Homelessness.


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via Twitter

Liz Yeo is the CEO of the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre and I was privileged enough to listen to her speak at work on Friday as part of our local health district’s activities to observe Homelessness Week.

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via Google Images

Liz is a social worker by profession whose passion is helping the homeless in our area through empowerment and social connection.  Liz is also Newtown personified.  She’s dynamic, eloquent, inclusive and as much about action as she is about hopes and dreams.  She’s also 110% committed to keeping Newtown gay in all senses of the word.

The figures that she and the others on the panel of invited guests shared with us were eye opening.

The area surrounding Newtown and Camperdown contains the highest number of boarding houses in our state and the highest numbers of homeless people also reside here.  Homelessness isn’t exclusively sleeping rough on the streets rather it also sees people live in severely overcrowded houses (residences which require at least four more bedrooms to fit the total number of occupants) and unsecure living arrangements such as couch surfing.

Liz and her team at the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre aim to transform lives by first connecting with the people of their area.  The centre educates volunteers on how they can practically help homeless people by linking them to services specific to their needs.  An annual sleep out event brings together members of the community for a night out in Newtown Square to experience just a fraction of what it means to be homeless in the middle of winter (under the watchful eye of three security guards).

I came away from the presentation with new eyes on the community that I call ‘mine’.  I don’t live in the Inner West but so much of my life is and has been spent here since moving to Sydney.  I am now more aware of the challenges that face the homeless people who live here and what I can do to give them a hand and a leg up.

How has homelessness touched your neighbourhood?


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