The Mayor’s Sleepout, organised in conjunction with Mission Australia, will be held at Bankstown Airport Passenger Terminal (outside if dry and inside if wet) on Friday, August 11, (during Homelessness Week, August 6-12) to raise funds and for participants to experience first-hand the everyday challenges facing the homeless.
Mayor Bilal El-Hayek said there were many heart-breaking stories about young mothers sleeping in cars and others sleeping rough in our parks, with homelessness having doubled in Canterbury Bankstown to almost 2,700 since 2011.
“Just the other morning, staff told me of a homeless man taking refuge under an alcove at the bus stop outside Hoyts at Bankstown … A heart-breaking situation that is hard to comprehend in an affluent country like ours,” he said.
“The stark reality is that as many as 120,000 Australians are homeless, with many more living in sub-standard housing.
“And that reality bites harder as the cold winter nights take hold over the coming months.”
According to the latest census data, the main issues which contributed to the increase included a lack of affordable housing, drug and alcohol abuse, and a rise in people seeking refuge from domestic and family violence.
Mission Australia CEO Sharon Callister said their frontline staff were seeing an influx of people seeking help from our homelessness services, and “they’re telling us the housing situation is the worst they’ve ever seen it”.
“Australia needs to be doing so much more to be on the front foot to prevent and end homelessness in our country, instead of band-aid crisis solutions,” she said.
To get involved or donate, visit cbcity.nsw.gov.au.
