City council refuses homeless charity’s request for rough sleepers camp

The head of a food charity Feeding Friends in far-west New South Wales has been left frustrated after being told there was no council land available to build a homeless camp.

The organization had asked Broken Hill City Council for a block of council land or an unused building to establish a base for homelessness services, including a food outlet, laundry facilities and a transitional camp. While the council voted to investigate whether any land was available, Mayor Tom Kennedy made it clear there was not.

After five years serving hot meals to those experiencing homelessness in Broken Hill, Feeding Friends president Don Barron said demand for its services were growing amid the cost-of-living crisis, and was very disappointed that land wasn’t available for this cause.

Prior to the meeting to discuss the request, some locals raised concerns over the encampment’s impact on neighbouring residents and businesses. Derwent Coshott, a senior lecturer in law at Sydney University, said legally establishing a transitional campsite would require planning approvals; But he also said there was another pathway through a policy of non-enforcement, referring to the state government’s protocol for homeless people in public places, and that that organization could ask the council to not enforce the law against them. The risk is that none of this means that the law might not be enforced against them later on.

Dr Coshott also said the issue has raised broader questions about regulating homelessness in NSW, which is there is no real proper legal framework to address homelessness in these circumstances.