Australia's dark underbelly

Australia is a wonderful place at this time of the year. The surf's up at the beaches, rugby and Aussie rules footy are in full swing, and autumn brings with it enjoyable sunny days and crispy cool evenings. Yes, everyone's happy at this time.

Well, almost everyone. The pleasant autumn climes have also blown in some of the ill effects of the global financial crisis to our shores. Sure, we are far better off than any other western economy. But higher unemployment and under-employment levels have spread their wings and that has further accentuated personal distress and calamity for some of the people.

In a land that's often referred to as 'the lucky country', let us spare a thought for those people who have fallen through the cracks - people who find themselves homeless, without a roof over their heads, in this land of plenty. They are forced to seek refuge at homeless shelters and if they can't find a place there, they simply sleep in the open - in corridors of buildings, under bridges, on railway platforms or under a tree.

Homelessness is a silent scourge, invisible to the naked eye. Take the wonderful city of Sydney where I live. If you went around the city, you wouldn't even know there were people here who are in strife.

The hustle and bustle of a vibrant, thriving global city hides its underbelly of poverty and homelessness. Not that homelessness is restricted to Sydney alone.

On any given night, 100,000 people (or 1 in every 210 Australians) are homeless and without shelter of their own. This is an abnormally high number of people for a country that is prosperous, and one that enjoys a very high per capita income and standard of living.

Homelessness is caused by any number of events - poverty, unemployment, domestic violence, family breakdown, addictions, social isolation, a critical shortage of public housing... the list goes on. The real challenge for Australia is to move these people out of their current circumstances and into leading productive lives.

Not having a home or a roof over your head is just the physical aspect. There are far deeper issues that affect these people. They are impacted socially and psychologically. They feel a loss of dignity and self-worth, lose their sense of family and also feel a deep sense of shame.

They feel disengaged from society as they've lost their sense of community. One could even say that they've lost some of their basic human rights - their right to vote in elections. If you're not registered with a specific address, you can't vote, and therefore, you're disenfranchised.

On a positive note, it is an issue that's been taken up actively by various charitable and non-governmental agencies as well as the government. These institutions run homeless shelters (many more beds are required, of course) and offer the disadvantaged persons food through soup kitchens and other similar outlets.

Organisations such as meals-on-wheels do a fantastic job by collecting food from restaurants in the evening and feeding needy people.

Currently, there's a shortfall of 40,000 public housing dwellings (dwellings rented or allocated to disadvantaged people at nominal cost). The Federal government is committed to having about 20,000 public housing units built quickly, offering incentives to builders and to buyers who agree to buy and rent these out, say, 20 per cent below market rent.

Australians are a very caring people. Ordinary Australians donated generously to their neighbours in the Asia Pacific region when they were engulfed by the tsunami. And that doesn't include aid given by the government. Hundreds more gave freely of their time, travelling to places like Indonesia and Sri Lanka to help build houses, schools and other facilities.

Recently, when the state of Victoria was ravaged by major bushfires, almost 200 people lost their lives and entire communities got burnt down. Nationwide, Australian people rallied together and raised almost A$100 million (Dh259 million) to help those affected by the fires.

That is on top of the many thousands and thousands of blankets, clothes, tinned food, tents and other supplies that were donated. Such generosity would be remarkable at any time, but more so at this time when their own incomes are uncertain due to the global financial crisis.

Yes, Australians are a caring lot. And once they set their minds to it, they will resolve the problem of homelessness. After all, this is a BIG country - there's room enough for a roof over everyone's head.

Eapen Verghese is a Sydney-based business consultant who writes on Australian affairs.