Homeless people are camping along one of Sydney’s busiest streets after setting up a makeshift shelter.
Photographs have emerged showing rough sleepers lining along a set of steps just metres from the Reserve Bank of Australia and the New South Wales State Parliament in Martin Place.
Clothing, doonas, luggage and cardboard boxes filled with personal belongings are seen scattered against a concrete strip, surrounded by shiny office towers.
Mattresses and pillows have been used as bedding across wooden crates.
Lanz Priestley has set up a ‘safe space’ for the homeless, offering 24/7 access to free food, including sausage sizzles.
‘People have the basic human right to feel safe,’ Priestley said. ‘I think the support services (in Sydney) aren’t even in the library when it comes to rough-sleeper safety.’
Among those resting on piles of bedding spread across crates is 20-year-old Nina Wilson, who helps Mr Priestley run the Sydney central site.
‘I am now in transitional housing as I’m nearly six months pregnant and this is sort of my way of giving back because I know what it’s like to be homeless,’ Ms Wilson said.
‘I can’t just watch these guys have nothing.’
Salvatore Magenta, 64, said he has been living on the streets since 2000 as he grapples with growing health problems.
‘I slept in a car for about 15 years, I didn’t let no one know what I was doing with my life,’ Mr Magenta said.
‘I will need housing soon, or someone will find me dead on the streets.’
Homelessness NSW chief Katherine McKernan said she believed homelessness was increasing in Sydney and Melbourne due to the lack of affordable housing.
‘Australia is a wealthy country and so it shouldn’t have the levels of homelessness that it does have,’ Ms McKernan said.
‘If you compare it to London and New York, the numbers of people seeking homelessness support are comparatively higher.’
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