ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

Did you know that

• homelessness in Australia increased by 14% between 2011 and 2016?
• some 116,000 people go to sleep without a secure home on any given night?
• around 16,000 of these are children under 12?
• 8000 of them are the most visible of the homeless community, sleeping rough on the streets?
• Older women—those aged 55 and over— was the fastest growing cohort of homeless Australians between 2011 and 2016, increasing by 31%? (See why, here).

And yet we hear very little from the people experiencing this situation…

Edited by former Big Issue editor Meg Mundell, (whose latest novel The Trespassers I recently reviewed) We Are Here, Stories of Home, Place and Belonging gives a voice to 42 diverse artists who have experienced homelessness.  Some contributors are well-known names that will surprise you, while others are emerging writers.  There are also four visual artists whose artwork is placed among a profusion of photographic images which complement the four themes of the collection:

• Home Truths
• City Streets
• Cast Adrift and
• Belonging.

In the foreword by Tony Birch, he reminds us that any one of us, regardless of our economic and social status, could easily find ourselves homeless.  In a supposedly egalitarian society such as Australia, many people live only a few absent pay packets away from poverty.  (p.x)  Meg Mundell’s Introduction tells us that the stories in this collection reveal just how easily, if our own luck turned bad, we might find ourselves unhoused.  (p.xiii)  She also tells us that

Homelessness is often seen as a result of bad choices made by flawed people.  This convenient myth supports the illusion that it could never happent to ‘us’, ignoring the well-documented structural causes and unforeseen life events that can render people homeless.  These include a dire national shortage of social and affordable housing, punitive welfare policies, inadequate social security, poverty, unemployment, rental stress, gentrification, family violence, sexual abuse, discrimination, injury, disability, mental illness and traumatic incidents. (p.xiv)

Mundell also says that it’s a common perception that homeless people have nothing to offer, which causes a parallel reluctance to disclose membership of this maligned group. The sheer quality of the contributions to this collection gives the lie to that assumption…

One of the stories shows us that there is an all-too-predictable path to homelessness for young people in state care.

I was evicted from state care and became homeless before my eighteenth birthday.  Not many people know that in all Australian states, except Tasmania and South Australia, we cut off all kids in state care, including those living with a foster care family, when they turn eighteen.  For me, and other kids like me, that means no ongoing emotional or financial support.  No case manager.  Nothing.  Within one year, thirty-five percent of these kids will become homeless.

While most of my friends were celebrating their eighteenth birthdays, finishing high school, or getting their driver’s licences, I was trying to figure out where I was going to sleep that night and searching for my next meal.  It felt like a nauseating spiral with no end.

The extreme sense of anxiety, social isolation and fear I felt as a young homeless man was terrifying.  These were meant to be some of the most memorable and formative years of my life.  Instead I was just trying to make it through each hour and each day desperately holding onto what was left of my sense of pride and self-worth.  That got harder the longer I was on the streets.

There continues to be a crushing stigma around young homeless people, that it’s somehow our fault we don’t have a roof over our heads.  That we have a criminal history or substance abuse issues.  That we’re out of control and dangerous.  But most of us have suffered trauma, neglect, abuse — homelessness is just the result of it all.  For me, there isn’t a family to turn to when something goes wrong. There never was. (p.201)

Breaking out of that cycle is really difficult.  Turning up for job interviews when you haven’t showered or eaten results in superficial judgements about the applicant’s capacity or potential.  And even those with a job find that landlords are averse to offering a lease to a youth with no rental history or references.  Clearly young people in this situation need extra support if they are to avoid permanent joblessness and homelessness.  We ought to be doing better than this.

Some of the stories will move you to tears.

I’ll be hearing contributors Claire Coleman and Rachel Kurzyp in a panel discussion with editor Meg Mundell at the forthcoming Word for Word Non-Fiction Festival in Geelong in November, see here for further details).

BTW All profits from the sale of this book will be donated to charities that work with people experiencing homelessness. The writers and visual artists featured in We Are Here have been paid for their contributions.

Update 9/12/19 Following on from a discussion about the homelessness of older women on my post about Charlotte Wood’s new novel The Weekend, I have (thanks to my dear friend Mairi Neil who is active in so many causes) located HAAG, Housing for the Aged Action Group.  You can add your voice to others who are gravely concerned about this by joining for a mere $5, (pensioners for free) and you can do what I did and donate at the same time.  It is important to join even if like me you enjoy secure housing, because politicians take notice of numbers.  They need to know that lots of people care about this social issue and want something done about it.

Editor: Meg Mundell
Title: We Are Here, Stories of Home, Place and Belonging
Publisher: Affirm Press, 2019, 240 pages
ISBN: 9781925870619
Source: Review copy courtesy of Affirm Press.

Since We Are Here was sent to me courtesy of Affirm Press, I have donated the equivalent purchase price of this book to Launch Housing.

It says on the receipt that in a country as wealthy as Australia, no one should be without a home.  If you would like to donate, follow this link to make sure that your money goes to agencies that offer a range of services and can help people find long-term solutions and pathways out of homelessness.  But don’t just do that, make sure that your local MPs know that you care about this, especially if you live in a marginal seat!