The death of a man who was sleeping rough in a small rural community has prompted calls for more support for those experiencing homelessness.
The 63-year-old man was found unresponsive under the verandah of a vacant building in Millicent in South Australia’s south east last month.
The tragic death has prompted the community to push for more support for those experiencing homelessness in the region.
It comes as SA’s Department of Human Services today activated an extreme weather Code Blue across the state.
A man who was sleeping rough died on Davenport Street in Millicent last month. (ABC South East SA: Aiden McNamara)
Wattle Range elected member David Walshaw said there were dozens of people in the town of 5,000 people experiencing housing insecurity.
“As rough sleepers get turned away from the more secure locations they’ve had for a long time, they’re now occupying public spaces,” he said.
“It’s raised an awareness, particularly in this cold weather about what supports are available.”
Cr Walshaw said the man’s death outside a building on Davenport Street in June had encouraged him to act.
“Someone mentioned to me it was just distressing to see him laying there,”
he said.
“Whether that’s the result of the extreme weather or a medical condition we’ll never know.
About 5,000 people live in the Limestone Coast town of Millicent. (ABC South East SA: Aiden McNamara)
“But nevertheless passing away at a canopy at the rear of the [former] community club is not what we expect in this day and in our community that prides itself on supporting the most vulnerable.”
Support when temperature drops
Temperatures in the south east, while not abnormally cold for the region, have dropped to near or below freezing multiple mornings in July.
Homelessness Australia CEO Kate Colvin said rain and cold conditions posed physical and mental risks to people experiencing homelessness.
“The biggest killer of people experiencing homelessness is deaths of despair,” she said.
“Safe accommodation is really important and we know people are not getting the access to the accommodation they need.“
Moira Neagle volunteers for Millicent Shares a Plate. (ABC South East SA: Aiden McNamara)
Millicent community groups are stepping up where they can.
Millicent Shares a Plate is a volunteer group which cooks meals weekly for people in financial distress.
Group member Moira Neagle said the meals were often all gone within 24 hours.
“It’s pretty clear there are homeless people in Millicent, because you can see where they are sleeping,”
she said.
“That’s why we set up this operation.”
Ms Neagle said it was “shameful” it took a death for the issue to come to wider attention.
Kate Colvin says the housing crisis has driven increased homelessness. (ABC News: Tyrone Dalton)
Growing calls for more help
Cr Walshaw said while community groups did their best, after-hours services become less accessible the further from major centres a town was.
“We see some of the services that are available in the capital cities where a van will go around to where the rough sleepers are,” he said.
“There’ll be a barber, there’ll be a nurse, there’ll be a social worker, there’ll be food and they can get their clothes washed.
“We’re not expecting that to occur in Millicent, but certainly once a week a small cohort of people with those skills being able to just go around and see people where they are.”
On Tuesday night, Wattle Ranger Council voted to meet with the local Millicent Services Networking Group and discuss options for outreach.
Dozens of people sleeping rough have been searching for places to stay in Millicent. (ABC South East SA: Aiden McNamara)
Ms Colvin said as homelessness increased, due in part to rent rises across regional areas, government funding for support organisations should too.
“The housing crisis has driven this massive increase in homelessness … but there hasn’t been a commensurate increase in investment in homelessness services,” she said.
“Services have to triage who they can see, because they don’t have enough accommodation to go around.
“They don’t even have enough workers to go around.”
Katrine Hildyard says the government is reviewing homelessness support. (ABC News: Lincoln Rothall)
SA Human Services Minister Katrine Hildyard said she welcomed feedback from the community about how support could be improved.
“Last year we commissioned an independent review of homelessness services,”
she said.
“We are carefully considering those recommendations and we look forward to talking with and working with community organisations, other stakeholders, people with experience of homelessness right across our state to determine together what else can be done.”
Ms Hildyard said her thoughts were with the family and friends of the man who died last month.
“Any death in those circumstances is an absolute tragedy,” she said.
