Trial program sees churches being turned into places of refuge for the homeless
A trial program is being set up in Adelaide's northern suburbs to turn churches into temporary accommodation for the homeless. Similar programs have already been running interstate. But South Australia hasn't had the legal framework to allow it to happen, until now.
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00:00Where's a good spot for this bin?
00:03Well, we'll put it up, look, nice open spot here.
00:06This place of worship will soon be turned into a place of refuge for those in need.
00:11We thought, can we do something, at least at the pointy end of homelessness, and we
00:15thought, well, we've got buildings, let's use them.
00:20But we found out there were challenges with legislation, so that's been taking a while
00:23to work through.
00:25It's a legal barrier that's led a group of church leaders in the northern suburbs to
00:29initiate a change to state planning guidelines, which will allow churches across South Australia
00:35that comply with building standards to be used as temporary crisis accommodation.
00:40What this winter program will provide is other options for people who are finding themselves
00:45in often quite terrible weather during the winter, a place to seek shelter, warmth, comfort,
00:52a hot meal, a hot shower.
00:55Geoff Kneebling spends his days looking after people in crisis.
00:59It's just so rewarding to see people come that far with their lives, after they've been
01:05sort of in the slumps, they're up now feeling like they're worth something in society.
01:11It's a big difference.
01:12He's one of 45 volunteers who have so far signed up to help run the trial.
01:18There's a need for it.
01:19The amount of people that I started with and what I've got now has tripled in the 12 months
01:25that I've been doing it.
01:26The number of people without a secure home in South Australia is estimated to be in the
01:31thousands.
01:32That's a lot more than the total number of crisis accommodation beds.
01:37Even though there are hundreds of beds available, they're full.
01:41All of our accommodation operates on a 100% capacity rate.
01:46This is one of 10 beds that will be set up for the pilot program.
01:50The program will run on just Monday and Tuesday nights initially for three weeks.
01:55It's hoped that what they learn from this trial will help set them up for a continuous
01:59service throughout next winter.
02:00We want to show care and compassion and love to people in that situation.
02:05Strong community spirit in the face of a relentless cost of living crisis.