Shoalhaven Mayor Amanda Findley has called for report into the cost of rehabilitating the council-owned Betta Electrical building in Berry Street, Nowra, which she says might be suitable for a homeless shelter during extreme weather.
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The building has two obstacles to being used. It has asbestos and does not comply with the building code governing fire safety.
“I’ve asked for the cost to remediate the building to be reported as a first step to considering the future use of the site,” Cr Findley said.
“At this point I understand it will cost about $1 million to remove the asbestos and make the building compliant. What I’d like to see happen is the site being used for homeless services including the supply of emergency shelter in times of extreme weather.”
Cr Findley said any remediation of the building or its demolition and replacement would not see an emergency shelter in place by the time the cold weather arrives in winter.
“The task force in homelessness was brought into being last year to deal with the issue of extreme weather. Nothing has happened to the best of my knowledge.
“We need to get that conversation reignited before winter hits.”
Cr Findley said any emergency shelter on the site would require a “hefty” commitment from three levels and the community.
“If council gets rid of the asbestos and puts the building in the mix, that would be our contribution,” she said.
The community would then need to come on board with a fundraising campaign similar to that for the linear accelerator.
“That would show we are serious about tackling the problem and getting the state and federal governments’ commitment to come on board.”
Critics within council argue homelessness is not a local government responsibility.
“It’s not a local government responsibility but it’s a societal responsibility and if we as a community want to tackle this issue then the four way arrangement is the perfect model to get some form of action, whether it’s at this site or somewhere else,” Cr Findley said.
Cr Findley said the idea was not about using any cash assets or rates money. “It’s about fixing a liability that council would have to deal with at some point now or in the future,” she said of the council-owned building that has sat idle for several years.
