{"id":836675,"date":"2026-07-31T23:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/836675\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T23:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:54:16","slug":"inside-the-reality-of-sydney-cbds-rough-sleepers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/836675\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the reality of Sydney CBD\u2019s rough sleepers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: While the cluster of makeshift shelters across Sydney\u2019s CBD<\/a> may appear as an eyesore to many, they are home to a growing number of people who have fallen on hard times.<\/p>\n

Rows of shopping trolleys, eskies and make-shift tents line the main street outside of Circular Quay train station, as dozens of people try to find shelter during the winter months. <\/p>\n

\"According<\/p>\n

Clusters of makeshift shelters have continued to appear outside Sydney\u2019s Circular Quay train station.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

\"Craig\"<\/p>\n

Craig said he spends most days trying to find somewhere for him and his young son to spend the night.
\n\u00a0Nine.com.au<\/p>\n

The site is just a stone\u2019s throw away from some of Sydney\u2019s most expensive real estate and where luxurious yachts, carrying tourists, dock daily. <\/p>\n

Close by in Pitt Street Mall, another homeless camp has recently been erected, outside of retail stores like Zara and Footlocker. <\/p>\n

Father Craig, 58, and his four-year-old son, are two of many doing it tough in Sydney\u2019s freezing temperatures. <\/p>\n

As his little boy sat playing with toys on the floor, he told nine.com.au that a typical day consisted of him trying to get a roof over their heads.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you become homeless, you don\u2019t just lose your home – you lose everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re left with a bag of clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others said they\u2019d been blacklisted from public housing with nowhere else to turn, while some faced wait times of up to 10 years just to have somewhere to stay.<\/p>\n

Providential Homes, a self-funded Christian non-profit organisation, aims to provide temporary accommodation and essentials to people sleeping rough across NSW<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The group\u2019s general manager, Beau Smith, told nine.com.au they come out and provide a free weekly barbecue to those that \u201csociety leaves behind\u201d across multiple Sydney parks.<\/p>\n

\"General<\/p>\n

Providential Homes general manager Beau Smith said the organisation provides a weekly barbeque to those sleeping rough, including in Belmore Park in Sydney\u2019s CBD.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cWe load the bus up, and we put on a barbecue for the helpless, the homeless and people in need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be so compassionate, be grateful, have a heart for the people doing it tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group said they have housed about 2,500 people in homes over the past year, including a separate house dedicated to women escaping domestic violence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a statement to nine.com.au, NSW Housing and Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson admitted the system is under immense strain, adding that the government has put a \u201chistoric investment\u201d towards curbing the problem.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Minister for Housing and Homelessness said the government has pledged a multi-billion strategy to curb homelessness. \u00a0Rhett Wyman<\/p>\n

\u201cWe established the first-ever NSW\u00a0Homelessness\u00a0Strategy 2025-2035, a ten-year plan to make\u00a0homelessness\u00a0rare, brief and non-recurring,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The government is] investing billions of dollars building new crisis accommodation and long-social housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are rolling out our historic $5.1 billion social housing building program, delivering thousands and thousands of new, permanent homes for people doing it tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson also said that while she does recognise there is still a lot more work to do, the number of people sleeping rough in Sydney\u2019s CBD has dipped 14.5 per cent in the latest NSW Street Count. <\/p>\n

Youth Off The Streets head of youth support services Michelle Ackerman said homelessness for young people rarely starts on the pavement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we know really well is that young people will often experience couch-surfing and that is the prevalent way that homelessness is experienced by them,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\"Experts<\/p>\n

A growing number of makeshift shelters have begun appearing in the city\u2019s main strips including George Street. \u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

About 80 per cent begin by couch-surfing because many young people don\u2019t view sleeping on a friend\u2019s couch as \u201creal\u201d homelessness.<\/p>\n

Ackerman said constantly bouncing between homes erodes mental health<\/a> and cuts people off from their networks entirely.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the support that sustains young people in young and affordable housing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to look at it more than a \u2018rooflessness\u2019 issue … this is about someone having a place to call home, to be safe, secure and have a support structure around them to be able to maintain that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the number of people sleeping rough is declining, the human reality on the ground is far more complex.<\/p>\n

Until long-term housing is paired with early intervention and ongoing community support, many of Sydney\u2019s most vulnerable will continue to slip through the cracks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exclusive: While the cluster of makeshift shelters across Sydney\u2019s CBD may appear as an eyesore to many, they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":836676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-836675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}