About a month ago I was doing some work for in Woolloomooloo. Early one morning I was amazed to see the number of homeless men around the area either just arising from their night’s sleep under the eastern suburbs railway overpass or packing away their mattresses, blankets etc. I reckon I counted about 30 guys in the area of three city blocks. I thought to myself – “this is crazy”. In Sydney? A virtual shanty town! (the photos say it all)
After a client meeting I went for a walk, I was dying for a coffee. I found a place that sold coffee but it didn’t take long before I realised it was a “drop-in centre” (that’s like a Matthew Talbots hostel without the beds) and said g'day to a few of the guys and left (see the last photo).
The next client meeting a couple of weeks later I again saw dozens of men waking up after their night’s sleep under the stars and I went back to the drop-in centre to get a coffee to talk to someone about what was going on. I ended up speaking to the woman who runs the centre (part of the “Hope Street” organisation). It seemed that this was the tip of the ice berg. She tells me that there are over 100,000 homeless in Sydney and numbers in the Wooloomooloo area are expected to double this winter. When I asked what could I do she said we need:
  • Easy to erect and fold 2-man dome tents (the coppers are happy to turn a blind eye to the temporary camping grounds as long as everything is packed up and cleared away by 7:00am.
  • Warm sleeping bags
  • Those thin easy-to-roll away camping mattresses designed to provide some separation/cushion from the hard cold ground.
  • Warm winter Socks
  • Ring-pull cans of timed food
I managed to rustle up some stuff quickly and returned a few weeks later. I gave a tent and sleeping bag to one guy (his response was as if I’d given him a house). Socks to another guy walking around in thongs and another sleeping bag to a woman who was grateful but wanted to know if I had a tent left for her. I had to say no. As for the tins of food, the organisation had a pantry not much bigger than mine where they keep their tinned food – it that was almost empty!! The woman (Fiona) was thankful but clearly this was a pittance. She said that since the last time I saw her the numbers had doubled in the Woolomooloo area. We talked about what is achievable sometimes when we cut through the red tape. Hence the SLOBS Tents for the Homeless Campaign” was born.
 Now homeless people come from all walks of life - professionals, mentally ill, guys who have just had a run of bad luck and had none of all the safety nets that most people have (namely family & friends). Put another way, it could be any one of us and the truth is there is probably a SLOB or 2 out there who has hit the dirt.
Our mission is to raise enough money to buy tents, sleeping bags, roll-up mattresses to give to 10 most needy homeless people as suggested by the people at the Hope Street drop-in centre. What’s left over we’ll buy some tinned food and socks and more tents.
 Hope Street have been around since 1992. The little Wooloomooloo drop-in centre is where the guys come for a coffee, chat maybe some lunch.  Hope Street helps them with many things as best they can including looking for work, getting them the pension, hooking them up with dentist association who organise volunteer dentists for them and lots of other good things.
Clearly Sydney’s homeless problem is out of control and strategic planning is needed from the government down. Although it seems some progress is being made it’s obviously not quick enough. In the interim what we SLOBS can do is provide a couple of much needed band aids that will make life bearable for some in this particular group of homeless people in the Wooloomooloo area. Here are some supportive comments from some SLOBS already –
  • This is a great idea. I too have seen the locations you describe. What shocked me was the presence of a young women with child on one occasion. Stewart Wewege
  • Awesome idea and a worthy cause for all SLOBS Pete Smith (Class ’83)
  • A very worthy cause Dave Peach
But we need to move quickly. The worst Sydney's winter is coming fast - remember the ice-on-the-windscreen mornings? So all SLOBS who want to chip-in any amount however small to make a difference, click on the “Chip-in” link below
Steve Butel