted there is nowhere else to rent.

"We are seeing people from all walks of life and people who have never been to Anglicare before."

When there are no emergency beds available, Anglicare will buy motel or caravan nights for its clients. But the tourism bonanza means these rooms are already gone.

At Burnie's Oakleigh House, 100 people looking for shelter had to be turned away last month.

"It doesn't take that much for people to fall out of independent living. Since January we have provided 6000 bed-nights and 5000 meals," a spokeswoman said.

The mayors of Devonport, Latrobe and Central Coast were at the forum and they too have seen an increase in housing problems over the past few years.

Central Coast Mayor Mike Downie said more people had been knocking on his door looking for help with housing.

"One young girl was living in her car," he said.

Latrobe Mayor Mike Gaffney said transients were often seen wandering around town for two or three days before they were steered in the direction of crisis services.

Devonport Mayor Peter Hollister said he had noticed people sitting in Devonport's mall with all their belongings.

Youth and Family Focus spokesman Wayne Gaffney said homelessness was not a new problem but the dynamics of society were changing.

"Children used to go to extended family when parents were going through a rough patch. That extended network is just not there anymore," he said.

Last year the Devonport youth shelter provided 1200 bed nights to 200 people.

Mr Gaffney said the shelter's clients were made up of two main groups - a transient group and local kids who need support to live independently or to help them get back home.

Ulverstone's Warrawee Women's Shelter has helped 135 women and 129 children this year.

"We see single mums, single women or those who have been married for years and decide to escape violence when the kids grow up," a spokeswoman said.

"Sadly for some it is too hard and they go back to abusive situations or stay with friends and family and wear out their welcome."

The manager of Housing Tasmania in Burnie said there were 12,000 public housing properties in the State and moves were afoot to increase that number.

High profile conviction highlights homelessness problem

The conviction of former Wollongong ALP official Neville Hilton on child prostitution charges has exposed the problem of youth homelessness in the area.
A Sydney District Court jury yesterday found Hilton guilty of 19 offences.
The charges relate to the employment of two girls, aged 13 and 14, at the Port Kembla brothel Hilton part owned.
It emerged in court the girls went to the brothel looking for work because they were homeless and thought, as sex workers, they could support themselves.
Sheryl Wiffen coordinates a local church-based health service.
She says there a too many homeless young people facing similar circumstances.
"Know we have to eat, anybody had to eat and people will do whatever they have to do to make that happen," she said.
Ms Wiffen says despite the publicity the case has attracted, some homeless sex workers in Port Kembla still live in cardboard boxes.

Happy Valley work nearly finished

The $500,000 of redevelopment at Townsville's Happy Valley is almost complete.
The area has been upgraded and expanded as part of the Queensland Government's commitment to addressing the problems of public drunkenness and homelessness in the city.
The Minister for Aboriginal and Islander Policy, Liddy Clark, says Happy Valley residents have been involved in the work to build three new shelters, showers and toilets, barbecues and a laundry.
She says the remaining work should be finished by the end of the year.
"There's going to be a facility for visiting consultations from doctors and health workers and drug and alcohol counsellors and that's all been redesigned following consultation with the health workers and that, in fact, should be completed by November," she said.

