The few remaining visible homeless people at Wilks Park are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Photos: Oliver Jacques.
The NSW Government is trying to find a home for Natalie*, a Wiradjuri woman in her 40s who has been sleeping rough at Wagga’s Wilks Park for more than two years.
There’s just one problem – she doesn’t want one.
“I don’t want a home,” Natalie said.
“When I did have a house, all the money I earned I spent on rent and electricity.
“I had nothing left. I don’t want to live like that anymore. I’d rather have money so I can spend it on my grandkids.
“My sister is paying $600 a week in rent and she has five kids to support. It’s too hard to live like that.”
Her story goes to the heart of the dilemma facing Wagga’s homeless people as Wagga Wagga City Council moves to clear long-term rough sleepers from Wilks Park.
The council wants the park returned to its intended use as a tourist campground, where people can stay for no more than 72 hours.
Homes NSW, meanwhile, says it is working with people at the park to find alternative accommodation.
But Natalie said she was happy living at Wilks Park, although life had its ups and downs.
“I was living here for two years. We weren’t causing any trouble,” she said.
“I did have problems with some of the blow-ins. Some were on drugs, sometimes my things went missing – but we could work it out.”
A caseworker has told her she needs a proper roof over her head.
“I’ve got one. I now have a caravan,” Natalie said.
“I’m well set up. I even have solar on the top of my van.”
Natalie used to work as a farm labourer, but a car accident left her with chronic pain in her back and neck.
“I can hardly walk, so I can’t do that work anymore,” she said.
She now relies on the disability support pension.
For someone in her position, the private rental market is out of reach, with almost nothing available in Wagga for less than $400 a week.
There is no vacant social housing either, so the NSW Government’s immediate alternative for many people sleeping rough has been temporary hotel and motel accommodation.
Strict conditions of stay are being enforced at Wilks Park, with the homeless moved on to alternative accommodation. Photos: Oliver Jacques.
Natalie does not want that either.
She has a dog. A motel room would mean giving up her caravan, being separated from the people she knows and living without the ability to cook for herself.
It leaves her in an uncomfortable limbo.
For now, she has found her own workaround.
“I respect what council want – they say we can’t stay here for more than three days at a time,” she said.
“So I’ll spend three days here and then three days in Oura.”
Natalie is not alone.
Mark Hudson, 52, another long-term Wilks Park resident, was recently offered an unusual way out of the crisis – a $1797 taxpayer-funded flight back to New Zealand, where he was born.
He now wants to stay in Wagga, but without proof of permanent residency, he isn’t eligible for social housing.
Housing Minister Rose Jackson has acknowledged how difficult it is to provide solutions for many people sleeping rough at Wilks Park and other locations around the CBD, where they are no longer welcome.
She has defended the use of motel accommodation in Wagga, saying there was “nowhere else in Wagga” to house people in crisis.
“We are really open for proposals for delivering more supported temporary accommodation or crisis accommodation in Wagga,” she said.
That is precisely what housing advocates say they have put forward – a serviced temporary camp at the Wiradjuri Reserve.
The proposal would provide a managed site with toilets, showers, heating, security and access to support workers, giving people somewhere safer and more stable while they wait for permanent housing. Councillor Richard Foley outlined the idea in a letter to the minister.
He argued a serviced camp would be cheaper than putting people in hotels and motels, while keeping the homeless population away from tourist areas such as Wilks Park.
But while the minister says she is “open to proposals”, she does not support this one.
The NSW Government says the Wiradjuri Reserve proposal is not part of its current homelessness strategy.
Wagga Council is not interested in the idea either – saying homelessness and housing are not its responsibility.
And that leaves people such as Natalie caught between the two.
She cannot stay at Wilks Park for more than 72 hours. She cannot afford the private rental market. She does not want to live in a motel, and there is no social housing available for her.
The government wants her to have a proper home.
Natalie says she already has one – it just happens to have wheels and solar panels, and is a very different idea of what a home means.
*Name changed.
