Homeless people say they're being turfed out of park to make way for festival | A Current Affair

it's a pretty rough situation living in a tent in a park because you can't find a rental but it gets worse they're being told to pack up and move on to make way for a festival if we've got nowhere to go we've got nowhere to go I guess yeah they're just gonna have to put up with us so you've been on the streets for about six months then yeah going on now it's I didn't realize until somebody's 13 months the other day in the heart of Brisbane a tent city we're trying to help each other out you know with more and more people coming by the day and a council accused of dumping its homeless bed Sherry Fisk has been without a place to call home since last year ah it's been pretty tough I tell ya her and her partner Now call this humble tent home along the fence line at Musgrave Park in South Brisbane they've tried to get rentals but say it's impossible we're coping and we'll keep coping but we're just like just a little bit help you know that's what we're asking for too tense up is Luke Clements I've got the swag and a backpack yeah just come here because I heard it was just a good communities a community that looks out for one another but one that now has to go according to authorities before a local Festival moves in next weekend they are trying but there's just nowhere to go so you know I mean if there's nowhere to go they can't put us anywhere Luke's been here for three months he'd love a place to call his own before winter but he says he just doesn't have the funds yeah like I don't have the money or like I mean like they want what rents like normally like 60 of your wages you know what I mean I'm only on this job Seekers so that's like um I only get like 400 bucks of fortnights it feels like you know you just just move on whatever you take whatever take whatever we offer you mudsgrave park is home to the panigiri Greek festival which takes over the entire park for a full weekend now there's a clash between the residents living here and the festival who wants to move in they are definitely trying to clear out the park for Pangea Darren Stanley has also been living in the park for three months along with his son he says despite being on the disability support payment he's not eligible for social housing the Department of Housing has set up shop in the park over the past week to help shift people but Darren says it's not a long-term fix it's just a temporary solution for a bigger problem and I don't want that temporary solution you know I want I don't want anything I just want what I need this week A Logan City Council worker was seen dropping off three homeless people to the park from another 45 minutes away Logan City Council mayor Darren power took to radio to defend the move because I wanted to go there so he's taking him there and he's risked his job we don't want people dropped off of parks we'd prefer that people are dropped to services or services are asked to go to see them Logan doesn't have an Outreach service which means the park rangers were probably trying to help out Karen Walsh is CEO of mica projects a not-for-profit group which has teamed up with the housing department to try and shift people from the park she says more than 60 people have already been moved from Musgrave Park in the past few days 29 have gone to permanent housing and about 33 have gone to emergency housing meaning that usually they can stay there until there's a pathway to something else Michael's Street to home team is now currently in the park trying to help relocate people before the festival and while they're hopeful of moving everyone it's a constant battle we don't know how many people who keep are going to come how many new people are going to come there's a lot of activity down there so we just are going to keep trying every day to work with people about what their needs are but it seems all agree there's just not enough housing right now for everyone I'm hopefully I'm from yeah I pray every night that the next day I get a phone call the festival organizers say they do a lot for vulnerable people and they are working with Council to find a solution

Channel: A Current Affair

Views: 98,964

Keywords: a current affair, a current affair reporter, a current affair australia, channel 9 news, 9 news australia, australia news, world news, australian news, channel 9

Id: 5rbXd1MQf_g

Length: 5min 12sec (312 seconds)

Published: Mon May 15 2023