There’s an article in the latest edition of The Weekend Australian Magazine about people who are called beggars, bums, hobos, vagrants, tramps and no doubt other labels too offensive to mention.
One of the beggars discussed in the item is a man many Melburnians would’ve seen sitting in various locations in the CBD.
Readers are told that his name is Wayne and that he has found begging to be a wretched experience, which would be unsurprising to anyone who has glimpsed his despondent face.
According to the piece by Mark Whittaker:
At night Wayne sleeps by the railway tracks in the inner suburbs under a sheet of blue plastic. It’s in the open but at least no one hassles him there. Sick of being beaten and harassed and robbed in the city, he prefers the constant rumble and screech of trains to the violence of the street.
It’s while telling this part of the story that I see his eyes for the first time. They had been hidden under his hood but he lifts up his face to show the scars left by beer bottles and baseball bats. With his scraggly blonde hair and stubble, he looks like what Kurt Cobain might have done had the rock star survived a few more years.
Wayne is apparently now offering his art work in exchange for money, a situation that somewhat changes the relationship he has with those who give him cash.
There are a few beggars in Melbourne who’ve taken up selling pictures, including the woman in Swanston Street who always appears to be on the nod and the man not far away from her who sketches houses on scraps of cardboard.
His pictures are as rough as his feet, but in his own way he probably puts as much effort into them as the chap a few feet away who sells semi-accomplished drawings of kookaburras and other Australiana.
The latter fellow sits there with his wife and a sign that proclaims that his art has helped him overcome depression (presumably he’s not homeless, but has had a pretty rough time nonetheless).
The intimidating bloke who approached people the other day as they waited for trams outside Reader’s Feast was flourishing what he said was a prescription for medication for epilepsy rather than illustrations.
He said he’d had a fit the night before and desperately needed the pills.
“I guess if you decide to help me depends on whether you’re caring and kind or not”, he said, and thus didn’t help his case at all.
As he walked away, a woman nearby mentioned that he was smoking, by which she presumably meant that smoking and epilepsy don’t mix and that if you can afford to buy cigarettes you don’t deserve to be given money.
There’s a woman who departs muttering angrily if no cash is offered, a guy who just wanted to have a chat about how expensive he thought it was to stay at the local Salvation Army hostel and a bloke who goes right up to people’s faces and asks them if they can give him five bucks.
A youngster who looked no older than twenty or so was sitting outside one of the many places in the inner-city that offer free food a week or so ago. He asked a passer-by whether they had any smokes.
While he might’ve had a home and he certainly had someone to talk to, the lilac paint that circled his mouth indicated that his life wasn’t what it should’ve been.
Indeed, he’s regularly seen in the area clutching a plastic bag while inhaling its contents.
Incidentally, Wayne is planning on making a living out of painting.
I’ve bought a drawing from he bloke who always draws houses. It’s the obsessiveness annd the attention to detail that interests me. It’s something about the desire for a home.
Suspect the situation would be e lot worse than the terrible situation it is now, if it weren’t for lots of poor people living in country towns where rents are relatively more affordable.I’ve no doubt there are homeless prople there, too, but they’re invisible. If people start begging in the business areas around Armidale, for instance, the coppers quickly appear to move them on, because the shop owners ring them. Years ago some friends and I gave away free coffee and soup in Armidale Mall to the unemployed once a week, as part of the Unempoyed Workers Union. The Council shut us down because shop owners complained we were stealing their business. It didn’t matter most of out customers culdn’t affoprd a meal or a cup of coffee anyway
Street life in the cities seems much more violent than what it was thirty odd years ago when I was living there.
Yes, it is interesting, Fine.
The desire for a home is a pretty basic human need.
Gee whiz, perhaps the Council weren’t being entirely honest, and just didn’t want the folks hanging around in any capacity.
The city is pretty yucky during the night; drunken yobs who don’t mind picking a fight. That’s the reason Wayne gave for living near the railway station instead of in the city.
Oh, and just explain the title for those who don’t know: They are lyrics from Bruce Springsteen’s beautiful song, The Ghost of Tom Joad.
