2 June 2016 | Tennis West

On Thursday 23 June, Tennis West CEO and Hopman Cup General Manager, Geoff Quinlan will sleep outside on one of the longest nights of the year with just a sheet of cardboard, alongside over 100 other business, government and community leaders at the Vinnies CEO Sleepout® in Perth.

 

The Sleepout aims to raise awareness of the issues facing people who are experiencing homelessness as well as raise vital funds to support current and new responses to homelessness in Western Australia.

 

This year’s Sleepout participants will sleep outside at the WACA, experiencing first-hand just a fragment of what it is like to be homeless.

 

Quinlan is striving to raise a minimum of $5,000 to help Vinnies provide immediate relief to people in crisis and to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.

Those wishing to donate to Geoff Quinlan’s fundraising page can visit:

https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/ceos/wa-ceos/geoff-quinlan/

 

“I’m proud to participate in Vinnies CEO Sleepout as I know more and more individuals face the hardship of increasing house prices and rents that force them onto the streets. It’s a fundamental right to be able to sleep with a roof over your head, and the homeless crisis is an issue I feel strongly about, and hope to be able to play a small role in addressing and bringing awareness to.” Quinlan said.

 

“These individuals are the most vulnerable, the most at risk and we need to do all we can to provide adequate shelter to the thousands who have no place to call home every night”.

 

Last year, Western Australian leaders raised more than $880,000 which helped Vinnies provide assistance to 40,000 people.

 

St Vincent de Paul Society WA CEO, Mark Fitzpatrick, said the Vinnies CEO Sleepout is a great opportunity for business, community and government leaders to come together to make a real difference in the lives of those who are less fortunate.

 

“This year, we want people to understand the true reality of homelessness,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.

 

“While you sleep, more than 105,000 Australians have no place to call home.

 

Approximately 27 per cent of Australia’s homeless are children, and 23 per cent are faced with this situation due to domestic and family violence.

 

“Behind each statistic is the story of a fellow Australian — someone just like you and me — who has experienced the extreme isolation and desperation of homelessness.”

 

Vinnies provides crisis accommodation to individuals experiencing homelessness, as well as advocacy support, budgeting services, living skills programs, emergency relief, transitional housing and access to programs that help rebuild lives.

 

 

Homelessness Fact Sheet WA

• There are officially more than 105,000 Australians experiencing homelessness every night across Australia (1 in every 200).

• More than 17,000 Australian children under the age of 12 have no home, representing 17% of the overall homeless population.

• The most common reasons people give for becoming homeless relate to interpersonal conflict including domestic and family violence and relationship breakdown.

• 39% of Australians experiencing homelessness are living in severely crowded dwellings; 17% are staying temporarily with family and friends; 18% are living in boarding houses and other temporary accommodation; 6% are sleeping rough on the streets; and just 20% find a bed in the homeless service system.

• A common misconception is that the homeless are mainly middle-aged or older men. In fact, most homeless people are under 35 (60%). 44% are women.

• People experiencing homelessness are more likely to suffer from severe mental disorders than the rest of the population. The experience of homelessness can trigger and exacerbate mental illness.

• The experience of homelessness brings with it a heightened vulnerability to violence.

• A lack of affordable housing is a key contributor to homelessness. There are simply not enough accommodation options for people experiencing disadvantage and every day Vinnies visits families who face this reality, unable to survive in the private rental market.

• Unemployment, family breakdown and drug and alcohol abuse are additional factors that lead to homelessness.

• On the best available data, just under 10,000 Western Australians are homeless every night.

 

 

For more information about the fight against homelessness go to: www.ceosleepout.org.au