Those facing homelessness are most vulnerable during a disaster
With strong winds, heavy rains, and flood warnings in place ahead of Cyclone Alfred, not everyone was able to keep safe. While people sandbagged their houses, or heeded emergency warnings to evacuate and shelter with family and friends, those without a home and sleeping rough or living in cars, caravans, tents, and makeshift shelters couldn’t. Severe weather events bring into focus the vulnerability of having nowhere to call home, and tragically, those experiencing homelessness are systematically invisible in emergency and response planning.
In natural disasters like Cyclone Alfred, only around half of people sleeping rough are likely to receive emergency warnings. They are reliant on outreach services, word of mouth, personal observations or the internet, although online connectivity is not universally accessible to people experiencing homelessness. Many people without a home would have been left disconnected and exposed to life-threatening severe weather.
Often with only a sleeping bag and tarp for protection, most people sleeping rough will have lost everything they own and experienced traumatic situations like displacement and flash flooding. We often don’t know how many people without a home may have actually lost their lives through these extreme weather events.
”"There are people we will struggle to reach...it is busy and we are working in more extreme and urgent conditions...but we will keep going back as long as it is safe to drive."
Karyn Walsh, CEO at Micah Projects in BrisbanePast StreetSmart Grant Recipient, as quoted by ABC
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High levels of rough sleeping and homelessness in Cyclone-impacted communities
Recent street counts, and the last national census, have shown us cyclone-impacted areas along the eastern seaboard, such as the The Northern Rivers, Tweed Valley and Byron (in Northern NSW) and Brisbane, Gympie, Hervey Bay, Lockyer Valley, Logan, Moreton Bay and Sunshine Coast (in Queensland) have some of the highest numbers of people sleeping rough in the country. In Brisbane alone, 1,377 people are without a home.
Disasters also impact people who are homeless but not sleeping rough, such as people temporarily staying with friends or family, or in hotels or caravan parks. These living arrangements are often disrupted by disasters, leaving people with nowhere to go.
Community based organisations in these areas already have strong, trusting relationships with vulnerable people in their communities and are set up as existing support networks for those facing homelessness. We know they fill an important gap in the ecosystem of government and larger agency-led responses when disaster strikes. They provide the street outreach, community meals, and local drop-in centres that keep people who are without a home, safe and connected.
”Among our cohort of flood-affected clients are those sleeping rough and/or at risk of homelessness. We need to zero in on meeting their most immediate needs like securing emergency accommodation, access to medicine and food, and supporting with other immediate aid like blankets, clothes, phone credit.
Murwillumbah Community Centre, NSW (Tweed Valley)Past StreetSmart Grant Recipient
Help give immediate, targeted support
For 20 years, StreetSmart Australia has believed in action, collective action. Our approach is to act quickly, responding to the immediate needs of the people impacted by natural disasters, using the power of crowdfunding. We band together with our supporters to look local and listen to what’s needed, as we have done when floods have hit in the past.
Through our Cyclone Appeal, we will come together to provide essential, flexible funding, to help smaller organisations respond quickly to what they see on the ground, strengthening community responses, targeting people who are experiencing homelessness and hardship. Funding will enable us to care for those most vulnerable with outreach support, meals, clothes, shelter, sleeping bags, showers, hygiene products, identification documents and other essentials.
Our funding and material aid support has always been rooted in trust, backed up by research and strong networks. We often have existing community partners who we provide support to, who are in these affected communities, who themselves are the people on the ground, and often personally impacted. We also seek out new organisations based on testimonials and the collaborations going on in real time.
