Members of the Social Justice Advocates of the Sapphire Coast, who work to provide crisis accommodation for the homeless in Bega Valley Shire. Photos: Social Justice Advocates of the Sapphire Coast.
The Social Justice Advocates of the Sapphire Coast (SJA) will be urging the newly elected Bega Valley Shire councillors to reconsider the accommodation options available to the homeless.
One day in late October, 55 people in the shire were staying in crisis accommodation provided by SJA.
They were housed in 24 refurbished caravans plus eight crisis transitional units. Three of those units are at the centre of a legal stoush between SJA, a not-for-profit, and Bega Valley Shire Council.
A young couple in one of the crisis transitional units is expecting a baby any day. SJA also arranged another caravan so that a young couple expecting their first child could move in to that during the first week of November.
Mick Brosnan of SJA said there was a need for six more transitional units, which SJA could provide.
“There is very little crisis accommodation in our shire. Mission Australia has a limited number and there are a couple of other crisis facilities,” Mr Brosnan said. “That is why we find this essential.”
The community is backing SJA.
“The community has funded us more than $500,000 since we launched our ‘It’s Up To Us’ campaign in June 2021 to increase the dignity of our crisis accommodation,” Mr Brosnan said.
That has provided the eight crisis transitional units, complementing the more than 75 caravans that SJA has been running as crisis accommodation for more than 12 years. That includes those distributed immediately after the Black Summer bushfires.
One of the crisis transitional units that SJA uses to provide accommodation for the homeless.
Other than grant funding for a young person and one part-time employee to run the units, Mr Brosnan said SJA had received no funding from the federal, state or local governments.
The crisis accommodation program is well structured. The part-time employee runs a committee with representatives from Wellways, Sapphire Neighbourhood Services, Anglicare, and Sapphire Health and Wellbeing Services. They determine who moves into the crisis accommodation.
A real estate agent provides the six-month tenancy agreement. Tenants have constant support from the committee member organisations. Tenants pay a reduced, but still substantial, rent so they can learn how to budget and be provided with a reference at the end of the lease.
“We need that full capacity so we can provide that legitimate reference – often the first in their lives – so they can move on to permanent rental accommodation,” Mr Brosnan said.
In addition to the community’s backing, SJA has the support of Federal Member for Eden Monaro Kristy McBain and Member for Bega Dr Michael Holland.
“Kristy McBain visited the site and was most complimentary and enthusiastic when we installed the three crisis transitional units in Bega, and Dr Holland is trying to bring NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully on board,” Mr Brosnan said.
He said NSW Minister for Water, Housing and Homeless Rose Jackson was also supportive and attended three of SJA’s meetings on housing when she was Shadow Minister for the same portfolio.
Members of the Social Justice Advocates of the Sapphire Coast will continue lobbying local officials. Photos: Social Justice Advocates of the Sapphire Coast.
On the long-running battle between SJA and the council over crisis transitional units and what constitutes a moveable dwelling, in a 27 September press release, council CEO Anthony McMahon said its legal advice obtained earlier that year “supports the position there is no current legal pathway to approve these particular ‘same day granny flats’ in this configuration and installed in this way under the Local Government Act 1993“.
Mr Brosnan said Minister Jackson maintained the council had the capacity to allow the transitional units to exist.
He said he found the stand-off with the council incredible.
“Mr McMahon wrote in a letter to the State Treasurer in April 2023 that the Bega Valley Shire is in the midst of a housing crisis, and the state and federal governments acknowledge we are at a stumbling block,” he said.
Mr Brosnan said the statement in the 27 September press release that the council had decided to publish its legal advice about the matter on its website was misleading.
“The Government Information Public Access (GIPA) application advised the council to release the legal advice, then the Privacy Commissioner wrote a letter telling them to do the same, and then the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) ordered them to release it,” Mr Brosnan said.
“NCAT was the third decision against the council staff, and its directive ordered the release of the legal advice,” Mr Brosnan said.
With the newly elected councillors in place, SJA will continue its battle for “dignity, safety and sustainability with crisis accommodation for the shire’s homeless”.
“We are going to continue to lobby,” Mr Brosnan said. “It is appalling that our community wants this and the council’s staff, for some spurious reason, are refusing to accept three of these crisis transitional units in Bega.”
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