Sydney Homeless Day Out Friday March 20th @ Town Hall Square

The Sydney Homeless Activist Community join Occupy Sydney and Anonymous in supporting building and endorsing the Sydney Homeless Day Out.

Post by Occupy Sydney 24-7 Homeless Support Network.

 Sydney Homeless Day Out is a crowd sourced event which will at once be an opportunity for the Homeless and ex homeless communities to get together with free food clothing and resources while having a good time. 
  Donations of Food Meat Drinks and Resources are most welcome.

  Musicians Comedy Acts and Speakers wishing to address the issues of homelessness with a focus on ending it are asked to contact sydneyhomeless@gmail.com 

 But there's more.  
The Sydney Homeless Team are arranging an Ultimo Storage Facility for blankets and sleeping bags and a roster to make these available to homeless people 24 hours seven days a week.The Blanket Patrol Network project will be launched and available from the day of the event forward.
 Blanket Patrol Network are organising now. Please email sydneyhomeless@gmail.com to become involved.

We're working on a #Blankets4Homeless team which will provide Sydney's #Homeless community with blankets /sleeping bags 24/7 can you help?
— Sydney Unsheltered (@SydneyHomeless) January 23, 2015

The My Homeless Buddy initiative will also be launched and is a one on one opportunity to become proactively engaged with one of our homeless community. Hopefully the relationship that evolves brings positive change in both of your lives. An experienced support person is always just a short phone call away. 
 To join theres a Facebook Group Here 

Post by Occupy Sydney 24-7 Homeless Support Network.

2015: The Year of Ending Homelessness

To solve any problem 

• measure it to know what you're dealing with.
• ask "what does a solution look like?" It should include ending the problem.
• identify the method resources and timeline to arrive at that zero problem solution. This would include benchmarks along the timeline showing a progressive reduction of the problem- and cost.

 Isn't it bizarre that government departments don't use this methodology? Hold that concept and apply it to the Federal Government's "The Road Home" Homelessness Program which spends $600million plus a year in the name of homeless people -your money which largely funds government and NGOs- while the housing affordability bar rises way beyond the reach of those on minimum wages and homeless numbers inevitably rise with no solution in sight.  

 Consider the problems.

For homeless people the problem is lack of access to affordable housing. 

 For the taxpayer there is the huge amount of public funding of a decades long round robin of failed expensive offshore modelled programs run by the same organisations and government departments which ran the last failures. 

 For society the problem is a rising tide of spiralling housing costs coupled to a heavily regulated income regime which sees more people daily sink beneath the plimsoll line into homelessness.

 The problem for NGOs, Government departments bureaucrats and politicians is that the Homelessness "problem" might be solved-and with that their reason to exist might just evaporate along with their revenue streams jobs and power base -and THAT is a very big problem for those hapless homeless ,taxpayers and concerned members of society.

 Or put another way, perhaps homelessness is a revenue and power solution for the Poverty sector?

 There IS a solution to homelessness. Some societal settings need to be checked and reset.

1. Sufficient housing already exists for all. It is inaccessible to those who need it by virtue of price and definition. Sydney Homeless and Occupy Sydney's Occupy4Homeless unit call for immediate legislation requisitioning 1 unit or room per 50 available in every hotel motel or Serviced apartment complex AND every Meriton style complex to be given over to housing homeless people. 
2. Sydney Homeless and Occupy4Homeless call on the accommodation service providers mentioned at 1/ to voluntarily donate 1 room per complex to the Occupy4Homeless Housing Project ( contact sydneyhomeless@gmail.com ). Your donation will be deductibe.
3. Mobile Social Housing: Sydney Homeless and Occupy4Homeless call for an immediate evaluation by government community minded groups and businesses of the opportunity to provide mobile homes as social housing units to itinerant workers and pensioners as a cost effective alternative to conventional social housing-preferably on a lease-to-buy arrangement. They do not have to be new units. Occupy4Homeless is evolving a discussion to this end. Please join via the email above.
4. Occupy Sydney call for a Local Minimum wage for each Local body area-based on actual local cost-of-living affordability. The lowest paid in society should not have to travel hours each way to the economic bantustans while the privileged few-or those living on credit cards-afford to live in Sydney-or other expensive metropolitan hubs.
5. Sydney Homeless call for Councils Australia wide to be responsible for ensuring that affordable accommodation is available in the localities where people need to live. Using the development application process to achieve this affordable housing balance should see sufficient affordable housing everywhere in Australia within fifteen years.

