I was feeling a bit antsy and there wasn’t a thread yet at 22 past midnight.

Have a great day everyone. May you and the animals of the DT who like sunbathing get some sun.

  • melbaboutown
    11·
    2 months ago

    I’m feeling like shit on so many levels.

    Homelessness, mental illness, Australia being unequal for vulnerable people

    There’s an aggressive mentally ill homeless man that’s been coming around my place for ages and now he’s sleeping on a bench right outside my window.

    So I get to be too scared to put my bin out and he gets to freeze because it’s not safe for me to approach or help him.

    Hate the guy’s guts (he’s aggressively had a go at me before and is virulently homophobic) but I don’t want to watch him freeze or have to deal with him.

    I’ve been calling the cops for months, psych triage, the local homeless services, nothing has been working.

    The best I have is from today - Launch agreeing to pass a ‘sleep site’ on to their outreach team to check. But they don’t come out at night and I don’t know where this scary stranger goes in the day. He also drinks which might exclude him from dorm style shelters (which don’t apparently exist in Australia the way you think of them?) and may also not have the awareness to accept help.

    It’s just one of those deteriorating revolving door situations that never ever gets solved. Australia’s systems are broken. Very surprising for a so called rich country.

    • AJ Sadauskas@aus.social
      6·
      2 months ago

      @melbaboutown @LowExperience2368 Huge hugs.

      There were signs up around the apartment block where we live recently warning about a homeless guy who had been trespassing, and to call strata and the police if you see him.

      Just from the photo, he looked creepy AF!

      Apparently he spent a couple of nights in the basement carpark, and cut power to the building’s alarm system one night. (The strata managers only found out after they reviewed the CCTV footage.)

      And anyone angry and drunk shouting homophobic slurs is always scary.

      So I can definitely relate to how you must be feeling!

      You’re doing the right thing by trying to help. But I agree it really is shameful how much our pollies have cut the social safety net these past 40-odd years (and both major parties are to blame!). It means people who need help often don’t get it.

      Take care, stay safe 💜

    • Seagoon_
      6·
      2 months ago

      some people are so paranoid they would rather die than be sociable or accept help

      so many hugs, it sucks but we can’t fix the world

    • CEOofmyhouse56
      6·
      2 months ago

      Can you somehow make the bench unusable? I get that might be considered cruel but you shouldn’t be scared in your own home or to be able to step out of it.

      • melbaboutown
        5·
        2 months ago

        It goes against my beliefs - I’m really not a fan of anti-homeless architecture. Unfortunately I don’t want to give him a yoga mat for padding either because that encourages him to use that spot…

        There’s a disused flat nearby with a porch he could move to but I don’t think he knows it’s vacant. Also it’s still very close to me :/

        • SituationCake
          3·
          2 months ago

          It’s not your responsibility to make it a hospitable place for him. You’ve already done the right things to get help for him, and now you need to look after your own safety. Make it unwelcoming for him to sleep there, he may move on if you’re lucky.

          • melbaboutown
            1·
            2 months ago

            Yeah, I absolutely don’t want him here. He’s a threat.

            It was just awful to watch someone sleeping in that cold. Really stressful even second hand

        • CEOofmyhouse56
          6·
          2 months ago

          If he’s a drunk he may not notice

          Maybe keep stacking Miss Fluffy’s poo poos under there until he’s gone