CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE SOLUTIONS PROPOSED FOR HOMELESSNESS CRISIS
According to Shelter WA, more than 9000 people experience homelessness each day in Western Australia. Credit: Daniel Spriggs.
Boorloo Bidee Mia turns one
In Perth, the State Government’s Boorloo Bidee Mia homelessness facility celebrated one year of operation last week.
According to the State Government, the service is currently assisting 66 residents, with more than 70% identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. In its first year, Boorloo Bidee Mia has helped six individuals with complex needs into longer-term social housing options.
The name Boorloo Bidee Mia means "Perth pathway to housing" in Whadjuk Noongar language.
The facility works under the leadership of Wungening Aboriginal Corporation and is the first of its kind to be led by an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation.
"The results after one year of Boorloo Bidee Mia supporting residents demonstrate clearly that services and solutions led by Aboriginal people work best for Aboriginal people,” said Wungening Aboriginal Corporation CEO Daniel Morrison.
"We have created a community for residents that people want to be a part of because it is safe, supported, and empowering. Everyone involved can be proud of this achievement.”
Noongar man Dwayne Ward is currently residing at the Boorloo Bidee Mia. He experienced homelessness for 5 months after being released from prison.
“I knew I had it in me [to get off the streets],” said Mr Ward.
“I just wanted a bit of help, and Wungening was the ones who helped me. Ever since I’ve been here, just nothing but goodness.”
Noongar campaigner calls on State Government to do more
Noongar man and homelessness campaigner Des Blurton believes the state government is not doing enough to address First Nations homelessness.
According to Shelter WA, more than 9000 people experience homelessness each day in Western Australia, and there are more than 18 000 households on the social housing waitlist.
“Our mob are falling through the cracks,” Mr Blurton said.
“There are services that are running to full capacity, or not to full capacity. [The state government] needs to start doing what's needed.
“For our mob, when it comes to homelessness, there's all other things that impact us. Our land. We can't even stand on our land and have a home. We can't even raise our kids to be with their family, you know, and then there's crime that comes into it.
“I'm pretty sure that the government knows about this. Our people are breaking, their spirits are breaking, because of homelessness.”
Earlier in the year, Mr Blurton and around 20 other homeless Aboriginal people spent a day camped outside Boorloo Bidee Mia, where they could not secure places. The group were given temporary accommodation elsewhere.
“We had to put a tent city up because no one's listening to our mob, our grassroots cries,” said Mr Burton.
“We are losing people on our streets. We are losing them more than [from] this pandemic.”
Des Blurton. Credit: Nancye Miles-Tweedie.
New research says culturally appropriate approach needed
A new report suggests that Indigenous homelessness in Australia requires a more culturally appropriate response.
A team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers have released the report entitled ‘Urban Indigenous Homelessness: much more than housing’.
On Census night in 2016, more than 116 000 people were estimated to be homeless in Australia.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Indigenous homelessness rate is 10 times that of non-Indigenous people.
The researchers found that ideas like ‘home’ and ‘homelessness’ need to be approached from an Aboriginal perspective, rather than a Western one.
“There's a much greater cultural priority put on relationships, and connections with kin, and connections with culture,” said Associate Professor Deirdre Tedmanson, lead author of the study.
She said a lot of existing services are set up “on the notion of people fending for themselves”
She said culturally appropriate services would allow families to be housed together, provide visitor rights and understand that “people might have multiple obligations that came with them and their language group.”
Associate Professor Tedmanson said it is essential that Indigenous people and organisations are involved in providing homelessness services.
”We think Indigenous-led, community-controlled organisations need to be supported to provide service themselves, and/or at the same time be supported to be wise advisers to mainstream services, so they can accommodate Indigenous clients more appropriately,” she said.
Social housing support offered in the Pilbara
Last week, Pilbara Community Legal Service held a community barbeque in Ieramagadu/Roebourne to mark Homelessness Week.
Angie Mitchell, housing support worker at Pilbara Community Legal Service, said overcrowding is a serious issue in the Pilbara. She said she also knows of people sleeping rough in Ieramagadu and Karratha.
“Our role is to assist people in public housing, to sustain and maintain the roof over their head so to prevent them from becoming homeless,” said Ms Mitchell.
She said Pilbara Legal Service can help people complete housing applications or disruptive behaviour complains. They can also provide assistance with issues like property standards or overcrowding.