A Border not-for-profit has formed a committee to help deal with the increasing prevalence of homelessness in the region and is urging other organisations in the community to do the same.
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Disability employment service provider The Personnel Group chief executive John Gibbons said the organisation formed its homelessness committee after noticing a rise in the number of clients struggling to find affordable accommodation since COVID-19.
"Because we work in the coal face of some of the most disadvantaged and challenged cohorts, we've started to see in the last couple of years a real issue emerging, not that it wasn't there before, but it's become far more prevalent," he said.
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"Our team started talking about this and wanting us to take action to support organisations in our community that work in this space.
"We see that somebody who can't get stable secure housing, it's almost impossible for them to get a stable job, so the flow on impact if you can't get work, you can't get housing, leads us to all other kinds of community issues, antisocial behaviour, drug and alcohol abuse, and so forth."
The Personnel Group formed its committee, which has since been working with the Albury branch of St Vincent De Paul society to find practical ways to address homelessness on the Border, particularly by supporting the Vinnies Community Sleepout on Friday.
Vinnies sleepout organiser and tailored support coordinator Shantelle Lidden said collaborative community approaches could achieve greater outcomes for people experiencing homelessness.
"If we could really build that within the community between the organisations I believe we are stronger together," she said.
"It would make it a lot less challenging for the people living it (homelessness) on a day to basis, and with more people involved, there's more ideas shared, more knowledge on the table and I think whatever we could achieve out of that would be nothing short of amazing."
Other businesses or organisations who would like to support Vinnies are encouraged to get in touch with Ms Lidden at shantelle.lidden@vinnies.org.au or by calling 0429 657 430.
To register or donate for the community sleepout fundraiser visit www.vinnies.org.au/communitysleepout and click on the Albury page link.
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Victoria Ellis
Victoria Ellis grew up on the Border and loves reporting for her home community. She is a University of Wollongong Journalism graduate. In 2018 Victoria was awarded the Bruce Gordon Scholarship for Journalism and completed a 10 week internship with WIN News Illawarra. In 2019 she was awarded The Border Mail's Cameron Thompson Scholarship, where she completed a three week internship, before taking up ongoing employment in 2021.
Victoria Ellis grew up on the Border and loves reporting for her home community. She is a University of Wollongong Journalism graduate. In 2018 Victoria was awarded the Bruce Gordon Scholarship for Journalism and completed a 10 week internship with WIN News Illawarra. In 2019 she was awarded The Border Mail's Cameron Thompson Scholarship, where she completed a three week internship, before taking up ongoing employment in 2021.
