Here to help out
I am writing in relation to your story ‘No room at the stables but plenty elsewhere’ published on August 3, 2016 about homelessness at Nowra Showground.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Homelessness is a deeply concerning and complex issue, which is why the NSW government has invested a record $188 million into funding specialist homeless services programs in 2016-17, with close to $10.5 million in the Illawarra Shoalhaven district alone.
The Department of Family and Community Services (FACS), together with local Specialist Homelessness Services and Shoalhaven Council, have made approaches to everyone sleeping rough at the showground.
FACS Housing Services has also organised a specialist housing pop-up office to visit the showground on August 10 to offer further support and accommodation options to those who wish to leave the site.
In the meantime we urge people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to the Shoalhaven Homeless Hub on 4423 2804 or Link2home on 1800 152 152.
The Shoalhaven Homeless Hub offers people direct help from a range of organisations inclusing: Barnados, Nowra Domestic Violence Team, Southern Cross, Partners in Recovery, Centrelink, Legal Aid, as well as FACS.
G. Groves, Family & Community Services
One call fixes road
I live on Wattamolla Road where in the last week I have personally seen two near fatalities. The trouble is that Shoalhaven City Council has never thought of putting pipes under the road so every time it is "fixed" it becomes unfixed when it rains.
In desperation after another near-miss this week I contacted Graham French who I only knew from listening to him read the news on 2ST. He fixed it by talking to the engineer, and he is not even in council.
R. Muller, Berry
Black Spots to be improved
It is good to see the South Coast Register is realising that roads are important to the people who use them every day, which is pretty much all of us.
But if we are going to talk about roads, we really should be acknowledging the millions of dollars the federal government has poured into the region in the past few years.
During the last term of government the Commonwealth spent $51 million on specific road projects in the Gilmore electorate such as upgrading Turpentine Road and re-routing Little Forest Road to remove a known accident black spot.
That total funding includes $15 million provided through the Black Spot Program – one of the highest amounts in any Australian electorate.
The latest Black Spot funding round announced earlier this year allocated $3,170,885 for Gilmore including upgrades to Bolong Road, Forest Road, Bendalong Road and new roundabouts at Sanctuary Point and Ulladulla.
These came on top of Shoalhaven projects previously funded in the Black Spot Program including upgrades to Flinders Road at South Nowra, Naval College Road at Worrowing Heights, Illaroo Road at Tapitallee, Crooked River Road at Berry and Yalwal Road at Barringella.
A. Sudmalis, Member for Gilmore
What’s in a name?
Recently it’s been hard to escape the flurry of the words “Gash Council”. Used in sentences such as: “thanks to the support of a Gash council”; “A Gash council moving forward”; and, “will go ahead thanks to a Gash council that has secured federal funding”.
In actual fact there is no “Gash Council”. There are 13 councillors, nine so called “independents”, three from the Shoalhaven Independents, and one Green.
They are all mean’t to work together in the interests of the Shoalhaven, that is us ratepayers.