  Theres much more...

  If you join us in believing this is a desirable objective and achievable then help us make it reality and homelessness history by the end of 2015 ( email sydneyhomeless@gmail.com ) 
  Of course willing legislators could expedite all of this immediately but at what cost in lost bureaucratic opportunity and ministerial power?   

Messiah Festival moved to Belmore Park

Please tell any homeless people you see in Sydney today
In an act of pure bastardry N.S.W. Police used the Sydney Siege to refuse the annual Homeless Christmas event run by Homeless service provider SWAG Ministries access to Martin Place. Police contacted SWAGs yesterday afternoon to inform them that they would not be given access and that they should cancel the event.
 Instead SWAGs have moved the Event to Belmore Park.

 The real reason Police and the City of Sydney want the festival out of Martin Place is that they do not want the public to see the numbers of Homeless people who are NOT being helped by the anti homeless authorities despite the massive $600 million plus a year spent by the federal government in the name of homeless people on a flotilla of NGOs and government bodies who squander the funding largely on themselves.
Messiah Fest Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/events/805262612858145/
Messiah Festival : 
Relocated to Belmore Park 
4pm-8pm today 
Saturday 20th Dec 2014

City of Sydney exposing Homeless & Public to needless health risks

  The City of Sydney Council have for years taken homeless peoples bedding packs and personal belongings -and when able to be identified returned the property to its owner. We have asked many who have recovered property over the past eight months and NOT ONE PERSON has been told of the health risks associated with removal of property in rubbish trucks. 

 The City also forcibly removes tents being used by our Homeless Community to Shelter forcing people to sleep in less healthy conditions exposed to inclement weather. 

 Street washers, using high powered truck mounted mobile gernis fail to deploy any safety equipment. We have seen members of the public knocked over and sprayed with water as this process is being effected.

 The Current Clover Moore Council has lost its lustre in its quest to appease the Citys Elites and Corporate occupants. 

 We call for an immediate review of all health and safety procedures within Council by an Independent Assessor.

City of Sydney War on Homeless : Fourth Attack on Sydneys only 24/7 Homeless Support Service.

Today City of Sydney with heavy armed police support stole the resources Occupy Sydney supporters had put in place to feed and keep Sydneys Homeless Community warm and fed especially on cold winter nights.
Occupy Sydney are responding by reestablishing this vital Homeless Community Service as quickly as possible. Will definitely be back up and running tonight.
  Blankets Food and 20l plus pots are now our priority. Especially sauces fresh veg meat suitable for soup.
  We will not allow Corporate serving Councillor Christine Forster or Mayor Clover Moore the luxury of burying the collateral damage from the Corporate mischiefs they endorse to be buried anonymously out of Sydney City.
Rebuilding is already underway.
Call 0410722000 urgently if you can help with blankets food and resources or just bring to the corner of Martin Place and Elizabeth St. Occupiers and Homeless community rallying there.

FREE FOOD for Under-Paid Centrelink Claimants

Since 1994 Sydney Homeless have provided non invasive on-the-street food and support resources to the Sydney Homeless Community. We do not accept government support or intrusion in our work.

Since January 1st our Sydney Homeless sites have noticed a marked increase in the numbers of

• Destitute single parents forced into homelessness by callous Federal Government cost cutting measures. Each of these single parents has stated that they have been forced out of their homes due to reductions in income when forcibly transferred from single parenting pensions to the unsustainable Newstart.
• Many Single Newstart Claimants are simply unable to afford the combined cost of Housing Utilities and Food in Sydney. Yet under Newstart parameters if they move where they can afford to live (but there are no jobs) they will have their payments cut.
• While Government at Federal State and Council levels work to disenfranchise and disempower the family as the basic building block of society Sydney Homeless and alliance partners will continue to work to keep families as the basic building block of society.
• A spokesperson for Single Parents is available this week and weekend at Occupy Sydney.

