The St Vincent De Paul Society is holding its annual Homelessness Awareness Walk from the City Park Rotunda to Royal Park in Launceston tomorrow as a part of Homelessness Awareness Week which runs until August 13.
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00:00 The purpose of our event today, a walk from City Park to Royal Park, is to build awareness.
00:08 We want to start conversations about what can be done.
00:11 When we look at the statistics from the Census 2021, we can see that the level of homelessness
00:17 across Tasmania increased by 45%.
00:20 Obviously the cost of living pressures since that time have increased further.
00:24 We're seeing an ongoing increase to support agencies such as Binny's Tas from those who
00:30 are really struggling to make ends meet.
00:33 So raising awareness about those situations is something that's really important to us
00:38 this week.
00:39 I think one of the major drivers to the increase in homelessness is a chronic shortage of appropriate
00:45 housing.
00:46 So we know that the vacancy rate for rental properties is extremely low.
00:50 We know that there is a shortage of social and affordable housing.
00:53 Similarly we know that state, local and federal governments are working to stem that supply
00:59 issue, but it can't happen fast enough.
01:02 We look at the vacancy rates in the major areas across Tasmania and we know that people
01:07 are waiting weak signal months to find a safe, appropriate and stable roof over their heads.
01:14 At the end of the last financial year, so as of 30 June, our support that we do gain
01:19 from federal and state government should provide emergency relief.
01:22 We've far exceeded those grand funds, so we do need to fundraise in order to be able to
01:27 keep providing food.
01:29 We deliver relief, whether it's assistance with energy bills, fuel, transportation, pharmaceuticals.
01:37 There are a whole lot of moving parts that go towards making the lives of others better
01:41 in a more dignified way.
01:42 And that's where those funds go directly into.
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