I bought smokes and coke for my homeless friends…

Just last week I bought one of my friends a pack of cigarettes and my other friend a can of coke.
Both these friends are addicts.  And both these friends are homeless.

Should I have done this? Was there a better a way to spend my money on my friends?

Sure neither cigarettes or coke are good for you.  Maybe the coke is the lesser of these 2 evils, but the amount of coke my friend consumes means it’s probably just as bad as the cigarettes my other friends smokes.

Maybe I should have bought my friends something useful and beneficial?

But that assumes I KNOW what they want or need.  What I may see as useful may be particularly un-useful to them.

I once walked past a man begging outside a fast food joint.  Another man went into the restaurant and come out with a burger and handed it to the ‘beggar’.  The ‘beggar’ muttered under his breathe ‘that’s the 10th burger I’ve received today, I don’t need a burger I need money for a room to stay.’  To me this powerfully illustrates how we can’t assume what another person needs or wants until we have looked at life from their perspective.

If look at my own spending habits, I’m not sure I always buy things for myself that are useful or beneficial. I do it anyway because I WANT to and for that moment it makes me happy.  Sure maybe I have the right to because it’s MY money and sure maybe the things I buy wont kill me…but is there really a big difference?  Are our motives are the same…?

You see I bought these ‘drug’s’ of choice for my friends because I wanted to a do a nice thing for them; without judging what they want or deem as useful or beneficial –   gift if you like.

Maybe that wasn’t a smart or wise thing to do from my perspective.  But when I took the time to look at things from their perspective it seemed like the right thing to do.

The race that stops the nations or spends the nation?

Spend, spend spend…
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Is the Melbourne Cup and Spring Carnival just an excuse for us to spend up big….?

It is estimated that we will spend $53 millions this year on fashion alone.

$140 million on food and drink.

$806 million on betting through the spring carnival. The average bet being $8.50.  And it’s reported that during peak times a bet will be placed every 2 seconds.

It estimated that the average race goer will spend $1,200.

Overall $455 million will be spent.

This year the crowd at the Melbourne cup – was 104,000.  This is approximately the same number of homeless people in Australia.

Just think what else could be done with that $455 million to improve the life of this experiencing homeless and disadvantage in Australia.

I taught a homeless man to code…

I taught a homeless man to code
My preconceptions about homelessness have been shattered. I always thought homeless people were isolated, but Leo is part of a very supportive community. He says the hardest thing is not the practical challenges but society’s view of him. There is an assumption that homeless people are addicted to something or mentally ill, but Leo doesn’t drink or smoke; he became homeless after he lost his job and then his accommodation in 2011.

At the start of this project, I wrote a blog about it and was inundated with responses. Some were moved and inspired; others were more negative, suggesting I should focus on buying Leo food or finding him somewhere to live instead. This idea is a tricky one. I consider Leo a friend. If he said he needed anything, I’d jump through hoops for him, but I don’t ever want him to think we are anything but equals.

One Sleep from the Street.

One sleep from the street: homelessness in our community

Join us for a discussion about the issue of homelessness in the City of Yarra.

Guest speakers from specialist organisations will give a picture of homelessness today. Come along to find out what role you might play and how you can help anyone you know who is homeless.

Featuring representatives from St Mark’s Community Centre, HomeGround Services and the Council to Homeless Person’s Peer Education and Support Program. Hosted by writer and broadcaster Tony Wilson.

This free event is sponsored by the Thomas, Samuel & George Ewing Trust. Bookings are essential. Click here to book online.

Time: 7pm to 8pm
Date: Tuesday 22 October
Venue: Fitzroy Town Hall Reading Room (201 Napier St, Fitzroy)

Homesick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1BRrUG2XKPc
Homesick: A documentary
Homesick is a feature length documentary film about four homeless friends whose lives take a turn for the better when they are told they are to be part of a bold new housing initiative. After living for years in the chaotic and sometimes violent world of their South Melbourne rooming houses Sue, Grant, Lee and Ingrid are given a chance to create a home where they can re-build their lives. Their compelling story is based on the central dramatic question; Will having a place to call home be the catalyst for positive changes in their lives?

While following our characters’ journeys over four years, they have allowed us intimate access into their worlds, courageously revealing the emotional and psychological impact of living without a home.The upheaval of moving again and again takes its toll, but when our characters finally get to move into their new accommodation, the results are both interesting and surprising.This is a story that interrogates the real meaning of the word home.

They have just launched a Pozible Crowdfunding campaign to raise completion funds for the film.

How Big is a House?