Do you have any tent cities in Melbourne, Darlene? There’s a small one on the Brisbane River near the William Jolly bridge. It always seemed to be an itinerant area - there was always a Kombie or two parked under the jacarandas at night. But now there are families with children.
A couple of years ago, those who didn’t have places to stay could squat. I knew of a couple of derelict houses in West End. But with rising housing prices, I guess they’ve all been demolished or done up.
I used to walk through the tunnel at Central Station to work in Sydney and given money or bought food for beggars and had some interesting conversations. But some of the time, I wonder whether people begging for money this way really are that desperate. A railway worker once told me not to give money to one aggressively soliciting beggar because ‘he does it all the time, it’s always the same story and he just uses the money to buy grog’. Another time in Italy a travelling companion from Brazil told me she refused to give money to this pleading woman because ‘my God, she was better dressed than I was!’. Then there are those beggars who look pretty scary to a lone woman walking down the street on a dark night…
But how can you judge these things during the limited time you encounter them? A friend of mine simply refuses to give any money saying ‘we’ve got a welfare system, why don’t they use it?’. Answer is - it’s not really that great. And just because I’ve been there, down and out - going through the refuges, seedy lodges and Salvo places - and now tertiary educated, happily married with a child and have a regular job doesn’t mean that other people could get exactly the same results. Everybody is different, but the really bad thing is that anybody I see in filthy clothes, with their head bowed down in shame fronted by their pathetic little cardboard begging sign is always in desperate need of far, far more than any money that comes their way. They need things like a good place to stay, medical treatment, advice, someone to talk to, people who care about them… And treading through the narrow path of my own everyday responsibilities, demands and complications I just can’t give them all of that. It’s mostly up to them to find a way for themselves. It’s a hard world.
Darlene …. and Paul Burns [2]:
When I was a kid, I can remember a few grown-ups [NOT my relatives or their friends!!] boasting about how they gave “hoboes” and “swaggies” a hard time during the Great Depression - needless to say, THEY were well-off and the men of the family were in steady employment in those days. It disgusted me then; the same attitude disgusts me now.
DownAndOutInSaiGon [5]:
Tent cities? Impossible now. 10 second-or-less after setting up, some pompous boofhead on the 19th floor of Bludger Towers would be on his mobile to the Police screaming for them to save him from all the burglars, murderers and rapists setting up camp right where he could see them.
Yep, bloody poor form on those folks’ part, Graham. And think about how many people were unemployed/homeless back then through absolutely no fault of their own.
Goes to show that you were a more thoughtful person as a kid than those adults.
Perhaps somebody who works in the sector knows the reasons for homelessness these days, but poor mental health services and lack of affordable housing must be two reasons.
Nicely put, Megan. There are no easy answers. Sometimes it just depends on that immediate reaction as to whether one gives a buck or not to a beggar. It’s certainly not ideal (making a quid is one of the ways we create an identity and a sense of self worth for ourselves in this society), but some of the people one sees around have fallen through the cracks and are suffering greatly from some illness or another. And given the nature of the rental market and the employment situation, one feels that a short step in the wrong direction and one could be in the same situation.
No, not that I am aware of Down and Out, but perhaps there’s one tucked away where most of us don’t see it. Surprised to hear that one still exists in Brisbane. Would’ve thought “Can-do” would’ve got rid of it by now.
I havn’t worked in the housing sector for ten years Darlene, did so for ten of the 13 years from ‘85 to ‘98, but from my vantage points in adolescent detoxs and young offender programs i have to say that you are partly right. Early onset of mental health issues is a major cause of youth homelessness, as is drug use. Combining the two is a particularly efficient way of losing your home. the other main cause is family breakdown, often due to adult experience of addictions or mental illness.
there is a lot i’d like to say; about the loss of boarding houses, day work, prohibition, the fall out from the growth in community care, subcultural attitudes towards work, authority and drugs and the thankless tasks of those who labour in Child Protection, DOCs whatever it is called in each state to name a few; but i’ll stick to two points.