One churchman's view of a nation in crisis

There is a sense of despair among many people about the direction Australia is taking, writes Peter Watson.
If the church is truly to fulfil its mission, it must speak prophetically to and understand the life and culture of the nation. Here is my reading on how the nation of Australia stands at this time.
Democracy. How does this nation express its membership of the international community? We have until recently been known as a friendly country that welcomed refugees and migrants. But this trait has been seriously questioned worldwide ever since the children overboard controversy and the Tampa affair. The fact is that most of those on the Tampa and other boats were, in the end, determined to be genuine refugees. Excising islands and placing boat people in New Guinea and Nauru, and so removing them from access to Australia's legal system, was too clever and inhuman. Have we no sense of shame as a nation?
Iraq. It was not right for Australia to join in the war against Iraq. Indeed, I believe in just a short time Australia will look back, as we did on our involvement in the Vietnam War, and say it was a mistake.
And we know it is time to be alarmed when 43 former military chiefs, diplomats and public servants decide to write an open letter calling for "truth in government" after the misleading of the Australian people over the chief reason given for the pre-emptive strike.
Federal Election. An election time is a good period to talk about truth in politics. Unfortunately, most Australians have stopped believing what politicians say. Truth seems to be the first casualty in elections. Tony Fitzgerald, QC, was right to warn about the danger to democracy this represents. If a healthy democracy is to be maintained, then politicians must tell the truth and governments must be made accountable by open debate, in which a properly informed public can engage without cynicism or "a sense of futility".
It will also be a very sad day for this country if those who advocate a "fair, tolerant and compassionate society" are to be derided as "unAustralian" or a "bleeding-heart elite", to quote Mr Fitzgerald.
A habit is also developing of politicians making promises to spend public funds as if it were their own money and for electoral advantage, rather than acknowledging government expenditure as an act of stewardship on behalf of all citizens for the common good.
We hope the day never arrives in Australia when church agencies and non-government charities are deprived of government funds because they have questioned government policy. An enlightened view of government is that it should govern for the common good, not for partisan or sectional interests and certainly not for the benefit of one or other of the major political parties.
What are people worried about? The issues of health, education, public safety, affordability of home ownership, public housing and mental illness, especially depression and suicide.
On health, people worry whether we are inadvertently developing a health system like the American - with two levels, one for those who can afford private health insurance, and a lower level of care with long waiting lists for the rest. This would be a very unfortunate breakdown of the Australian commitment to equality.
On education, young people and their parents worry that the cost of tertiary education is getting beyond their reach. The HECS debt will be such that thousands of young people will be asking if they will ever own a house of their own. The great Australian dream is shrinking.
The spiralling house prices have also led to a sense of despair among many who are now resigned to never owning their own property. Tax advantages through negative gearing of investment property need urgent review. We all have a vested interest in an educated, healthy, well-housed Australia.
The other side of the housing crisis is the reduced amount of public housing, which is a great concern to the welfare sector and to the churches. A lucky country such as ours should not have an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 homeless on the streets every night. And we all believe that providing public housing for families, and especially lone-parent families, is a public duty.
Environment. Undoubtedly, one reason for despair among the young is the perceived indifference by those holding influence and power to saving the planet. Our mindsets and economies seem dismally and unimaginatively locked into burning fossil fuels, with all the pollutants and greenhouse gases they produce.
Governments must actively promote and encourage the development of alternative and clean energy sources if the human race is to have a future.
There has also been much debate about the logging of our old-growth forests. Many of these ancient and magnificent trees are woodchipped for very small economic return to the community at large. Often there is a depressing failure of imagination and political will to preserve what is beautiful and worth preserving for its own sake, and at the same time to develop alternative sources of employment.
Indigenous Community. Another area of unfinished business in the nation is the state of our indigenous population. Now that Government funding to ATSIC has ceased and funding for indigenous welfare and education is being "mainstreamed", we look for assurances that indigenous people will have a say in their own affairs, and that there will be measurably better results in their educational levels, in their health, in family welfare and education, and in a healthy lifestyle. This was their lucky country before 1788. They have a moral right to a share in the good things most of us take for granted.

