How can this happen in Australia?

[Beanie Girl]

Sometimes life sucks and the government can't afford to catch everybody. Harsh but reality is harsh sometimes.

But the homelessness issue is nothing compared to others. Try ringing families SA to report child abuse. You will be on hold for over an hour. My record with them is 1.5 hours. Another work mate had to wait 2 hours.

The resources are stretched.

The administrative bull***t is already bad enough as Spade described.
But the problems are only going to get worse, Tim86.
I read in the Canberra Times recently that Joe Hockey wants to privatise Medicare and Centrelink's functions, especially their frontline services.
The Gubb wants to privatise govt functions that are not-for-profit and give it to private organizations who will run it for-profit.

We are all going to pay for it either in the form of reduced services or increased taxes. Or both. Sigh. Can't win

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"A crossbench Senator has predicted the Abbott government's first budget will produce an increase in domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse and mental health issues.

Interviewed on ABC TV on Sunday, Democratic Labor Party Senator John Madigan said he believed the budget was unfair because it hit the poorest hardest.

'If we attack those people with the least, I believe we're going to have more domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, vandalism, mental health problems - and what's the cost going to be to mop that up" Senator Madigan said.

"It's bad enough now - it's out of control a lot of these problems. I'm not suggesting that we can eliminate these things, but I can tell you what, this budget, I believe, will exacerbate all of these problems, and more."

.........

The meeting was one of a series of recent discussions Mr Hockey has held with crossbenchers as part of an effort to win support for contentious measures such as a fee for visits to the doctor, a less generous system of pension indexation, and changes which would force young job seekers to wait six months for unemployment benefits.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...ohn-madigan-20140810-3dg7m.html#ixzz39z4t3acn

 

[Hoffy]

Hi All

Listening the ABC radio the other morning interesting story about a homeless woman.

What really got me was Rochelle (interviewee) 59 years old, was married with 2 children and once worked as a teacher. Things fell apart, family and medical issues and she found herself out on the streets.

Apparently she was too embarrassed to tell any family and friends and it was not till after 12 months did she disclose this to a close friend. She slept in her car with her small dog "Sparkle". She also slept in vacant homes.

Finally she got help and now lives in a Homes west house.

I read another story in the paper on Saturday, similar scenario, 58 year old man living in his car, was not long ago he was a Project Manager for a Government Department.

How do these people who seem to be average Joe/Jill end up homeless in Australia? I find this hard to comprehend. I feel very sad for anyone in this situation and living in Australia the lucky country makes it harder to understand how this can happen.

MTR

Very said for Rochelle, but according to what you have written there is no mystery. Her pride kept her homeless, or maybe there is more to it? When she decided to seek help, she got a government house. I'm not critical of her. Pride is a powerful emotion, but others are quick to blame the government when there is clearly more to it than outsourcing responsibility to the govt.

I have an uncle just like Rochelle. There is no shortage of government assistance should he chose to avail himself of it.

 

[Beanie Girl]

Government is always cutting back when it comes to Mental Health, perhaps they don't acknowledge this as a major issue???

The Gubb don't care, MTR.
Oh, you have depression and anxiety? take a pill - Zoloft, Effexor, Luvox, Prozac, Paxil, Lexapro
You have bi-polar? - take Lithium
That'll get you through your day - keep working!

You're homeless? - 'Oh it's your fault you're homeless' 'You weren't rich enough to make it so the plight you are in is your own fault' 'God didn't bless you, you must have done something wrong that didn't please him, that's why you're homeless'

Being poor and homeless are looked down upon by both Gubb and Society as some kind of character flaws, to be reviled, to be revulsed by.

But it's easy to be homeless in the new regime that is coming. Lose your job and you don't have access to benefits for 6 months, you can't pay your rent, you're out on the street - homeless

I read that Vinnie's and Salvos are preparing as much as they can in anticipation of homeless numbers rising sharply but they don't have the accommodation and resources to cope.

 

[willair]

But it's easy to be homeless in the new regime that is coming. Lose your job and you don't have access to benefits for 6 months, you can't pay your rent, you're out on the street - homeless

I read that Vinnie's and Salvos are preparing as much as they can in anticipation of homeless numbers rising sharply but they don't have the accommodation and resources to cope.

Local park I live near has about 6 cars per night 50% are backpackers the others are older people in my age range,most just stay one night then move onto the next campsite that way the Police-BCC,,don't fine them and a few of those people that live in that sub culture that I have got to know once had normal lives,and high paying jobs but ive never seen one complain,they may well like the lifestyle..

 

[DEC]

Very said for Rochelle, but according to what you have written there is no mystery. Her pride kept her homeless, or maybe there is more to it? When she decided to seek help, she got a government house. I'm not critical of her. Pride is a powerful emotion, but others are quick to blame the government when there is clearly more to it than outsourcing responsibility to the govt.

