Adelaide homeless father shares ‘helpless‘ reality of sleeping rough

An Adelaide father of two sleeping rough in Adelaide’s northeast has called on local councils to create safe spaces for people to stay amid a housing crisis that has left many more people homeless.

Matt Bleach, 43, became homeless in 2022 after being made redundant from his job as a forklift driver during COVID-19 lockdowns.

A series of unfortunate events followed that “could happen to anyone,” Bleach said.

“I had everything and just lost it all in one go, on one day, and here I am just on the streets thinking ‘Where am I going to sleep, how am I going to get warm?’,” he said.

The stress of not being able to pay bills led to a relationship breakdown with his partner, the mother of his two young children.

Bleach’s mother died around the same time, leaving him with few other close family members to turn to.

Bleach said he then made the difficult decision to sleep rough because he didn’t want to trouble his friends and distant relatives with his problems.

He thinks about his children “every day” but said he doesn’t want them to see what his life has become.

“There not one day that goes past (that I don’t think of them). I don’t want them to know, this is not the way to live,” Bleach said.

His twin brother, Scott, left his rental around the same time and decided to sleep rough so his brother wouldn’t be alone.

“At first we were just living on the street underneath carparks and that. It took us a year to save up for a car and a caravan,” Bleach said.

“We were just moving around carparks and kept getting moved on by council.”

One day Bleach’s caravan was towed because a business owner didn’t want them staying on his parking lot.

Bleach has been unable to get it back.

He said he’s been trying to get housing but was told there’s a 17-week wait for public housing and his chances of securing a home were slim because he was a single man with a dog.

“I’d rather stay on the streets because he’s like my child,” Bleach said.

Homeless shelters across Adelaide said they were full when contacted by 7NEWS.com.au earlier this year.

Some were turning away 15 people every day because they didn’t have enough beds.

The SA Housing Authority said the average wait for category one applicants was seven months in April but could be as long as 18 months.

The Bleach brothers have been living in a tent at a park behind Bunnings Warehouse in Modbury for the past six months, but were recently told by the City of Tea Tree Gully they had to leave by the end of October.

Bleach said he’s feeling “helpless” about the future.

“I just want to be settled, I’ve had enough … I just want to live my life,” Bleach said.

“We’re constantly stressed (about) where are we going to go now.”

The City of Tea Tree Gully said it had received multiple complaints of “anti-social behaviour” from a group of rough sleepers in the area.

“Council has been in discussions with these men and others in the group regarding their behaviour and the time frame has been in negotiation for some time now,” a spokesperson said.

“The time frame suggested was extended in consultation and agreed with both men until the end of the month.

“Council understands that a moving van has been organised by the men for next week.”

Bleach blamed other rough sleepers who had recently moved in the for the complaints.

He said the manager of the Bunnings even invited him to a store BBQ and complimented him on how tidy he was.

“I don’t want to annoy other residents or anything. That’s the last thing I want, I just want peace,” Bleach said.

Solution needed

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said in 2022-2023, 1.1 per cent of Australia’s population — or 274,000 people — were assisted by homeless agencies.

It found a 26 per cent increase in people living in boarding houses and a 14 per cent increase of people living in homeless accommodation between 2016 and the last census of 2021.

Bleach said over the two years he’s been homeless, he’s seen more people struggling to make ends meet.

He worried about what life will be like when his children are older, he said.

“It’s tripling. They need to get out on the streets and actually look. The lines (for food) are getting bigger, it’s worrying.”

Shelter SA executive director Alice Clarke called on local councils to be help stop rough sleepers constantly being moved around.

“I think it’s a matter for individual councils to grapple with … they need to be looking within to see what they can do to assist people,” Clark said.

“Traditionally, rough sleeping hasn’t been the responsibility of councils, but certainly in my experience, more and more they’re having to act because of more and more people needing assistance.”

The City of Tea Tree Gully said it’s been trying to take a “balanced” approach to rough sleeping in its district.

A spokesperson said in instances where people are in contact with homeless support groups and not involved in anti-social behaviour, they have not been moved on.

“Council is committed to ensuring people are supported to find pathways out of homelessness through support from Adelaide North West Homelessness Alliance, highlighting why we have this as a key piece to our approach mentioned above,” they said.

Earlier this year, Tea Tree Gully Mayor Marijka Ryan said she was in discussions with the state government to find a solution, including identifying potential land that could be allocated for safe rough sleeping.

This followed another case, where an Adelaide father was living under a gazebo behind the Salvation Army in Modbury after also being moved on from other places.

When contacted about Bleach’s case, Ryan said she “continues to advocate to state government and facilitate networks delivering services to people at risk of or experiencing homelessness”.