We welcome all Single Parent Families and Newstart Claimants to eat with the Sydney Homeless Community from 4-30 pm to 9pm at Martin Place near Philip St. If arriving with Children please go to Occupy Sydney near Elizabeth St.

.......................................................................................

end of day or end of shelf life food needed for 

immediate distribution to Homeless, low-waged and

Centrelink Claimant Families.Not sold.Cooked and served or given away.drop at Occupy Sydney 24-7.

we found Rally against Centrelink happening in Marrickville this Friday --FREE Barbie!! 12pm 

https://www.facebook.com/events/563768560323457/

Sedonas Sleepout 4 the Homeless

Hey everybody, Im Sedona and Im 12 years old. 
Im holding a Onesie Sleepout for the Homeless on the 25th of May in Kibble Park, Gosford, to raise money to buy swags for the homeless to protect them from the cold and harsh winter. 
To join us you will need a sponsor (or u can sponsor urself) and a registration form which will be available soon, and a Onesie (all in one jumpsuit) but dont be too worried if u dont have one.
 Im 12 and I care enough to give up my bed for the night, will you?? Some amazing entertainment will be provided to keep us occupied through out the night., confirmed so far..Gambirra & Co, Novakayn (unplugged), Kiam Robertson
PLEASE DO NOT CLICK 'JOIN' UNLESS YOU ARE DEFINITELY COMING! Thank you
This page is monitored by 4 caring grown ups at different times, who just want to help me help the homeless. Some posts are from them, but not all of them! So Im not talking to myself when you see many posts by me in one status xx
Please 'like' my page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sedonas-Sleepout-4-the-Homeless-25th-May-Kibble-Park-Gosford/183139151835932?ref=hl

Join the Gosford Event Here

Get Up Get Real about Coles Woolies & Gambling

Supermarkets and pokies? If you're shopping at Coles or Woolies, the two are more closely related than you might realise.  

Wesfarmers (Coles) and Woolies don't want us to know that shopping at their stores means buying from companies that own and operate the largest number of electronic poker machines in the country. Together, they own more dangerous high loss machines than the top five Las Vegas casinos combined.^[1]  

Worse still? 40% of that revenue comes directly from problem gamblers, people gambling not out of choice and for fun, but out of addiction.^[2] 

Right now, Coles and Woolworths executives are considering whether to do the right thing by the community by making their poker machines safer. They'll only do the right thing if we, their customers and shareholders, demand it. We're already getting their attention - on Wednesday night our controversial new TV ad was featured on Channel Ten's The Project, sparking a debate about the power of this campaign. 

The impact of this campaign depends on how far and wide we spread it. Check out the video and share it today: https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/pokies-reform/pokies-people/spread-the-word 

There's nothing voluntary about a gambling addiction but Coles and Woolworths can easily clean up their machines and take the lead on this important issue. 

There is a sensible solution that would be simple to adopt. Right now, it’s possible to lose up to $10,000 an hour on a typical machine owned by Coles or Woolworths, the kind found in clubs and pubs all over Australia. The Productivity Commission recommends that these high loss machines be converted to $1 maximum bets, changing the maximum potential loss to $120 per hour.^[3]  

It’s a reform the vast majority of punters wouldn’t even notice, because Productivity Commission research found 88 per cent of people don’t bet more than a dollar per spin anyway. But for gambling addicts, it would make all the difference.  

After we've grabbed Coles and Woolies attention, we will use everything in our arsenal to exert our power as customers and individuals, beginning with working together to take our issue to our local supermarkets.  

Will you help to spread the word? https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/pokies-reform/pokies-people/spread-the-word 


 The Sydney Homeless community fully endorse this Get Up campaign and call for a complete Federal Australian Government ban on pokies. Pokies and other electronic Gaming systems are primary drivers of marginalisation in Australia as families and people of modest means become indebted before they realise that the quick fix to their financial woes is a mirage.

1000 children a year die in US State Custody

Over 1000 children die in State custody every year in the USA. A system eerily reminiscent of that here in Australia would cause many , like myself, to consider that unless critical harm is being done to a child they are much better served in a current undesirable care arrangement than under the risk ridden care of the State.

Part 1

Part 2

We know some horrific things happen to children but nobody has yet stood accused of killing a thousand children a year.