Grappler Deep State Feller wrote on Jul 14^th, 2015 at 7:25pm:


I myself spent years in the inner-suburban bedsitter lodging houses of Sydney.

There are hundreds of residences in Sydney being paid off by married couples who want to rent one of their spare rooms to help with the expences.   

Kat wrote on Jul 14^th, 2015 at 8:38pm:




Good post, but ... I still say the vast majority of them are either mentally ill, drunkards, or Outdoor life-stylists who don't like to be penned-in by 4 walls - and don't want to work.

longweekend58 wrote on Jul 14^th, 2015 at 4:46pm:


Well......well.............well.  I agree with Long Wind.  Ive been out of Law and into the retired days of the Cab Business for a tad over ten years.  Among the highlights of my first day at the Cabbie thing was to meet Max, a homeless bloke who 'lived' at the Nambour Post Office.....that's (the foyer area) where he slept at nights then, and it is where he sleeps now as I type.  He does that because it has security cameras covering him, and that gives him some security.  This Bloke is terrific, would never harm a fly and is as cunning in a street smart sense as you can get.

Every day I drive, early morning at the Rail Rank, there will be Max to greet not only me but also the other Drivers in the Nambour area.  Some shun him, and miss out on learning something about humanity.  That is just petty non malicious bigotted snobbery on their part, and I don't go out of my way to condemn them.  Max has much to offer if you allow him to explain it to you.

He has it all under control.  He is clean.  He washes, and yeas, that will sometimes involve some pretty cold water if the people at the Nambour Showgrounds have discovered how he gets into what they reckon are their secure showers.  He has the cunning lever which opens the Council water taps, so that is never a problem.

Yeas, he is an alcoholic.  Not a drunk.  But, he is able to control and manage that.  He has no refrigerator, yet he will be at the Rail Rank drinking VB cans nicely cold.  The cunning bugger has an arrangement with one of the local butchers who allow him to keep his cans and his perishable food in their fridges, and they are always 'open' well before dawn.

He cooks his own food on an electric frypan.  The bugger has discovered that at ground level on some light poles in the Nambour CBD there are power points which he accesses.  So there you have it.  He is safe, he is clean, and he eats.........at small expense.  All his income goes into buying booze and playing pokies.

My tax dollars were supporting him and his lifestyle until about three years ago.  He then inherited almost $M1 in cash.

He now lives on the income from that cash, and notwithstanding the best endeavours of myself and others, Max wants to stay the way it has always been.

He is a free bird, and he loves it.  Yeas, he is 'homeless' by choice, but he will be the rare exception.

We need more support workers to advocate for the homeless. A great many of them simply don't have the skills to navigate the housing sector. 

That and more accessible and affordable housing. How many buildings are sitting empty?

And it is not easy to find even cheap rental properties anymore. There is a housing shortage and if yo don't have excellent references, you can forget it.

The waiting list for public housing, even as a priority 1 client, is about 12 years in my state. I imagine it's much more in Sydney or Melbourne.

Karnal wrote on Jul 14^th, 2015 at 9:29pm:


No ... I'm not talking about units. I'm referring to those spare bedrooms with a bed, a table, and a rickety chair. No carpet, no heating or cooling facilities. No food. No cooking facilities. I was in that situation for years - with usually Greek landlords living in the same terraced house with me.

And then .... there's nothing stopping three 'Homeless People' sharing the rent of a house. I've got one of those places right opposite me here. $100 each per week - with Rental assistance paying $35 of that.

That's how our urban aborigines survive very nicely in their Redfern ghetto ... with the local pubs crowded with them.

Grappler Deep State Feller wrote on Jul 14^th, 2015 at 7:25pm:


simplistic.  two or three of them together could easily afford to rent a house.

longweekend58 wrote on Jul 15^th, 2015 at 8:49am:



Could afford to perhaps, but not allowed to.

Imagine this scenario

agent......please fill in the rental application

last address....under the Story bridge

reference....have none

employer....none

length of employment....unemployed

weekly income....$230

agent....smack off!