Blogging for Poverty

Nobody should be without a home or food in Australia. Even those who wish to live on the land can live that way if they want to. We used to have a Breakfast Club in Australian primary schools, in particular, which helped bridged the gap for those children who were homeless, but the funding was pulled.Most of our homeless children have homeless parents as well, so the news we might resurrect it is promising. There are those teenagers who couch surf because things go wrong at home or because they make the wrong lifestyle choices, but we also have families living out of cars and that is wrong. When our government first got into power, Kevn Rudd really put the spotlight on homelessness and made his ministers go and see and feel first hand what it was like and who these people were. The few stories which came back were intensely moving. Andrew Denton also focussed on some of our homeless people and that too was a moving show. Then we have had The Choir of Hard Knocks which Jimmy Barnes got going and the people of OzHarvest who work tirelessy to bring food to people. So we can do some great things which make a difference when we want to.Part of the problem is the housing gap. There is no low income housing. Things like lodging and boarding don't really exist here and we have no social etiquette arrangements for it so that it is a safe alternative. We sold a lot of our state funding housing because many of the houses were being vandalised. So I think we have two things to achieve. We need to get food to children who need it. We need to get food to families. Many of us have good incomes and good lifestyles and we are over catered to. For us to have a way of helping others would work because we have that tradition here. Then we have to teach peole how to be lodgers, how to show respect and how to board and not be a problem. Most people wouldn't rent available space because they would fear their home being taken over, being ripped off or violent consequences. That is how it is and it is something we need to fix. We also need to teach people to look after rental accommodation. The prices have sky rocketed so that landlords get professionals as tenants. We need better social skills. Our anything goes lifestyle is bringing a lot of people down and it means some good people and families are living on the street, without proper amenities and food. That is an indictment of our society. We are warm and generous. We need to use that side of our nature to overcome the oppression and hardship which is occurring.