How big is your house?  Is it big enough? Is there an optimum amount of floor space per person? Do you have any spare rooms?
Given that lack of housing is a major factor in homelessness and that on any given day in Australia 1/2 the people seeking accommodation are turned away, maybe it’s time we rethought how big our houses are.

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Spare any coins?

Recently my friend and I were sitting having a coffee on Swanston street when a guy wandered up to us and asked us if we could spare any coins. He explained that he was homeless, sleeping in a nearby alley and needing money for food and accommodation. He looked the part too: the epitome of the homeless stereotype. An older guy with a Gandalf beard and ragged, dirty clothes.
We offered to buy the guy a meal and he accepted. My mate and I wandered across the street with him to a 24-hour diner style restaurant and we all got a drink and him a meal. We sat and chatted while he ate and he was a pretty friendly guy. He explained that he had been homeless for about 20 years, spending most of that time in Melbourne. We asked if he had heard of our organisation (Credo Café was only a few hundred metres away from where we sat) but he said he wasn’t familiar with it. This shocked me. Firstly because of the long duration of his homelessness but also the proximity of his sleeping spot to our main office and café.

It really hit home for me that the roughly 100k homeless people in Australia is no small number.

As he finished his meal we said goodnight and off we all went, him to his business and us to ours. As we walked down towards Flinders Street my friend and I chatted about the conversation we’d just had. I couldn’t believe he’d never heard of Urban Seed but my friend commented, “I just wanted to know about his ring.”

“His ring?” I responded, confused. “Yeah he was wearing a wedding ring. He’s been homeless for 20 years and is clearly alone now, so what happened to the girl?”

One hundred thousand homeless around the country and each one has a story but I’ve only had the privilege to hear a few.

Are we going to see homeless people?

One of the things we do at Urban Seed is run city walks where talk about homelessness and the work Urban Seed does.
Something we often get asked is, are we going to ‘see’ homeless people?”  This is always an interesting question.

Firstly how do we know what a homeless person looks like? Secondly if you could always tell what they looked like, would it be a good idea to go and look for them?    

We also regularly get requests to hear from people who are homeless themselves and have them share their stories in person on our walks, which sometimes does happen.

For us this is really tricky territory to navigate.

The power of story to us at Urban Seed is core to who we are. We believe that we can learn more from a story than from facts & figures.  This is because when we hear a story we engage with it and it moves us emotionally.  Hearing a story about someone’s life from the person themselves is truly powerfully.  It has the ability to allow us to get to know the person and understand complex issues more.  Therefore helping to breakdown stereotyping and  judging.

But having said that we also need to be careful how we honour and tell those stories.  Because of the impact and power in a story we need to be careful that we don’t just ‘use’ the person so as to tell a good story.

For us at Urban Seed we exist to honour and be with those have been marginalised and ignored from wider society.  Part of this means we get to hear stories about people lives that are sad, powerful, moving and beautiful.  Graciously many of these people are willing to have their stories shared by us on a walk.  And sometimes they are happy to be there to share their stories in person.  We tread a fine line between allowing those who want to share their story a space to do so, and exploitation of that person for the sake of a good story.  At Urban Seed we want to honour  and repsect the most vulnerable first.  

And so it is for this reason, that more often than not, we do not always have homeless people come on our walks or there to share their own stories.  Rather we advocate on their behalf.

 

In the Public Eye:: Anthony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FPkXDhddAZk
In the Public Eye: personal stories of homelessness and fines

Anthony became homeless in his late 20s. He slept rough and couch surfed for about two years and he got about $3000 in fines for travelling on public transport without a ticket, having his feet on the train seat and possessing an open container of liquor. Anthony now feels hopeful about his future. He is in recovery, has stable housing and is looking forward to returning to work or study.

There are over 22,000 people who are homeless in Victoria. These people are living in temporary accommodation, staying in refuges, sleeping in their cars, paying over $200 per week for a bed in a rooming house, couch surfing and, for 1,092 people, sleeping on the streets.

People who are homeless are (1) more likely to get fines because they are forced to carry out their private lives in public places; and (2) less likely to be able to address the fines through payment or navigating the complex legal system.

The current fines system in Victoria does not address the underlying causes of a person’s offending. Instead it issues financial penalties that people can’t pay and increases the strain they’re already under.

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Join the call 

In the Public Eye

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eS8aoLoLqPU
Pilch (a Melbourne based law firm offering pro-bono legal services to disadvantaged) has launched a new campaign:
In the Public Eye, personal stories of homelessness and fines.

Through a series of videos telling the stories of homeless people living in the public eye and the risk of being targeted by officers giving fines. They call for greater insight from the people who give fines. They ask the very sensible question: what’s the point of fining people who clearly can’t pay?

Take action and join the call.