Advocates for homeless people say media coverage 'fuelling fear' in Melbourne

The heads of 36 organisations representing homeless people in Victoria have signed an open letter criticising media coverage of homelessness in Melbourne, saying it “fuels public fear and resentment”.

The letter was co-signed by the heads of Anglicare Victoria, Domestic Violence Victoria, Council to Homeless Persons, the Salvation Army and Whitelion among others.

It called for a shift in the public conversation on homelessness to focus less on images of people sleeping rough and more on the critical shortage of affordable accommodation.

It followed a front page article in Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper on Wednesday, that showed pictures of a homeless camp at Flinders Street station under the headline “Grand slum” and “Homeless street camp blights city gateway”.

The Herald Sun reported that the camp, which is home to about two dozen people and was targeted by a Melbourne city council “cleanup” operation last week, had “shocked overseas visitors.”

Later on Wednesday, it reported that some living in that place had “lashed out” at reporters who were filming them.

The coverage was criticised on social media as “scaremongering” and a campaign against homeless people.

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The council said efforts to “clean up” a number of popular sleeping spots in the city were not connected to the Australian Open, which began on Monday, bringing an estimated 300,000 visitors to Melbourne.

The open letter said that “shaming” people who experienced homelessness would not fix the problem and urged media to focus instead on housing affordability.

“Vilifying people sleeping rough does not help them, splashing the faces of people in crisis in the paper only further stigmatises and isolates them, and fuels public fear and resentment,” it said.

“Yes, it is shameful that there are people sleeping on the streets in a country as affluent as Australia. The real shame is that this crisis has been with us for some time and it is only now that it has become visible in our streets that there is outrage and reaction.

“Perhaps we are more self-conscious of it with the international spotlight on us this week but this crisis is not a new one. And the causes of it are not new; Australia is in the grips of an affordable housing crisis that has been building over many years and we currently don’t have a strategy for how we will solve it.”

A large group of homeless people camped out at Flinders Street station, the thoroughfare used by many flocking to the Australian Open, said they were only there because it was safe.

Greg Brown said the well-lit area was a smarter choice for sleeping rough than an alleyway where you could be “robbed or bashed”.

Brenda Nguyen, who has been homeless for seven years, said the group was safer together and shared food, blankets and spare change.

The letter said Melbourne city council was “struggling valiantly” to balance the needs of homeless people with its obligations to maintain public health and safety but that the real solution to the crisis was providing stable, long-term, affordable and appropriate housing.

There are an estimated 23,000 people experiencing some form of homelessness in Victoria, of which just over 1,000 are sleeping rough. At the last informal homeless count, conducted by organisations that assist people who are sleeping rough, there were 247 people sleeping on the streets of Melbourne CBD, making up just over 1% of all people sleeping rough in the state.

“Let’s not think for a moment that by moving people on or placing them in temporary accommodation like rooming houses and motels that the homelessness problem will go away,” the open letter said.

“Poverty and disadvantage behind closed doors is still poverty and disadvantage. We need to stop demonising those without a home. We need to stop trying to come up with quick fixes.”