Adelaide's homeless: Calls for greater compassion from city residents and workers
Updated
Across Australia's inner cities tonight, a clash of cultures may be played out between residents — those who have a home, and those who don't.
SA Council of Social Service's Ross Womersley said inner cities are a magnet for people with problems of addiction, mental health, and family breakdowns — all contributing factors to homelessness.
"To be honest, those of us living in the suburbs won't usually encounter these situations," Mr Womersley said.
"It's often only the residents in our regional centres and inner-city precincts, people seeking out restaurants and nightlife … city workers and business owners who most often have to live with the untidy, sometimes uncomfortable and, very occasionally, more frightening aspects of such encounters."
For obvious reasons many of the facilities used by homeless people — shelters, detox centres and soup kitchens — also gravitate to the same locations.
In Adelaide's CBD that's primarily around two spots; the Hutt Street Centre on Hutt Street in the South East corner, and the Salvos about 2 kilometres away on Whitmore Square in the south-west.
Both have been there for decades, Hutt Street since the 50s, the Salvos for 147 years, both serving much the same cohort of people.
But Hutt Street has found itself in the middle of a storm of 'streets of fear' stories, with residents and business owners pointing to brawls, antisocial behaviour and begging along the popular restaurant and cafe strip.
Police stats indicate static crime rates
SA Police Superintendent Craig Wall said while there had been a spike in the fear of crime, Hutt Street had not seen a corresponding spike in crime itself.
"I don't think we can arrest our way out of this problem," Superintendent Wall said.
"I realise there are issues there, we don't shirk away from that … but there is not an increase statistics wise."
"The crime in both locations [Hutt Street and Whitmore Square] has remained relatively static over the last couple of years."
'The violence is bad, but cyclic'
While there's been no crime spike, Paul Coulson from the Salvos' Whitmore Square service said around the world, facilities like his do experience peaks and troughs of antisocial behaviour.
"When it kicks off here, the violence, it is bad, but it is cyclic," Mr Coulson said.
"I don't know the reason … people say to me 'is it a summer or winter thing?' … but I can't put my finger on anything in particular that causes it to flare up."
But while the cause may be a mystery, both the police and Mr Coulson are quite clear about one thing: the number, and in some cases, the identity of troublemakers.
"I've seen the Hutt Street footage and I've seen our footage and it's the same people in the footage," Mr Coulson said.
"I think that ought to put what's happening [in Hutt Street] in some perspective," Superintendent Wall added.
"It's no surprise to me … it's across crime in general, a small amount of people doing the wrong thing causes the biggest amount of issues."
Just why Hutt Street should be hogging headlines over Whitmore Square is, perhaps, a murkier question.
SAPOL pointed to the fact that there has been more development in the Hutt Street precinct, and it's a longer street, meaning more 'opportunities' for conflict.
Mr Coulson said there are fewer cafes in his neighbourhood and the open square helps diffuse potential trouble.
But 20 years of experience also tells him perpetual peace is never the outcome when people in crisis live side-by-side with people whose lives are on track.
"A lady was walking her dog past one day and she's lived here for years, just right next to the sobering up unit," Mr Coulson said.
"She said to me 'I'm often torn… I get really frustrated with you guys and what goes on here, but I also realise that these people are part of our community and we just can't ignore them'.
"I think our neighbours really do well to be tolerant and understanding and I really appreciate that a lot."
Cafe serving up compassion
One of those neighbours is Alex Harris, who runs Cafe Troppo a few doors down from the Salvos.
The business started up six years ago.
"A lot of people back then were telling us it's a really bad idea to open a business here," Mr Harris said.
"But we were keen and we just gave it a crack.
"There have been issues, sure, and there will continue to be … but I've found it much better for our business in terms of our own security to build a relationship with them [homeless people].
"A lot of them we know by a first-name basis … it doesn't always work, but it does potentially help to stop situations happening."
Once the day's trade is over Mr Harris takes leftover cakes and sandwiches to the Salvos, neatly serving his twin goals of being a good neighbour and reducing waste.
Just around the corner from the cafe there is another small business, an Aboriginal art gallery.
Owner Tony Straccia lives above the shop, so for the past decade both his working and private lives have unfolded around Whitmore Square.
He believes Hutt Street has seen greater gentrification than the square, helping account for the current tensions.
"It's like moving next to an airport and then complaining about the noise," Mr Straccia said.
"I think there is a greater divide in Hutt Street of rich and poor, or the disempowered and the empowered … we know that some disruption comes with living in this quadrant."
Stories of crime spike 'a beat up'
Two senior welfare advocates have told the ABC the board of the Hutt Street Centre feels under siege, describing the stories of a crime spike as a beat up.
They fear the service may be pressured into moving, an outcome they say would be "disastrous".
As to be expected, the language from SA Police is more measured, but the sentiment of Superintendent Wall, as a working police officer, appears much the same.
"There will always be homeless people in the city and having the services that both the Hutt Street Centre and Whitmore Square provide is not only important to the police, it's important to the vulnerable individuals accessing [them], so I would like to see them remain within the CBD."
Topics: homelessness, adelaide-5000
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