A great partnership exists between a number of caravan park owners and the Social Justice Advocates, but the summer holidays bring additional challenges to homeless folk who are being asked to vacate for Christmas.
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SJA has refurbished around 80 vans that are used as crisis accommodation for the homeless or those who lost their homes during the bushfires.
The charity has around 12 vans exclusively for those experiencing homelessness, a number constantly growing due to the lack of rentals in the Bega Valley community.
Some vans are located on private properties, but SJA chairman Michael Brosnan OAM has been instrumental in establishing relationships between caravan park owners and the charity to allow the vans to remain at the parks during the off-season.
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The person living in the van pays for the site throughout their stay until they are able to find a more permanent housing solution elsewhere.
Mr Brosnan expressed gratitude that the business owners had allowed the vans to be parked on their premises, but part and parcel of their business model was price increases over the school holiday periods, which can prove unaffordable by some using the SJA caravans.
"It is no fault of the caravan park owners, they've got to run a business, but it's an unfortunate circumstance and has been this way for the last five years," he said.
With the holiday season fast approaching, Mr Brosnan said he had been spending a lot of time moving the vans to other locations within the shire.
He recently moved a van from Merimbula and will be delivering it to a private property. He said he was glad they were able to find a viable solution with the help of a service provider.
SJA works with service providers Mission Australia and the South East Women And Children Services to try to support those people sleeping rough. He called it a real "juggle" for those providers who manage logistics and individual support programs for individuals.
Mr Brosnan said gratefully the council had agreed to be "lenient" to homeless folks with caravans needing to be parked in more places during the holiday season.
He said Bega Valley Shire Council was aware of the situation and had been actively trying to assist this year.
"I do think the council and the council staff really are trying because for the first time they initiated looking at different places over the holidays that could be used and are trying to help out.
"They initiated finding places for people to live and stay in facilities owned by the council for a very temporary time period."
Mr Brosnan did not want to elaborate on the specific kinds of council facilities being used in this way, but said the council were doing a lot to assist in their efforts and should be recognised for that.
"We've faced shortages before but there are direct attempts to address it, so that's good," he said.
