Resident profile: Greg’s action against homelessness
Left: Greg at one of the locations of his protests in Fremantle.
Greg has been involved in community work almost as long as he can remember. “I just like helping people” he says. It’s a simple explanation for the years he’s spent helping to improve the lives of people in his community who have, for many reasons, found themselves without stable and
protests to support people experiencing homelessness on the streets of Fremantle. In June 2022, he got a permit from the local council and with permission from the police. 34 people attended to show their support for the cause, which Greg says was to “bring awareness to the organisations and charities who help people experiencing homelessness, who are working on very little budget.” Greg is filled with ideas for how the safety and quality of life for people living rough could be improved, which he hopes to one day be able to pitch to Ministers: “I want to sit down with the council, with the local government, and lay out my ideas. One of my them being a locker system to give people sleeping rough somewhere safe to store their sleeping bag and other valuables during the day”. “It needs to be easier for them to get access to healthcare,
so they can get their eyes, teeth, and hearing checked.” Despite the rain washing away the turnout at his most recent protest, Greg’s spirit has not been dampened. “I’m thinking about where I can hold the next protest and aiming for one of the larger suburbs.” Greg’s aim is to be seen – to remind the public and decision makers that that people experiencing homelessness can’t and shouldn’t be ignored. When asked what keeps
secure accommodation. Greg recently became a tenant at one of Housing
Choices WA’s lodging houses. However, his interest in helping the homeless began many years ago, when he started volunteering with the Salvation Army. Greg would help out with their ‘mission beat’ - driving around Sydney handing out food and rugs to people experiencing homelessness and going to the parks where people were sleeping rough. His motivation gained serious momentum in 2021 when he was living out of his car which ended up being confiscated. This experience gave Greg the impetus to start organising
him going Greg says, “I know what it’s like,
I know what they’re going through. I’ve got so many people who support me and love me, and it’s knowing that I can make a difference for other people. It doesn’t matter what happens to me, it’s about putting the changes in place for the future – in 10, 20 years from now”.
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