After a two year struggle, Churches in the ACT have finally won the rights to let homeless people sleep in their empty halls overnight. This is a victory for common sense. Laws are supposed to protect people, not prevent them from helping each other. The project will start in May.
Ms Griffiths says the project [...]

Zed Seselja is making sense on asking why churches that want to provide shelter to the homeless can’t because the ACT Government won’t get out of the way:
“Last year in Canberra 3500 people including 1500 children required homelessness support,” Mr Seselja said.
“I’m disgusted that ACT Labor reportedly won’t allow churches to provide homeless accommodation because [...]

This came across my desk and I thought some RiotACT readers might be affected, or know people affected, by homelessness. Homelessness can happy to any of us – all it takes is a run of bad luck like losing your job or getting ill, and suddenly it becomes very hard to pay the rent or [...]

I saw this tent today tucked away in one of the open spaces just outside of Civic.
It’s very carefully tucked away, you need to be on a pretty peculiar angle to see it. If not for the orange patches and guys I doubt I’d ever have known it was there.
I’m sure both yourself, dear reader, [...]

Housing and Community Services Minister Joy Burch has announced the launch of the First Point hotline for the ACT’s Central Intake Service for Homelessness.
“First Point will provide a single access point to the ACT homelessness system ensuring that clients do not have to make multiple calls to get the services they need,” Ms Burch said.
The [...]

[ED - This should be taken as a follow on from an earlier story]
I can’t understand it, I got fired again last night.
I was working in a fast food restaurant and have been there for a few months. My shift supervisor and I got on well, but the boss had been riding me hard after [...]

While wandering around Canberra I’ve noticed there is still a lot of rough sleepers despite the so called services that are supposed to not turn people away. There are also a lot of people like me who sleep in vans and cars, and people who couch surf, live with relatives and make do in other [...]

Due to high average incomes Jon Stanhope likes to proclaim that Canberra has the most affordable housing in Australia.
It’s curious for a Labor leader to announce that, because the wealthy and middle class are able to get by, the most vulnerable can go hang.
The ABC today informs us that Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [...]

I was not feeling all that happy for myself today having experienced about 6 weeks of unemployment now. I thought that things were not all that great. But just when things seemed at rock bottom, along came a situation that helped put it all in perspective.
I have a friend from New Zealand who has not [...]

Today I was enjoying a coffee in a well known Canberra Cafe. While the service was slow, it was the behaviour of the waiter that really upset me. A young lady was trying to sell “The Big Issue” magazine on the pavement in the neutral area between Gus’s and Academy, close to the pedestrian crossing. The [...]

Canberra, the Nation’s Capital is often regarded as a wealthy city  however there are many homeless and disadvantaged members living in the community. I have set up a not for profit organisation called ‘Books for All’ with the aim being for every homeless and disadvantaged person living in Canberra to have the opportunity to own or [...]

Live News has this article about dozens of homeless teenagers who will visit Parliament House today to bring the crisis home to politicians.

Working around civic i have noticed an increasing number of homeless people sitting in Garema place doing nothing but drinking booze and doing drugs and everytime i wonder where are the cops. In the whole maybe 6 months since that crappy asian christian singer has started feeding the homeless i have seen the cops not [...]

Does anyone know of any services (either volunteer or otherwise) that help homeless or disadvantaged people in the ACT and QBN?
I know about the Vinnies night patrol, home in qbn and anglicare on Northbourne, but are there any others? or any places that provide meals, emergency accommodation, etc.?
Any info would be appreciated,
cheers.

I caught a small snippet of Tony Delroy’s Nightlife program on ABC radio the other night (I think it was Tuesday night). Each night after his quiz he has an issue of the day where he asks punters to call in and ramble on about whatever that night’s issue is. On Tuesday night the discussion [...]