Over the past month, the Express has reported extensively on the devastating loss of homes and businesses caused by the fire in the Harcourt district on January 9.
Emotional, financial and practical support has been readily available to those who lost their homes, but for people who do not fit into ‘traditional’ living arrangements, those living rough in tents, cars and buses, gaining support can be difficult.
AJ*, who has been living in a bus on public land in Harcourt since last November, was one of many homeless people in the region when the fires hit.
He struggled to get approved for a disaster relief payment and is hoping the process will be made easier for others in similar situations in the future.
This is the third bushfire AJ has been caught in during his life. There was a fire in Gippsland in the early 2000s, and on Black Saturday, he was in Upper Ferntree Gully when the fire came through.
“The difference here was the speed at which the fire came through,” he said.
“It went from there’s a fire, to there’s a fire coming, to there’s a fire here. It was just crazy! I’d checked the website 45 minutes before, but there were no warnings, so I had relaxed a little bit.
“I only got five minutes out of town, maybe not even, when I broke down on the Calder Freeway, panicking and on the phone to the police, convinced the bus was gone, and it was just another guy in a bus, pulled up in front of me and offered to tow me.”
AJ told the Express he felt fortunate because his home was on wheels, and while he couldn’t travel far he could at least move out of harm’s way.
“Bendigo is such a big hub, so there are quite a few people displaced from that area, and they filter out. There’s a big camp along the creek in Lockwood with at least 20 homeless people there, and another one by the creek between Harcourt and Bendigo,” he said.
“For people who have tents, it would take them two hours to pack their stuff up, and they can’t, so they’d have to leave it. That’s everything that they own.
“For most of us, we don’t have insurance, because you can’t really insure a tent, and even if you could, you can’t afford to insure it – that’s why you’re in that situation in the first place.”
AJ suffers from PTSD and finds a solitary life preferable, but he said most of the other homeless people he had met were struggling because of the cost-of-living crisis.
“People who have worked jobs their entire life, who’ve never been welfare dependent, who weren’t drug addicts, it’s just that the cost of living has outpaced their ability to earn money, and that’s what’s left them homeless,” he said.
“Their job isn’t going up from $35 an hour, but their rent is now $3000 a month plus. That’s the real reason that so many people I’ve met are living in a tent. They’re still going to work every day, and they’re still trying to do everything they can.
“And for those who are on welfare, it’s enough money to keep your head above water, but it’s not enough money to help you swim to shore and get your life back on track.
“You spend all of your emotional and physical energy trying to deal with the fact that you’re on $300 a week. You’re not eating enough food, therefore you’re not getting enough exercise. You’re not getting enough sleep and you get stuck in this rut of ‘I’ve got nothing left to give to work, to society’. Everybody who is in this situation is stuck.”
Fortunately, AJ was finally approved for the emergency relief payment. He has relocated to another suitable location in the shire, where he will stay until he can get the bus fixed, which he estimates will take at least 12 months to get ready.
“Then I plan to travel – I may as well make the most of the homelessness, and I’ve got the dogs to keep me company.”
*Name has been changed*
