Imagine having to pay to sleep on the streets.
Well that’s effectively what the City of Port Phillip and the City of Melbourne are considering.
A fine for people sleeping rough. Making homelessness a crime.
As if it’s a choice, as if people would be sleeping on the street if they had any other option available to them.
And of course, people who can’t afford a place to live, won’t be able to afford these fines,
Which will just get bigger and bigger as they remain unpaid, and pushing people unnecessarily into the criminal justice system.
The city of Port Phillip is also considering removing ‘exemptions’ for people sleeping rough due to illness or disability.
This local government is tarring all homeless people with the same brush, treating them all as dangerous criminals.
This should go without saying but: there are a range of reasons people can end up without a place to sleep, often out of the person’s control.
Instead of holding the government to account, making them actually fix the housing crisis, these councils are blaming victims of no rental vacancies, unlimited rent rises and ever-increasing mortgage rates.
Newsflash: you can’t solve a problem by making it illegal!
We need an actual plan!
Luckily, the Greens happen to have one- to end homelessness for good
We’re going to provide wraparound supports for people experiencing chronic homelessness.
We’re going to establish a public builder to build more homes for people that need them.
We’re going to stop unlimited rent rises.
And we’re going to put an end to the tax exemptions given to wealthy property investors.
It shouldn’t be easier to buy your 5th house than your first!
Lets end homelessness for good, because everybody deserves a secure home.
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