Ogni anno cresce il numero di persone senzatetto in Australia. Dal 2011, il numero di senza fissa dimora è salito del 14 per cento.
La dottoressa Evelyne Tadros dirige Mission Australia nel New South Wales. A suo parere la situazione è drammatica.
“The homelessness situation in New South Wales and in Australia is quite devastating. There are still in Australia 116 427 people classified as being homeless, and of those, 44% are from a country of birth other than Australia. So it's still quite a serious issue we're facing."
Ci sono varie ragioni per cui il numero di persone senzatetto sta crescendo in tutta la nazione, ma la mancanza di accessibilità del mercato immobiliare è la più ovvia.
“The rent prices continue to rise. People have got low income and they can't afford some of the rent increases we're seeing. We notice that people newly arrived to Australia are often living in overcrowded conditions. But ultimately it comes down to the lack of social and affordable housing."
Jenny Smith è CEO del Council to Homeless Persons e presidente di Homelessness Australia.
A suo parere l'Australia non ha un piano nazionale per affrontare il problema dell'accessibilità del mercato immobiliare.
“We don't have any plan for the government to intervene to make sure that there is housing for people on lower income. We expect the market to take care of it, but we've just had 30 to 40 years of unparalleled prosperity in our country and the market hasn't taken care of it. Governments have gotten out of the business of providing social housing and until they get back in the business of doing that, we will see homelessness continue to increase, and to increase more quickly."
Per Jenny Smith è importante che la gente capisca che sono problemi come la violenza domestica e la difficoltà di affittare o acquistare case che rendono le persone senzatetto, non una vulnerabilità degli individui.
“I think it's very unfortunate that in our community, our vision of homelessness is about individual vulnerabilities, whether people are migrants or are struggling with a disability like a mental health problem or an addiction. This isn't about individuals. If you're poor in our community, it's impossible to see how you can afford housing in our current housing market and the chance of you becoming homeless is very high. This is not about people trying harder, there are just not anywhere near the number of homes that we need at the more affordable end of the market."
Guardando i numeri, si nota che gli immigrati sono sovrarappresentati tra i senzatetto.
Secondo Evelyne Tadros, oltre alla difficoltà di trovare alloggio a prezzi accessibili, chi immigra deve fare fronte ad altre sfide.
“People from linguistically diverse communities and people from a refugee background often face disconnection from family, school, community, and there are major precursors to homelessness for young refugees, for instance. As well, they can face additional stresses when settling in Australia, including adjustment to language, culture and education. Some of them might have a lack of understanding of tenancy rights and risk exploitation by landlords. We do know that the stats indicate refugees have lower labour force participation than other immigrant groups due to the lack of recognised qualification and work experience."
Se siete senza fissa dimora o siete a rischio di diventarlo, ci sono vari modi di affontare il problema e chiedere aiuto.
Alcune organizzazioni possono aiutarvi a negoziare coi proprietari della vostra casa, trovarvi un alloggio d'emergenza e fornirvi pasti caldi.
Ogni stato ha un proprio sistema.
Evelyne Tadros, che è basata in New South Wales, spiega come accedere ai servizi disponibili in questo stato.
“We've got an arm called the Mission Australia Housing that delivers affordable and social housing. If people need to access our services, they can call 1800 888 868. There's also a phone number that is the Link2Home, which provides a whole range of services inclusive in Mission Australia services and non-Mission Australia services. Their contact number is 1800 152 152. There's also services available for women escaping domestic and family violence, we have the 1800 Respect number, their number is 1800 737 732."
Jenny Smith spiega invece a chi rivolgersi nel Victoria.
“In Victoria, there's a 1800 number, 1800 825 955, which you can call if you're at risk of homelessness and again, if you're escaping family violence, there's a service called Safe Steps, 1800 015 188 that you can also call at any time. But the arrangements are different in each state, and I think it's really usual that the local migrant support services know who their homelessness support providers are."
Se preferite parlare in una lingua che non sia l'inglese, Evelyne Tadros ricorda che è disponibile un servizio di interpretariato.
“All our services on the ground, depending on which area the service is provided in, we provide bilingual workers and we also have access to the Translating and Interpreting Service. For Mission Australia, depending on the community we're in, we try to bring in bilingual workers rather than the interpreting and translating service."
Se avete la fortuna di avere un tetto, secondo Jenny Smith la prima cosa che potete fare per dare una mano a chi è in difficoltà è essere gentili e generosi con loro, ma anche pensare a chi votate.
“The most important thing is that people are kind to people experiencing difficulties, and within that kindness, do what they can within their resources. The other really important thing that people need to do is to ask the question, every time they go to a federal, state or local election is 'Does the party I'm voting for have a housing and homelessness policy?'. Do the work to make sure the party they want to vote for has that policy or vote for the party that does have that policy.
Per scoprire quali sono i servizi per senzatetto in Australia, visitate homelessnessaustralia.org.au e cliccate su 'How to get help?' per trovare un elenco dei servizi disponibili in ogni stato.
