By Dominique Tassell
Various organisations met last week at Churches of Christ to discuss the rise of houselessness in the region, as part of a taskforce currently called the Southern Downs Homelessness-Risk Recovery Task Group.
Jade Stanley, a recovery officer at the Red Cross, chaired the meeting and explained that multiple factors had exacerbated and highlighted houselessness in the Southern Downs.
“People are displaced and have nowhere to go,“ she said.
A major win for the group is the possibility of creating a neighbourhood centre in Warwick, creating a hub for locals in need.
Helen O’Brien from RHealth said they’ve had many conversations about this and saw an opportunity to create one in the old St Mary’s building.
They’ve talked with the Southern Downs Industry Education Association (SDIEA) about getting a neighbourhood centre up and running and said there’s “lots of enthusiasm“ about it.
“Whether they take it up or not there’s definitely a groundswell of people calling for a centre.“
Helen said there’s a working party now established, connecting with the peak body in Queensland for neighbourhood centres.
There’s the possibility of funding for the centre as well through the Department of Communities..
Warwick has been on their radar as a gap in the network, Helen said.
If Warwick were to have a neighbourhood centre established, it would become part of a network with other centres in the region including Stanthorpe.
Other places in the network include Dalby and Tara.
Helen stated that all these centres are well established and would be very helpful to connect with.
“We’re slowly stepping it forward,“ she said.
Jade said the group is open to anyone that would like to attend and contribute.
Anyone interested in attending can contact her at jstanley@redcross.org.au
“One of the things we have talked about as a group is trying to figure out the accurate numbers of people sleeping rough and couch surfing and having people with lived experience providing their input so it would be really great to hear from more people and get more people involved.“
The next meeting with be held in Stanthorpe, with talks to hold it at the Granite Belt Neighbourhood Centre.