Firstly the negative stigma attached to mental illness is huge and is ofen most fiercly held by those who are experiencing it. i have lost count of those i have worked with who have expressed the most derogetory attitudes towards the mentaly ill whilst in the midst of or on the verge of a psychotic episode. breaking down that stigma in the general community would be a small but vital step.
secondly, when you are living rough the obsticles in your path seem insurmountable, and i know it sounds trite, but they are, surmountable that is. i have never known a homeless kid who did not know the first step that had to be taken. unfortunalty, these first steps are often very hard, leading to dangerous boarding or doss houses, trusting a bureaucrat, or even identifying yourself as homeless, ill or in need of help. without going too deep into a discussion of the tension between personal and community responsibility i have to say that that first step has to be made by the individual.
it is a tough subject Darlene, and most of us have quite visceral responses to it, it confronts us often when we are most vulnerable, on the way to or home from work, when we are out with friends, intoxicated and our imagination can run away from us.
ciao
Last year I read this book <a href=”http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780679312284″book about a guy who lived with the homeless in Toronto for a year. Worth reading if you want a bit of an insight into people who live rough. It really was a tent city.
I do work in the homelessness / housing space. There’s no single answer to what happens to people but Dylwah and Darlene are right about the impact of mental illness. And indeed if you aren’t clinically depressed (or over using alcohol or drugs) when you become homeless, there’s a fair chance you will be after a short while living rough. I can’t imagine begging without some sort of crutch …
Early intervention works best, before despair and helplessness becomes endemic. Easy to say, but hard to do.
Yes, homelessness and mental health issues are often two sides of the same coin. This is becoming a huge problem in our society. Rates of mental illness are skyrocketing and this in spite of Australia enjoying boom times.
This is not a problem that can be solved by governments. It is about culture. Social networks are too easily disrupted: too much work, need to move house to obtain work, work is more important than people.
The sad truth is that without a home it is impossible to function in the working world. So once a person becomes homeless they are in very deep trouble. The tragedy is that this exacerbates mental illness. Vicious cycle. If we are going to help the homeless first and foremost they need stable, supervised homes. Then you can bring in the mental health bods etc. This will come at enormous cost, only when we are prepared to wear that cost will the government intervene. In a culture where people will abandon their closest relatives to homelessness, that is not going to happen.
The homeless can’t vote. Sadly governments are ignoring the problem. Instead they do this: the Qld govt released a “homeless kit”: blankets etc. That is the Qld Govt has basically admitted it cannot or will not attempt to address this problem.
“This will come at enormous cost, only when we are prepared to wear that cost will the government intervene. ”
Noting that outcomes are very hard to measure empirically, there have been is at least one example of the cost effectiveness of providing housing first. That particular model, Common Ground, is difficult to replicate in Australia - despite the interest it has generated in a few States, but the cost data is interesting.
In NSW the mental health system of default is the prison system. It’s a lot more expensive to keep homeless people with mental illness in goal than it is to provide accommodation and range of integrated supports.
But the system is complicated and that’s one of the things that Rudds Homelessness Green Paper is going to have to deal with. Funds for the surround services (mental health,drug and alcohol) come from multiple sources. Makes it difficult to coordinate.
Nice post.
I never understood the heartlessness some people feel towards homeless people.
I’m a softie and I pretty much always give money if someone asks. I remember talking to one guy who had been beaten up by a group of young guys, king hit in his head repeatedly while he was on the ground. Why do people get off on hurting the most vulnerable and powerless people just for the hell of it.
But beyond open cruelty, so many people are completely indifferent - even compassionate people. When I was at uni, I was always saddened that the lefty students never seemed to care about things like homelessness. They’d get all angry and moralistic and hold rallies about, say, a magazine image that could be interpreted as sexist, but homeless people weren’t even on their radar.
To me, homeless people are the most vulnerable, hurt and lowest-rung in all society. BTW nice song.
Thanks for that, Dylwah. I wonder if stigmatising mental illness is a way for some people not to confront that they have one, or whether it’s just that people often hate what they most see in themselves.
Early intervention surely works best, Angharad (you’re right, how to do it is the hard thing). I wonder if that young bloke with the paint circled mouth is getting any help, or whether all the place he goes to for a feed can do is give him a feed? If he doesn’t get early intervention, he’s stuffed. So sad. Yes, it you didn’t have a crutch to numb the pain of begging, god knows what you’d do.
