You feel like you've got no identity, you’re a nobody.
No one cares, no one gives a fuck.
Y'know?
When we think of homelessness
many people thinks it's a metropolitan problem.
Be the reality is around the cases occur in regional Australia.
In places like Tamworth in northeast New South Wales
it has some of the richest farming land in the country
yet some of the poorest post codes.
There's no one out there to help you
not in places like this.
dHomeless numbers in this region have doubled in the past five years.
And many say it's at the forefront of a hidden homeless crisis.
Where do I usually stay?
Right here on the stage.
I'm born to be on the stage I am.
This is where they originally had the country music festival
live show every night.
Micky Blue and all his alter egos
And that's my meager possessions that I own.
Yeah, basically this is it.
There are a lot more homeless people than the general public realise.
Not everyone comes and stays in a public place like I've done.
Most people will hide away
because of the shame of being homeless.
A lot of people just walk past you, think you're an old wino.
Y'know, spend your money on grog.
I don't drink.
That's all I drink is water out of the tap.
That homeless people are all drunks?
Are all alcoholics or drug addicts?
Yeah, very much so.
I've been homeless probably the majority of my adult life
other than being in jail.
Jail probably was the biggest impact in me being homeless.
Probably 90% of the guys that're on the street have been in prison.
Because they don't fit into society
and they don't feel like they do
they don't feel like they're good enough
they've always been told they're no good.
Once you get into a hole, it's real hard to dig yourself back out
Real hard.
And that's why a lot of people just give up.
You've gotta start again.
And you've got no one there, to help you out,
you end up like I am.
There has to be somewhere inbetween becoming homeless
and going to jail or going down that path, y'know on the spiral.
There is a lack of support and housing for single men.
Tanya manages one of the few homeless support services in Tamworth.
Yes, our service is strained.
We have five properties
that we can support men or men with children,
but we get so many more requests than that.
Housing is really awkward to get into,
especially if you've got a past.
In case of emergency in case something happens to me, me mums phone number.
Just keep swimming, that's out of the Dory movie.
Just keep swimming. Just get swimming.
I was homeless for four months.
It was due to the domestic violence.
Most of the time, just me and my son just slept in the car
This is our home.
We had our dog in the car too,
Tristan would have the back seat and I’d have the front,
You just do what you gotta do, to stay dry really.
Anyone of us could become homeless at any stage of our life.
You know depending on the supports we have around us.
Where Tamworth has limited homeless support,
the Northern Rivers coastal region is much better equipped.
But it's struggling to keep up with the growing demand from the most vulnerable of homelessness victims.
Youth.
I was living homeless for about 2 months.
Mainly stayed at my friend’s house and stuff like that,
There's lots of kids in similar situations to mine,
but a lot worse than mine.
You don't realise how many of them actually are homeless or sleeping on the street.
In the last decade the number of homeless 19-24 year olds has increased by 46%
In New South Wales, it's more than doubled.
Accomodations a big thing for people because they can get food but they just can't get anywhere to sleep.
I get a call a day from people seeking accomodation.
Paul runs the Winsome, it provides food and accomodation for the homeless.
He's running at capacity.
We haven't had a vancancy here for...
oh, three months.
It's gut wrenching to have to turn people away
because you know that they're going to be sleeping out on the street.
With vacancy rates around 1%,
The Northern Rivers is one of the most challenging
rental markets in the country.
The demand for rental accomodation is so huge, you can't get accomodation for under $200/week.
And somebody who is on New Start, there's just no way in the world the could afford it.
There's been hardly any new construction of social housing in the Northern Rivers
or even New South Wales since 2008
and it's been stagnant for 30 years.
So to kids like Dylan, homes are not only scarce, they're pretty much unobtainable
You have to be 18 years old to sign a contract.
Yeah there is quite a few young people I talk to and they go:
"There's nothing I can do, I can't get a house, they can't move me into anywhere."
You know, I don't know anyone I'm stuck and then they're just stuck.
They just have to stay on the street until they're 18 which is even worse.
They can't do anything.
Dylan is one of the lucky ones,
he's just found a house.
Ten years time I'd like to have a full time job.
I'd actually like to be a manager, maybe at Big W or K Mart or doing something in sport.
But for Mick and Cocko
they remain in limbo.
It's impossible, impossible to get a house
You don't got enough money to do it.
Even a house commision you gotta have two weeks bond.
It's not that we don't get enough money on the dole, it's just that housing is very hard to get
it's very expensive and a lot of people that have been homeless
they have never rented on their own so they don't have any references.
So it's hard to get a look in the door, you know?
Give us a hand here bruv.
The police came at about 7:30 this morning and informed us that the council wishes us to move on
because we can't live in a public place apparently.
Someone's told me I can have a cupboard at their house to put my stuff in,
but I'm still homeless.
My fear is living like this for the rest of me life.
And ah biggest fear is, and it's not a fear cause it is right,
there's no one out there to help ya,
not in places like this.
So we'll be sleeping rough tonight I just have to find a safe spot where I can roll me swag out.
There's hope. Where there's life, there's hope. There's always hope.
Even for people like me.