By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
IMAGINE having nowhere to call home – for many people in Casey, that’s a daily reality.
Susan Magee, Manager of Casey North Community Information and Support Service (CISS), and Leanne Petrides, Manager of Cranbourne CISS, have spent the better part of two lifetimes working in the welfare sector and both agree homelessness in Casey has gotten worse.
Ms Magee said due to the squeeze on private rental and the large decrease in affordable public housing, the welfare sector had been forced to change its response to homelessness.
“In the past our response to homelessness might have been, ‘let’s get that person organised for tonight and see what we can do’. Now what we’re trying to do is make them more comfortable in their homelessness,” she said.
“We have swags for the homeless, a cross between a sleeping bag and a tent and it keeps them dry and warm and they can fold it up into a back pack during the day. We have swags, we have shower vouchers for the local pool so they can have a shower and we put together shower packs.”
Ms Petrides said homelessness was an ever-present reality in Casey and unfortunately there is no easy answer.
“When people think about poverty and homelessness they think about Africa and India and rightfully so, that’s what we refer to as absolute poverty,” Ms Petrides said.
“(Whereas) in Casey we have relative poverty but we need to help people understand that it still does exist in our streets. There are people living here who need to light candles at night and wrap themselves in blankets.”
Ms Magee has been manager of Casey North CISS since 1997 and in that time she has seen the service grow significantly. Fast forward to 2013 and Casey North CISS is an integral part of the community, providing a range of programs and services to meet an ever increasing need in Narre Warren, Berwick, Harkaway, Beaconsfield, Endeavour Hills, Doveton, Hallam and other suburbs in Casey.
Its programs, including ‘Stay On Track’ and ‘Keeping It Together’, involve professional workers and trained volunteers who provide advice on a plethora of interconnecting welfare issues, from financial counselling to family breakdowns – a particularly pressing issue in Casey.
“Family breakdowns are huge, I saw that straight away compared to anywhere else I’d worked,” Ms Magee said.
“There were more people coming in where the family had just broken down, the couple separate and it’s really sad and then what happens after that? We wanted to know how we could help those people.”
Ms Magee said another challenge was not just helping clients out of a crisis but preventing it from occurring in the first place.
“We wanted to know what we can do to help those people to maybe not get into the financial mess that they do. We have another program, which is part of the financial program, it’s financial literacy,” she said.
“That’s getting information out to people on how to manage your money better, or finding what’s there to make it easier for you.”
Coming into Christmas, Ms Petrides, manager of Cranbourne CISS for 15 years, said it was one of the most tiring but rewarding times of year for the services.
“The reason Christmas is so hard is because people just want the best for their kids,” Ms Petrides said.
“They want a better life for their children than they had themselves.”
“The people that come in to see us are very resilient, we learn about them. We’re all in it together and we see how easily these things can happen.”
Ms Magee said Casey North CISS provides as much Christmas support to its clients as it can, in the form of food and toys, but is always looking for more items.
“We often have single people that have no-one to spend Christmas with, and families, and we’re often trying to find people in the community that can help. Churches often put a Christmas lunch on, where people go for Christmas so that they’re not on their own,” she said.
“Christmas is not just us, it’s us working with as many people as possible to make Christmas okay.”
Be it Christmas Eve or otherwise, Ms Magee and Ms Petrides go home every night inspired by their work and knowing they made a difference.
“I’ve never felt in the morning like I don’t want to go to work, I always feel I’m lucky to have a job I like doing and a great team,” she said.
“I’m working with volunteers that come in and aren’t getting paid and they’re doing hard work. Without them we couldn’t do what we do, that is a brilliant reward.”
For more information on Casey North CISS visit www.caseynothciss.com.au, facebook.com/caseynorthciss or call 9705 6699. For more information on Cranbourne CISS visit www.cranbourneiss.org.au or call 5996 3333.
