It’s been estimated that at least 1,200 people currently experience homelessness in the Mackay region.
With local support services at capacity, a group of community-minded people working in the sector have come together to form Safe Sleep Mackay, an initiative dedicated to delivering the region’s first sleepbus.
With 20 beds onboard, televisions, toilets, charging facilities and storage, sleepbus promises a safe and restful night’s sleep for those who have nowhere else to go.
“If we can get some safe accommodation for people to sleep at night, it’s going to make a difference to their life and it’s going to make a difference to the community,” said Orange Sky Service Coordinator Lisa Jamieson.
“It’s probably the option that the fewest people fall through the gaps,” added Australian Street Aid Project CEO Kayleigh Brewster.
John spends his days reading and listening to music, a book about the Knights Templar, his current obsession.
“You’ve got to find somewhere comfortable and cool, which is the library, basically,” he said.
“I spend a lot of time in the library reading, or anywhere that’s comfortable with air conditioning.”
When the sun goes down, John seeks shelter from sporadic late-night downpours and other more sinister threats, because he currently lives on the streets.
“You just pick certain spots where you feel safe and sleep,” he said.
“It’s not a comfortable feeling.
“You’re not living in this world.
“It’s an underground world because there’s such a stigma about being on the street.”
The 70-year-old Mackay local has moved around Australia for most of his life.
He’s a surveyor by trade, has a skipper’s ticket, but spent most of his time in northern New South Wales where he owned a 15-acre bonsai nursery.
“I’ve had a good life,” John reflected.
“I’ve lived in places that have had lifts in them.
“I had peacocks in the backyard and a great big pool.
“I’ve been there and done that and here I am at the other end of the scale.”
John returned to Mackay 20 years ago after his mother had a stroke and has been here since.
A workplace injury has prevented him from working for years and, either way, he said he should be enjoying his retirement.
“It basically comes down to money,” he said.
“I was never able to work again, basically.
“Being on the pension, things go downhill.
“We’re just people and we’ve hit hard times.”
When John learnt of the possibility of a sleepbus in Mackay, he thought the news was great.
“If you can get 20 people off the street that aren’t going to get bashed, knifed, shot, whatever, of a night time … shit like that does happen … if it was coming somewhere, I’d be there, alright,” he said.
“It’s safe, for a start, and it’s a comfortable bed.”
sleepbus provides a safe, temporary overnight accommodation service, getting people off the street by offering an immediate and cost-effective solution for the community’s most vulnerable.
Each sleepbus has up to 20 secure, climate controlled, individual sleep pods with a lockable door and toilet that will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
Everyone is looked after with overnight volunteer caretakers and CCTV surveillance as well as under bus storage for belongings, and pets are welcome.
Orange Sky Service Coordinator Lisa Jamieson said sleepbus will not only provide respite for those on the street, but it will also take pressure off support services who are having to turn people away.
“It is so hard to have someone turn up and you know there’s nothing you can do,” she said.
“If we can get some of that short term relief out there … the likes of CASA and St Vinnies have the opportunity to prioritise.”
Safe Sleep Mackay are currently in the process of raising the $100,000 required to build a sleepbus.
The organisation is welcoming community donations, applying for grants and asking for the assistance of local businesses, with corporate sponsorship models available.
“It really needs to be a community solution to the problem we’re seeing at the moment,” said Ms Jamieson.
“This is an investment in Mackay’s future,” agreed Kayleigh Brewster, Australian Street Aid Project CEO.
“Homelessness can happen to anyone at any time.
“Having that security and that back up for the entire region can put a lot of people’s minds at ease.”
There are currently sleepbuses operating in Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Maroochydore, Redcliffe, Byron Bay, Sydney and Ballarat.
sleepbus Founder Simon Rowe conceptualised the initiative after an interaction with a man sleeping rough who looked “tired to his very core”.
“I design and build sleepbus vehicles to help keep people safe and healthy, and to provide Government and agencies tasked with assisting people with finding their pathway out of homelessness time to do so,” Mr Rowe said.
“sleepbus should not exist.
“We can do better than this.
“However, for now, we don’t have an abundance of affordable housing; more people become homeless by the day in our country alone; so sleepbus will do its part in providing a safe place to sleep until such time as it’s no longer required.”
Ms Jamieson admitted that sleepbus is not a long-term solution.
“There’s always going to be a sector of the community that we’re never going to have enough to cater for,” she said.
“It’s a long-term need, but we need a short-term fix to get us over this crisis that we’re in at the moment.”
To find out more, visit Safe Sleep Mackay on Facebook or scan the QR code.
Orange Sky Service Coordinator Lisa Jamieson Australian Street Aid Project CEO Kayleigh Brewster are leading the way towards acquiring a sleepbus for Mackay’s most vulnerable. Photo credit: Sam Gillespie
sleepbus Founder Simon RoweCaption 3: sleepbuses have been tried and tested in other regions around Australia. Photos supplied
