AS the cold and damp works into your body and you can’t get warm all you would want is shelter and support.
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For many homeless people in the Nowra area sleeping rough was their only option and being cold all day was a fact of life.
However, the Safe Shelter Shoalhaven plan is giving people not only warmth but also hope.
Run by church members from around the area and manned by volunteers the shelter for the homeless people has been helping people since June 1.
One homeless man, who regularly makes use of the shelter, said it was a Godsend.
“There is nowhere else mate,” he said
“The only other place was up there at the showground and everyone had been kicked out of there.
“Down here in the Shoalhaven there is absolutely nowhere - there are no hostels (run 24 hours) here so to speak of.”
Without the shelter he would be sleeping rough and be in freezing conditions.
He and many others have come to rely on the shelter and the support they receive from the volunteers.
“I can think of a lot worse places to go - seriously I can,” he said
“Unless they have sat down and spoken to a homeless person and found out where that homeless person was coming from then they have no right to judge anybody,”
- A Nowra homeless man
“This is a Godsend and what Nowra has needed for years.
“I would like to see it continue because you are not just homeless during the winter months - it’s all year round.”
He has spent years living on the streets and had once stayed at the back of an oval in Bomaderry.
“I used to have to sleep with one eye open and one shut with a beer bottle close to me to use for protection,” he said.
“Nobody should have to feel like that.”
He said the community in general looked down on the homeless.
“People in the wider community actually judge the homeless. They don’t understand the full circumstances of why people are out on the street,” he said.
“They don't understand how they got into that situation and they are just too quick to judge a homeless person’s circumstances.
“They think a homeless person is an alcoholic or a drug addict or they have done something stupid in their life but everyone has done something stupid when they were younger and nobody is perfect.”
He said people should speak to a homeless person.
“Unless they have sat down and spoken to a homeless person and found out where that homeless person was coming from then they have no right to judge anybody,” he said.
He said anybody can be homeless.
“You could have everything one day and nothing the next,” he said.
“What you also have to remember is a lot of people are too proud to put up their hand and say ‘I need help’.”
He recognises Australia needs to be a good global citizen but also thinks people living in the local area also need support and would like to see more food vans come to Nowra.
Pastor Peter Dover from Salt Ministries helped set up the shelter said they had up to nine people a night stay at the shelter.
“The numbers vary every night,” Pastor Dover said.
“I think it all takes time and people want to know they are going to come into a service and not be judged.”
The homeless man said people are treated well in the shelter and not judged.
Pastor Dover said until there is a better solutions, he is happy to help run the shelter.
“As we have said before this is a temporary solution and if we had a more permanent solution we could have it open during the day,” he said.
Having somewhere open on public holidays was another suggestion the homeless man made.
“Homelessness is 365 day a year thing, whether people want to admit it or not,” the homeless man said.
Pastor Dover wants the community to take ownership of the issue.
“What Safe Shelter Shoalhaven has proven is the community is interested in helping the homeless. We get messages every day from people saying we want to get involved,” Pastor Dover said.
“This situation is not going away and the solution is the community - not the government it's’ the community coming onboard.”
“This is our problem this is our community and let’s take ownership.”
He said if they had a permanent building they could operate it with an army of volunteers.
“We are mobilising the community and I am not sure this is happening anywhere else in Australian,” Pastor Dover said.
“The shelter definatly has been a success - there is no doubt about it.”
If the service departments and the community all worked together Pastor Dover said homelessness in the Shoalhaven would be eradicated.
“There should not be any need for someone to be on the streets,” Pastor Dover said.
Pastor Dover thinks the Shoalhaven homeless hub is doing a great job with limited resources but has visions of a bigger drop in centre for the homeless to use.
