In the brisk chill of winter, a 57-year-old Newcastle man* has lived out of his van for the last two months.
He left a relationship in another city around a year ago while coping with declining mental and physical health.
"I went down to 63 kilos and it has taken me seven months to get up to 80 kilos," he said.
"I was sleeping in my car for about six to seven days but I didn't feel safe and people were looking at me all the time," he said.
After feeling uneasy out on the street for a week, he made a call to Lake Macquarie's Car 2 Home Project, and now, he says, his mind is at ease.
He no longer has to worry about where he is going to park his van, or where he is going to shave or shower.
"The first thing I did [at Car 2 Home] was get in the shower and wash my hair," he said.
"They are life savers, 100 per cent. If it wasn't for them I'd have a lot of stress and anxiety, it would be horrible without them," he said.
Macquarie Care's Car 2 Home Project provides people who are experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping in their cars a safe place to park and sleep, as well as access to bathroom, kitchen and laundry facilities.
The not-for-profit aims to then connect people with long-term public or private housing providers.
The Newcastle local wished that more people understood how bad not having stable housing really was.
"They're all sitting in their houses and not worrying about the people out in the streets. A lot of people work, some people don't work, some people just can't afford to rent because it is just too expensive," he said.
In the late afternoon on Sunday August 4, he told the Herald Car 2 Home might get him out of his van and into an apartment in the next few weeks.
"Never give up, and just ask for the help if you need it," he said.
Services stretched thin
Car 2 Home project manager, Danielle Whyte said the demand for their service has "exploded" since the pandemic along with rental increases and lack of affordable housing across the Hunter.
"We are busy but we do try to keep people out of their vehicles and use every option that is available to us in order to get people out of their cars and into housing," Ms Whyte said.
Macquarie Care was seeing the working poor more than ever with their cheap food service, Manna House, having to turn people away every week, Ms Whyte said.
She said there is simply not enough affordable housing to go around.
"People are maintaining jobs but what we see is people's leases end and they might apply for hundreds of rentals, and it takes them time to be able to get back into the housing market," she said.
While they have seen roughly a 30 per cent increase in youth homelessness in the last 12 months, Ms Whyte said they see people of all ages.
"Homelessness just doesn't discriminate," she said.
Homelessness NSW data for 2022-2023 revealed that demand for homelessness services in the Hunter soared by 59 per cent in eight years.
The data showed that 5676 people across the Hunter used these services in the 2022-2023 financial year.
Reach Homeless, a Newcastle-based service that provides free breakfast and dinner services, said they had recorded an increase in demand.
CEO Gary Parsisson said that during their Friday night dinner service in Hamilton and Saturday night in Maitland they would see more than 80 people, and gave away about 120 breakfast packs a week.
"We used to average about half those numbers we are doing now," Mr Parsisson said.
He said the cost of living situation has put pressure on people who were on the verge of homelessness, particularly people in boarding houses and overcrowded accommodation.
"We are noticing a rise with the number of people we are seeing that are taking grocery items with them to supplement their food supplies because they can't afford to go out and buy it," he said.
Mr Parsisson said Reach Homeless tried to foster a sense of community at their food service as disconnection only exacerbated homelessness.
"The disconnection is becoming more evident as people are withdrawing because they are unable to afford to go out and make those connections," he said.
Linking people with services
Hunter Homeless Connect runs an annual event, coming up on August 21, that brings together different services in the region.
Chair and community directory coordinator Michelle Faithfull said they have had to move to a bigger space to accommodate demand.
In 2017, when Ms Faithfull started to coordinate the event, there were 90 services. But in 2024, 140 services had registered so far.
She said all local services had talked about being stretched, under-resourced alongside the cost of living and food security crisis.
"It's a real issue, housing is at the root of it all," she said.
"It [Hunter Homeless Connect Day], is a really unique opportunity for services to get together and to collaborate," she said.
It starts in the home
Jenny's Place, a local service for women and children experiencing domestic and family violence and/or homelessness, said despite high demand their call lines are always open.
"If you need help, call us and we will work with you as long as it takes to find the help that you need," CEO Dawn Walker said.
Ms Walker said they see domestic violence as being one of the main driving factors for people at risk of homelessness.
"If you really want to understand why so many people are sleeping on the streets across our communities, you actually have to take a close look inside the home," she said.
"The homeless situation is kind of a symptom of an ailing society where there's not enough support and infrastructure," she said.
She agreed with Hunter services, that the system is "bottlenecked" with lack of access to any kind of housing including refuges and temporary accommodation.
Ms Walker said we need more compassion towards people who find themselves vulnerable and without a place to live.
"We think it's not our problem but one day that young girl, she is our daughter. She's our mother. She's our sister," she said.
*This person has chosen to remain anonymous for privacy reasons.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Men's Referral Service 1300 776 491; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732; National Elder Abuse 1800 ELDERHelp (1800 353 374)
