Sarah Date and Jodi Blair work at the coalface of the South Coast's homelessness crisis. If there's one thing they would like the wider community to understand, it's that homelessness does not discriminate.
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"It can happen to anybody," Sarah said.
"You or I could be homeless within three weeks. It could be due to a relationship breakdown, loss of a job, sickness, natural disasters.
"Three weeks on average is when our money will start to run out - and you start to lose your house and family."
The workers, from the Ulladulla homeless shelter, feel frustration as they try to help people looking for a roof over their heads.
Safe Waters Community Care operates the Ulladulla homeless shelter and the workers say their efforts have at times been hampered by the support system.
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"It [the support system] seems to be a back to front system," Sarah said.
Sarah, the shelter's founder, says there needs to be changes to the system and it needs to be government-led change.
She suggests the people who are "on the ground" should play a role in how things work when it comes to assisting homeless people and funding allocation.
"There is a top-down approach - we need a bottom-up approach," Sarah said.
Jodi says, for example, trying to get someone into temporary accommodation takes a long time.
She said they could call Link2Home to get someone into temporary accommodation but this could involve a turnaround of up to four to six hours.
A person could get around three days temporary accommodation but then would be back to square one.
"They have to tick many boxes before they get the motel accommodation," Jodi said.
"Even at the end of the process there is no guarantee the person will get accommodation.
"It can be a very traumatising process to go through for someone already in a hard situation.
"It's a lot of questions to answer and most of the time a person is not in the mental state to answer them."
Limited options in Ulladulla area
Ulladulla's South Street Shelter opened in November 2020 and they have managed to give around 50 people a bed - but many more have been turned away.
"We have had over 140 people through our service but we have not been able to house everyone," Sarah said.
The South Street Shelter only has two bedrooms and the facility is just too small.
Where do the homeless people in the Ulladulla area go when there is no room in the shelter?
"They are sleeping rough, they sleep at the showground, in their cars, in the bush or they couch surf with their friends," Sarah said.
"Having to turn people away is very heartbreaking."
Sarah added the situation was compounded by the fact homeless people don't have many other options in the Ulladulla area.
"Kick in the guts" when you can't help
Jodi has been shelter coordinator since December 2021.
She loves the job and loves helping people, but wants to do more.
"It's a kick in the guts when you can't [help people] and there are so many times when you can't - that is hard - really hard," Jodi said
Theirs is often an 'if only' type of situation - if only they could help more people - if only if there were more facilities and if only they had more funding.
Getting funding also has its inconsistencies as some departments/organisations ask for pages of details but others don't.
She said Ulladulla is often not looked upon as a place that has a homelessness issue.
"They [community members] would just have to look - there are people everywhere sleeping rough down at the harbour, near shops and in the bush. Maybe they don't want to look and there are also a lot of teenagers out on the streets," Jodi said.
The future
There is good news with another shelter on the Princes Highway, Ulladulla just waiting for final approval from Shoalhaven City Council, while another is set to be established in St Vincent Street, Ulladulla.
"We have just been approved to get a building in St Vincent Street in Ulladulla and it's a council-owned building so we are very happy about that," Sarah said.
The St Vincent Street building will become a men's shelter and the aim is to have the yet to be opened Princes Highway shelter available for women and children - at this stage but this could change.
At the Princes Highway shelter, 11 people will be housed and at St Vincent Street they are hoping at least eight people will be able to stay.
A date to open the St Vincent Street shelter is yet to be determined.
The current South Street Shelter will become a transition home with the aim of helping people get into permanent homes.
The shelter founder says many people in the community are supportive of their efforts.
Sarah also wants to thank the many people, community groups, businesses and other supporters who helped establish the Princes Highway shelter saying theirs was a wonderful effort.
If you or anyone you know needs help, please call:
Lifeline 13 11 14
Kids Helpline 1800 551 800
MensLine Australia 1300 789 978
Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467
Beyond Blue 1300 22 46 36
Headspace 1800 650 890
QLife 1800 184 527
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