Joe is one of many New Zealanders forced to sleep on the streets of Sydney | juliepower
New Zealander Joe Trueman arrived in Australia as a 14-year-old expecting his mother to meet him at the airport. She didn’t turn up.
On Tuesday, a panel of homeless people without permanent residency – called non-residents – described themselves as invisible, as “nobodies” and “non-existent people”. They were often ineligible to work, or worked restricted hours, and couldn’t access government benefits or payments, healthcare or homeless shelters.
Even those non-residents who can work, and have paid tax, don’t have access to Centrelink payments if they lose their jobs or are incapacitated. But in a special one-off project, 34 non-residents – usually ineligible for support – were given housing and case management for a year. As a result, 16 were placed in other accommodation, two returned to their country of origin, one went to rehabilitation and only eight returned to rough sleeping.
“It is appalling that of two people sleeping rough on the same Sydney street, one can access a government-funded homeless shelter or receive Medicare-funded healthcare, but the other isn’t.” Bams has lived in Australia for 16 years and is still in limbo while waiting for residency. Non-residents are often homeless and have no access to services.When she fled the abusive relationship, her attempts to get a spot in a domestic violence shelter failed.“When I rang the DV line, I said that I needed a place to say, and I am a trans woman,” she said. They couldn’t help.
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