David, you’re right about that. I suspect it’s because a lot of activist leftists at university are from middle-class backgrounds. Also, dealing with people face to face brings up the uncomfortable realisation that they’re people and not just members of some political category or another. A lot of university politics is self-indulgent bollocks, to put it less than midly.
John, nicely put.
“Why do people get off on hurting the most vulnerable and powerless people just for the hell of it.”
God knows, David, only God knows. You’d have to be a low bugger to beat up a homeless person, but of course some people beat up little kids and animals and old people.
The reactions to homeless people are interesting. I find that Wayne is a person who one finds it impossible not to feel sympathy for (I hope his painting career kicks off), but that bloke who told me that whether I helped him or not depended on whether I was caring and kind or not was quite frightening and came across as manipulative. I only had 80 cents in my purse, and he walked off in a huff. I do feel a tad bothered by my willingness to jump to conclusions about him.
“In NSW the mental health system of default is the prison system. It’s a lot more expensive to keep homeless people with mental illness in goal than it is to provide accommodation and range of integrated supports.”
That’s an awful situation.
John, haven’t a lot of those homes been gotten rid of in the last few decades? Where did they anticipate that people were going to go to?
Here’s the lyrics to that Bruce song, David:
Men walkin’ ‘long the railroad tracks
Goin’ someplace there’s no goin’ back
Highway patrol choppers comin’ up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretchin’ round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin’ in their cars in the southwest
No home no job no peace no rest
The highway is alive tonight
But nobody’s kiddin’ nobody about where it goes
I’m sittin’ down here in the campfire light
Searchin’ for the ghost of Tom Joad
He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag
Waitin’ for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box ‘neath the underpass
Got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathin’ in the city aqueduct
The highway is alive tonight
But where it’s headed everybody knows
I’m sittin’ down here in the campfire light
Waitin’ on the ghost of Tom Joad
Now Tom said “Mom, wherever there’s a cop beatin’ a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there’s a fight ‘gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I’ll be there
Wherever there’s somebody fightin’ for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin’ hand
Wherever somebody’s strugglin’ to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you’ll see me.”
The highway is alive tonight
But nobody’s kiddin’ nobody about where it goes
I’m sittin’ downhere in the campfire light
With the ghost of old Tom Joad
(Tom Joad is the main character in The Grapes of Wrath, she said helpfully.)
Thanks, PC.
As a very activist leftist, along with a whole bunch of activist leftists, while at uni I did battle with municipal authorities over providing free coffee and soup in the Armidale Mall years ago. So to say activist leftists aren’t concerned anout homelessnmess is not entirely accurate. One of the major problems over the past decade or so is its been very hard to find the unemployed to organise them. Despite the beggars and the obvious homeless on city streets they’re very hard to find. We differ that way greatly from the unemployed oif the Great Depression, when thay were massively organised by the Unemployed Workers Movement and the CPA because they were very easy to find in the various Happy Valleys, tent cities, etc.The system was set up so people who were being evicted for non-payment of rent, etc knew who to go to for help to physically stop the eviction. It just doesn’t happen like that anymore, and I freely admit that could be the fault of left wing activists like myself, because, so far as I know we aren’t presently setting up those orgasnisations that might politicise the homeless. We’re leaving it all to Vinnies, the Sallies, Brotherhood of St. Lawrence, Mission Australia and the like, who support the disadvantaged but don’t bring politics into it.
Part of the problem too, might be that the general population doesn’t care enough about politics or, if homeless, is too beaten down to protest.
Part of the problem is that organisations like the the Brotherhood and St. Vinnie’s have been neutered into political silence by the last government. There is an absolute, and I’d say insoluable, contradiction between those organisations bidding for governement contracts to operate Centrelink services and their roles as activists speaking for the marginalised. Hopefully, this is one of the things that will change.
Fine,
You’re absolutely right. It would appear the situation might have changed already if the Rudd Government is sincere about their “Let a thousand flowers flourish’ approach. Which I think they are.
Good point, Paul, and apologies for the generalisation. Some activists aren’t interested in on-the-ground issues because they are too busy with other things.