Homeless studied

Survey to determine extent of problem
A NEW study is set to find out why the North East has one of the highest rates of homelessness in Victoria and how to curb it.
From September 7 to 15 The Hume Region Homelessness Network will conduct five day-long community consultations inviting the homeless, people at risk of becoming homeless and support organisations, to tell their story.
Network co-ordinator Ms Jan Armstrong said Wodonga, Wangaratta, Benalla, Shepparton and Seymour would be surveyed.
“One of the things we want to do is get a more accurate picture of what is happening in the area,” she said.
“This is one of the only chances weve got to see how it really is.”
Ms Armstrong said the study follows this months release of the Victorian Counting the Homeless 2001 Census Regional Report which showed alarming rates of homelessness in the North East.
She said in the Ovens-Murray District, which takes in Wodonga, Wangaratta and the Alpine and Towong shires, 693 people were recorded as homeless on the night the census was conducted.
“About 35 per cent of those were in Wodonga and 38 per cent were in the East Ovens-Murray district at towns such as Bright, Myrtleford and Mt Beauty,” Ms Armstrong said.
“Across the district homelessness increased by about 52 per cent on 1996 figures including a 12 per cent increase in Wodonga.
“Based on that and the 2001 rates I think we can confidently say those rates are higher now.”
The report showed that 20,305 Victorians were homeless in 2001, an increase of 13.8 per cent since 1996, while 99,900 Australians were homeless.
Ms Armstrong said the community consultations hoped to identify who was homeless, why, what services they needed, what was not being provided, how the gap between service needs and what was available could be closed.
She said there were many reasons such as unemployment, mental illness and drug, alcohol and gambling addiction for homelessness.
Ms Armstrong said bookings for the consultations were mandatory and sessions could be conducted in small groups or one-on-one to prevent embarrassment and maintain confidentiality.

Recognition found for 'forgotten Australians'

Between 1920 and the 1970s about 500,000 Australian children were raised in institutions.
Abuse and assault was widespread, and many children lacked basic care.
Now The Forgotten Australians report calls for the simplest of reparations - an apology.
And Australian senators are vowing children abused in institutional care will have justice.

It was an emotional day, both for the senators who conducted the Forgotten Australians inquiry, and the victims who told them their stories.
"You can tell by the way that we have dealt with this material that it will change our lives forever," tearful inquiry chair Jan Lucas said.
The Senate inquiry has travelled the country, hearing from more than 600 victims placed in care from 1920 until the 1970s, when policies changed.
Committee member Senator Andrew Murray, of the Democrats, grew up in institutional care.
He says the report tells of "fear, neglect and the longing for love".
"It records siblings being torn and kept apart," he said.
"It records the withholding of letters to and from loved ones. It records being stripped of all personal belongings and dignity, it records being deprived of sufficient nourishment, education and basic health."
No excuses
Mr Murray says that argument that that treatment was thought to be best at the time "holds little sway".
"Denial is shorthand for the abdication of responsibility," he said.
"The report records adult lives plagued with mental health problems, alcoholism, drug dependence, homelessness, welfare dependency, failed relationships, prison terms, premature deaths due to suicide and the longing and searching for identities and family members."
"The argument of this is how it was done back then holds little sway."
Liberal Senator and committee deputy chair Sue Knowles says children were demeaned and demoralised.
"To think the children were placed in institutions for care and yet they didn't even receive the basics of what any reasonable person would consider care, is beyond belief," Ms Knowles said.
"To have taken on arrival everything that was in any way special to them – a teddy, a doll, clothes, jewellery, shoes and other treasures – was further demeaning and demoralising."
Healing wounds
But the report has already gone some way toward healing those wounds.
"From the bottom of my heart I just want to thank the Senators," a victim said to cheers from others gathered at the report's launch.
Among the report's 39 recommendations is a call for a formal apology from the Commonwealth, the states and church and welfare agencies that have not already done so.
Joanna Penglase, who grew up in a home and is now the co-founder of the Care Leavers of Australia network, says the apology is important.
"An apology represents the first step in acknowledging that this happened, that these things happened," she said.
"It's easy to say sorry, it's much, much harder to say sorry and do something about being sorry.
"We're glad there's an apology's been recommended, both by the Commonwealth Government, by the state governments, the churches and all the agencies, formal statements, as they say, acknowledging their role in what happened.
"But that is the very first step, and unless it's backed by actual substantial support service and understanding and recognition, then it isn't worth anything."
"It's easy to say sorry, it's much, much harder to... do something about being sorry."
The inquiry also wants the Commonwealth to establish a national reparations fund for victims, with contributions from governments, churches and agencies.
No dollar figure is specified.
"I couldn't possibly put a figure on it except to say it's millions and it's money that has to be found," Ms Penglase said.
"You could look at it as money that wasn't spent on us as children.
"Now many years later it has to be spent to clear up the mess."