Melbourne’s city council says a “cleanup” of homeless camps in the central business district was not linked to the Australian Open, saying the attempted removal of two significant camps this week was a routine operation.
Council workers accompanied by police officers asked about a dozen people camped outside Flinders Street Station on Wednesday to move on, the ABC reported, a day after performing a similar operation underneath Sandridge Bridge, which crosses the Yarra river.
Police asked the public to stand back while the cleanup took place. When police left, those who lived outside the station moved back.
City of Melb officers advising homeless to move on from outside Flinders St Station pic.twitter.com/LZZdgf6s3T
— Karen Percy (@PercyKaren) January 10, 2017
....and as soon as @VictoriaPolice leave, work begins to rebuild the homeless camp on Flinders Street. pic.twitter.com/4Fj4Hfb8K1
— Seb Costello (@SebCostello9) January 11, 2017
Until nine years ago, John Kenney would have been among them. The 62-year-old lived on the streets of Melbourne between the ages of seven and 52 before becoming eligible for a seniors’ housing block.
He still sleeps rough a few nights every month and regards the city’s homeless population as his family. Some things have improved since his earlier days – he said people no longer have to break into houses and steal food to survive – but he said the lack of housing options for people aged 21 to 49 meant many in that age bracket had “given up”.
“You have got the councils on their back trying to get them off the streets and there’s no sense of where to put them,” he said. “I think people don’t care: they’re right, they’ve got a job, they don’t care. I think a lot of people just don’t look.”
#homeless back in position at Flinders Street @7NewsMelbourne pic.twitter.com/ftnZUNV1fx
— Jackie Quist (@JackieQuist7) January 11, 2017
Kenney said people living at Flinders Street had learned of the upcoming cleanup through the media, and had been under increased pressure to move along. He said many, like himself, had found their way on to the street because they were fleeing domestic violence and had not been offered appropriate housing options.
“They really don’t care where they end up, just so long as they go,” he told Guardian Australia.
He said many believed they had been moved along to make the city look tidy for international visitors attending the Australian Open, but a spokesperson from the City of Melbourne denied any connection: “There is no link between our routine and ongoing cleanup operations and any major events occurring in the city.”
The spokesperson said council regularly monitored sites known to be used by people sleeping rough to ensure the areas “do not become detrimental to public amenity or safety”.
“In the last two weeks, we have focused on improving public amenity by removing abandoned belongings such doonas, milk crates and rubbish at locations such as Sandridge Bridge, Bourke Street and Swanston Street.”
The operation was supported by representatives of the Salvation Army and other homeless outreach services but services say there isn’t enough stable, secure, long-term accommodation available for all those who were moved on.
The number of people sleeping rough in Melbourne CBD has increased by 74% in the past two years, from 142 in 2014 to 247 at last count in 2016. They make up about a tiny portion of people experiencing homelessness in Victoria. At the last census, in 2011, there were 1,091 people sleeping rough throughout the state and 23,000 experiencing some form of homelessness.
Jenny Smith, chief executive of the Council to Homeless Persons, said “stereotypes and misreporting” about homeless people had a negative impact on public perception.
She said conversation should shift from cleaning up the streets to addressing the systemic issues, such as the long waiting list for public housing.
“Perpetuating false stereotypes about the homeless as drug users, dirty and dangerous only further stigmatises an already marginalised group of people,” Smith said. “It separates them as somehow different from ‘us’ and suggests that they’ve chosen their lot in life and don’t deserve our sympathy or help.”
Wayne Merritt, the senior manager of integrated youth services at Melbourne City Mission, said the council usually issued warning notices a few days before a cleanup to allow people to get their belongings together.
Along with a general increase in the number of people sleeping rough in the city, he said, there was an increase in the number of homeless people who camped with “a whole range of items”.
The city had to balance its cleanup efforts against the rights of homeless people to keep their belongings together, he said, adding: “It may be just a doona or a few bags, but that’s someone’s life.”