Part of the problem, at the level of everyday experience, is our expectation that those who are marginalised will in some way be more virtuous than their proximity to bare survival dictates. When we find them manipulative, hostile or otherwise unpleasant it is easy to harden against them - not categorically, of course, but individually. And all of those ‘individual’ experiences add up. Those who have lost the most are, paradoxically, the least sympathetic to us because of this expectation.
Yes. Charity doesn’t feel as good when it it met with a sense of entitlement..
“Those who have lost the most are, paradoxically, the least sympathetic to us because of this expectation.”
That’s so true, Klaus. It’s something to be aware of.
Thinking about this, I realise how easy it is to get into the drift of thinking there are acceptable homeless people and non-acceptable homeless folk. However, homeless folk are just folk, and as such are as flawed and as good as the rest of us.
“Yes. Charity doesn’t feel as good when it it met with a sense of entitlement..”
No, it doesn’t. Changes the relationship between the giver and the receiver somewhat.
“However, homeless folk are just folk, and as such are as flawed and as good as the rest of us.”
This is true, and I also think the experience of marginalisation tends to mean that people simply don’t have the resources to be generous, virtuous etc. They are more likely to be impolite, unpleasant or anti-scoial than those who aren’t marginalised by situations such as homelessness, because those who aren’t marginalised in these ways don’t have to consider their survival in their every action. This becomes clear if you think about the stress that comes from uncertainty over your own ability to, say, pay a bill on time. If you imagine facing similar levels of uncertainty every it is clear that only the most resilient will remain sociable and friendly in those circumstances.
This could probably be demonstrated by looking at the effects of sustained situations of stress on the human brain by measuring cortisol levels or something of the kind.
Used to give money and buy coffees for this guy, have a chat etc. That is until one day when he, high on ice, decided to plonk himself down next to me and talk about drugs at the top of his voice. He also thought I wanted to see his track marks in my face while eating lunch.
>
After that I put him on the never-mind list. And I noticed other homeless people did too. Homelessness might not mean you are a lower form of life but it doesn’t necessarilly make you virtuous either. Just sayin’.
This could probably be demonstrated by looking at the effects of sustained situations of stress on the human brain by measuring cortisol levels or something of the kind.
——-
It has been done and the results are worrying. Sustained cortisol elevation, common in depression, can result in temporal lobe atrophy, memory impairment(both source and working memory), cognitive fluctuations, sleep disturbances, immunological inhibition, longstanding can result in glucocortoid resistance resulting in low systemic inflammation, a significant risk factor for cancer.
But wait there’s more, studies on primates have found that those on the lower end of the social scale have altered dopamine D2 receptors. The implication of this is that such individuals are more prone to substance abuse and possibly the development of schizotypal tendencies.
Thus, as I have previously stated, the measures need to address homelessness are going to be very expensive and take a long time.
“Part of the problem is that organisations like the the Brotherhood and St. Vinnie’s have been neutered into political silence by the last government.”
Actually, I don’t think that’s true. I’ve been working at an advocacy level in housing and homelessness issues for over 20 years and until the last 18 months or so it’s been impossible to get a politician to listen or to get the media to take any notice. I’m admitting to failure here but it wasn’t for want of trying.
No matter how hard we tried. Some times it seemed like the best we could do was to stop things getting worse at such a rapid rate. No organisation I know was silenced and certainly not St Vinnies or the Brotherhood.
My prior post disappeared so …
This could probably be demonstrated by looking at the effects of sustained situations of stress on the human brain by measuring cortisol levels or something of the kind.
——–
The studies have been done and the results are worrying. Long list here but basically sustained CORT elevation is a risk factor depression, if not an outright cause of the same, inhibit immune function, causes temporal lobe atrophy ….
In studies on primates on the lower end of the social scale there was a distinct difference in the nos of D2 receptors, the implication being increased susceptibility to substance abuse and possibly the development the schizotypal tendencies.
Hence, as I previously asserted, homelessness instantiates a vicious cycle of psychological and physical decline.
“Part of the problem is that organisations like the the Brotherhood and St. Vinnie’s have been neutered into political silence by the last government. ”
Fine, I don’t think that’s true in this instance. I have worked for the last 20 years as an advocate in housing and homelessness. It’s been impossible to raise any interest in the issues, despite the best efforts of many including the Brotherhood and Vinnies.
