Salvos rocking it for rough sleepers in WA
Salvos rocking it for rough sleepers in WA
28 September 2022
Salvation Army team member Sharon Tregear, Rockingham Deputy Mayor Hayley Edwards, local homelessness advocate Owen Farmer and Rockingham Corps Officers Captains Darrell and Chelsea Wilson.
‘Rough it 4 Rockingham’ – a sleepout to be held in Perth’s south on 8 October – will seek to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness and see faith at work in the area.
People will be sleeping rough for one night in the beachside suburb of Rockingham, with The Salvation Army partnering with advocates and community leaders to raise awareness and funds for those in the community experiencing homelessness. The inaugural Rough it 4 Rockingham is an experiential event coinciding with World Homeless Day (10 October), and promises to be more than the usual sleepout.
“Sleepouts have happened before, but the money can be raised for other organisations, and it doesn’t always go locally into the community,” explains Captain Chelsea Wilson, Rockingham Corps Officer. “Hayley [Deputy Mayor Hayley Edwards] is on the local council, and she realised one night that if you wanted to go to the toilet, there were no unlocked toilets in the area. Hayley’s passion is to support our community. That’s what made the partnership.”
Captains Chelsea and Darrell Wilson have been at The Salvation Army’s Centre of Hope in Rockingham for the past 12 years, offering community support services for people experiencing homelessness. They open their doors as a drop-in centre three days per week, providing food, free Wi-Fi, showers and laundry facilities for those in need.
“The sleepout is grassroots,” says Darrell. “We had invited some officials to our building to see what we do. She (Hayley) was one of them. After being in our building and seeing our work and what happens here, she was blown away. She wanted to do a fundraiser with us, to specifically support the homeless in our city.”
The increasing costs of home ownership and renting has only exacerbated the homelessness south of Perth, with nearby bush areas hosting shanty towns in recent years. The need for support has grown more pronounced since COVID-19.
“There are probably 140,000 people in Rockingham, and homelessness is an issue,” explains Darrell. “Earlier in the pandemic, there was support. Newstart was doubled, and there was a moratorium on leases. They opened hotels for the homeless for a while. What we’re finding is that period also created a lot of debt, and the housing affordability is an issue.”
The increased need in Rockingham is hitting families and children looking for somewhere to call home in a post-COVID context, with a perceived rise in children experiencing homelessness. ABS data reports that young people are over-represented in the homeless population, and the actual numbers may still go unreported.
Hayley Edwards, Deputy Mayor of Rockingham (left), and Captain Darrell Wilson had the opportunity to speak with The Couch presenter Neesha Seth about Rough it For Rockingham and World Homeless Day.
“During COVID, we weren’t actually under great demand,” Chelsea explains. “The people we’re seeing now, there’s an increase in homelessness and a shortage of housing. We’ve had a family with six children living in cars.”
“At last report, our case worker had 20 active cases,” Darrell says. “Of these cases, 16 involved homelessness, which also included a total of 18 children related to those clients. This is alarming as a percentage.”
Rockingham Corps is a partner agency in the Zero Project, with the aim of reducing those numbers. The Zero Project operates the shared ‘by name’ database so that those on the margins can receive consistent support and be known by name no matter what agency they engage with. The aim is to house the most vulnerable rough sleepers as a first step and then to surround them with the wraparound support needed to build capacity.
The fundraising target for the sleepout is $75,000, with funds helping to provide tents, blankets and torches for those immediate needs. The campaign has already secured donations from MPs, councillors and local businesses, and the Wilsons will be ‘roughing it’ for Rockingham too.
“We’ll do the sleepout,” says Chelsea. “My son has a swag. You just hope it brings understanding around what it’s like if you don’t have nowhere to sleep or any support in your life.”
“People can do the sleepout,” Darrell explains. “They can raise awareness around what it’s like, they can donate, or set up a fundraising page. Christianity isn’t a passive activity, it’s something we do. We have a theology of a social gospel, like the Booths [Salvation Army co-founders], doing something about the world we live in. Our faith should play out in the world around us.”
Further information on donating, fundraising, or joining the sleepout can be found on the Rough it 4 Rockingham site and Facebook page.
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