Clock is ticking for remaining Memorial Drive campers
The remaining occupants of a homeless encampment on Memorial Drive in the City of Rockingham have been given a final warning to vacate.
Dozens of police and department officers attended the encampment on Wednesday morning to deliver final notices to about 50 people remaining on the street that they have 24 hours to remove or face a forced eviction.
Memorial Drive has become a flashpoint for Perth’s housing crisis, with hundreds of people at one point setting up along its grassy verges complaining they had nowhere else to go.
Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions officers last week alerted the encampment it had until September 22 to pack up, which resulted in dozens of people leaving. The state government has previously said it had been pouring resources into helping residents find more suitable accommodation.
Homelessness Minister Matthew Swinbourn said as of Tuesday night between 45 and 50 people still at the camp with around half telling authorities they would move on.
He said about 16 people had flatly refused to engage with services or declined offers of accommodation and support.
Gemma Jones has been at the encampment for up to nine months and described the show of force with police on Wednesday as intimidating.
“It’s pretty disgusting. A bit disappointing. They have so much force to move homeless people out, but when it comes down to criminal activities, they can’t work that hard,” she told 9News Perth.
“They were polite. They were very polite, but it’s still intimidating, and it’s their job. They’re meant to push us out.”
Jones said she didn’t know what the next 24 hours held because she had nowhere to go.
Sarah Allum questioned the level of support offered to Memorial Drive residents.
“Why don’t they help instead of just shoving us on?” she said.
“There’s plenty of land. Containers, sea containers, anything, anything at all, whatever. It doesn’t matter.”
DBCA officers methodically worked through the remaining campsite delivering notices to residents, which included offers to store belongings if they had nowhere to take them.
On the ground there was no aggression, but frustrated campers were reiterating with DBCA officers they had nowhere else to go.
Swinbourn said residents had been given a week’s notice of the state’s intention to shut the site, and there had been huge levels of outreach.
“Since then, outreach workers have increased their engagement with the people there, offering accommodation, support and connections to services daily,” he said.
“This is in addition to the increased outreach and homelessness services directed to Memorial Drive and the surrounding area over the past several months.
“Outreach services have engaged with individuals on more than 1000 occasions during this time, supporting more than 30 people into accommodation, on to the housing waitlist or to return to country.”
Swinbourn said the government’s approach had been guided by compassion, but the site could not continue to operate because of anti-social behaviour.
“Police have had to respond to a number of incidences in the area and with the approach of the fire season, those risks were only going to become greater, so the situation is no longer tenable or sustainable,” he said.
“That is why we have made the decision that we’ve made to decamp the area and I’ll make it clear that this was not a decision that we took lightly.”
“The encampment at Memorial Drive cannot continue due to concerns for the safety of those staying there and the broader community, with increasing reports of antisocial behaviour.
“Outreach remains available to help those people who are willing to engage – no one is being abandoned.”
Swinbourn said ongoing support would be provided through the Salvos Centre of Hope and The Crew, which would soon expand to provide daytime case management services.
WA Counsel of Social Services chief executive Louise Giolitto said Memorial Drive was a very visible and distressing example of the broader homelessness issue across WA.
She was not critical of how the dismantling of the encampment has been handled but said the state needed to do more or more encampments will pop up.
“We always think that safety’s first, and encampments are not necessarily the safest place for people. What people need is safe, affordable homes that they can live, and that’s what we’re really pushing for,” she said.
“What we really need to see is some solutions to scale, and we are really inviting government to look at a coordinated, scaled plan to be able to end rough sleeping across Western Australia as soon as possible.”
with 9News Perth
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