Of all organisations, they have been particularly vocal and prepared to say what they think but they weren’t alone. Neither government nor media was particularly interested and perhaps I and others have to accept some responsibility for that. But I’m not sure what else we could have done.
Everyone;
Pavlov’s Cat mentioned “The Grapes Of Wrath”. Those unfamiliar with what can happen to good people in bad times would do well to read the book or see the film [also on DVD]. No, it’s not an instruction manual …. yet.
Yes, it’s an extraordinary film.
It certainly sounds like you know more than I about this, Angharad. I have a lot of respect for these organisations and I know it’s become dreadfully unfashionable for politicians to talk about homeless people. And I grew up thinking it was the job of government to look after people who can’t look after themselves.
Fine, That was before they all became economic rationalists and dropped people out of the equation.
Darlene and All:
For those who missed it, the SBS-TV program “Insight” on the rental housing crisis will be re-broadcast on Friday at 1:30pm [Queensland time – so check your local times].
Excellent
There was no mention of the housing shortage caused by the Great Depression and severely exacerbated during and after the Second World War. At that time, there were renters bidding against one another too. There was the illegal but universal “key money” of up to half-a-year’s rent deposit on the key – and no receipt! There were some rental dumps that should have had demolition orders put on them [just like today]. There were even examinations behind closed doors to see if the woman fitted the house, or something [one way of ensuring genetic diversity, I suppose]. And, of course, house sharing – great for kids if the other family has kids your age too.
There were state government housing camps too, almost exactly the same as migrant camps. Crowded - but at least a roof over your head for a few years.
That severe housing shortage was not alleviated until the early ‘Fifties when the various state housing commissions built large numbers of affordable and appropriate dwellings by bypassing the failed, inefficient, profit-driven private housing sector.
There are lessons we can learn from that time.
Fine:
That seems to be changing, although we’ll have to see if it has any material effect. On Wednesday, COAG agreed to divvy up $150m between the states for new crisis accommodation. Combine that with the upcoming White paper on homelessness, and it looks as though fashions are changing.
Oldeboots [36]:
So the race is on - between various governments …. and nasty political extremists to see who does win the hearts-and-minds of the homeless.
Once upon a time, the homeless could be stereotyped. Not now. Too many ordinary people are now becoming homeless - sleeping rough, sleeping in cars, sleeping wherever and however they can - they have recent crystal-clear memories of a very much higher standard of living and cannot be blamed if some of them feel very resentful and vengeful.
Hello everyone,
Thank you for all expressing yourselves so intelligently and thoughtfully. I live in Milton on the Brisbane River and am in the prime position to see the tent villiage on the other side of the river (west end). I decided to search the internet to find out about these people-who are they and why are they there? Are there children living there also? I feel so sad for them and wondered what is being done to help them, and if I can do anything to help. I found this site, and have been nicely informed-thank you once again.
You all seem terribly intelligent and informed on all of this and have wonderful ideas and the best of intentions, but it strikes me as so academic! How sad that we are reduced to this! Discussing politics and various schemes. If only we could just put our arms around them and let them talk, share their story, their fears and their hopes. Give them some food, some clothes and blankets-even just toiletries! Books, information, ideas, motivation and HOPE! But no, we may be taken to court for inappropriate behaviour, food poisoning, harassment-fear!
I believe there are many many good, caring folk in our community who would love to do something to help but are afraid ‘to do the wrong thing’ or just plainly dont know how or what they can do. The average person who knows little about mental illness, drug addiction and homelessness, is afraid, as I think they are afraid of anything they know little about.
I suppose a good start is education and awareness, so thank you, I will watch the SBS program “insight”, I will try to get my hands on the book “Down to This”, I will watch “The Grapes of Wrath” and just quietly, I think I will start taking the sandwiches that are to be thrown out at the end of each day where I work and drop them off to the people on the other side of the river to me!
Hopefully by educating people like myself, one by one, who in turn can then educate another and pass on not only the information, but the love that is in every persons’ heart to help our fellow man…
…because there but for the Grace of God go I.