I have an uncle just like Rochelle. There is no shortage of government assistance should he chose to avail himself of it.

Agree with this

 

[bob246810]

I can't comment on this situation, but I know a lot of people who, if they lost their job tomorrow, would have a hard time paying the rent. But the thing is, these are people on $70K+ incomes, no kids, no medical obligations, etc. I think the term is "wealthy poor" - high income, high spending, low spending rate.

Cause is easy enough - $20 cocktails (x5), $100 taxi, $30K car, trendy gym, rent in the middle of the CBD, etc. Rinse and repeat, and then you suddenly have $2K in the bank and a $2.5K credit card bill.

I can easily imagine them sleepign in the park if they didn't have a network of close friends who can lend them a place to sleep.

 

[cimbom]

Agree with this

That doesn't even make sense. She probably doesn't have a good relationship with her family. You can't tell me you have a close relationship with someone and you don't figure out they're homeless for that long?

 

[MaggieMcT]

Mental health problems can be very difficult to treat. It can be very difficult to keep someone stable if they have a significant problem, and you can't force people to take medication or seek help. It's very sad but inevitable that some people will fall through the cracks, at least for a time.

 

[Macca]

Mental health problems can be very difficult to treat. It can be very difficult to keep someone stable if they have a significant problem, and you can't force people to take medication or seek help. It's very sad but inevitable that some people will fall through the cracks, at least for a time.

The people I know of with mental health problems are quite convinced that there is a stigma attached to mental health and they desperately want to get off their meds to prove to themselves that they are better now.

People I know with high blood pressure, for example, just keep taking their meds and their BP stays stable and everyone is happy but when people with mental health stop taking meds their problems recur and the whole cycle is reset.

If they would only stay on their meds, within a year or two the new people they meet would not even know of their problem and the self imposed stigma would lessen.

Very frustrating I can tell you

 

[Hoffy]

That doesn't even make sense. She probably doesn't have a good relationship with her family. You can't tell me you have a close relationship with someone and you don't figure out they're homeless for that long?

OP said the she was given a government house when she sought help. Until that time she chose to sleep in her car because she was too embarrassed to tell anyone of her situation.

It's a given that she doesn't have a good family relationship, it is stated in the OP.

 

[MaggieMcT]

The people I know of with mental health problems are quite convinced that there is a stigma attached to mental health and they desperately want to get off their meds to prove to themselves that they are better now.

People I know with high blood pressure, for example, just keep taking their meds and their BP stays stable and everyone is happy but when people with mental health stop taking meds their problems recur and the whole cycle is reset.

If they would only stay on their meds, within a year or two the new people they meet would not even know of their problem and the self imposed stigma would lessen.

Very frustrating I can tell you

I knew someone once who had quite severe bipolar disorder. The last time I met him was many years ago now, at a party. He was really down and out, hated taking his meds, as he felt it made everything flat, that it leached the emotion out of his life. During our conversation he questioned whether it was worth it. He was very aware of the downsides of his condition when off his meds (he had lost a very good job after taking some fairly extreme actions when manic, had been hospitalised and in very bad shape for a long time) but questioned whether the alternative was better. I hope that things are much better for him now, and that his doctors were able to help him achieve a better balance. I did hear that he was working part time a few years ago, so things must have improved a bit at least. But listening to him talk gave me a little bit of insight into how someone in that position ends up making the decision to stop taking their drugs.

 

[cimbom]

OP said the she was given a government house when she sought help. Until that time she chose to sleep in her car because she was too embarrassed to tell anyone of her situation.

It's a given that she doesn't have a good family relationship, it is stated in the OP.

Yes and then others replied that she didn't seek help due to pride. If she has existing family problems, it makes sense that she wouldn't ask them for help. That was my point. It's not really pride, just the reality of the situation.

 

[Macca]

I knew someone once who had quite severe bipolar disorder. The last time I met him was many years ago now, at a party. He was really down and out, hated taking his meds, as he felt it made everything flat, that it leached the emotion out of his life. During our conversation he questioned whether it was worth it. He was very aware of the downsides of his condition when off his meds (he had lost a very good job after taking some fairly extreme actions when manic, had been hospitalised and in very bad shape for a long time) but questioned whether the alternative was better. I hope that things are much better for him now, and that his doctors were able to help him achieve a better balance. I did hear that he was working part time a few years ago, so things must have improved a bit at least. But listening to him talk gave me a little bit of insight into how someone in that position ends up making the decision to stop taking their drugs.

The condition is much more manageable now, better drugs and more finely tuned dosages seem to be able to get it right fairly quickly in most cases

They just have to keep taking them !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[lizzie]

Yes and then others replied that she didn't seek help due to pride. If she has existing family problems, it makes sense that she wouldn't ask them for help. That was my point. It's not really pride, just the reality of the situation.

Regardless of her family situation - it was still pride keeping her homeless. As the OP said, when she sought help from the government she was given accommodation.