Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Did the closure of the emergency motels drive the increase in rough sleeping?

Let's be honest with each other about something.

That increase in rough sleeping that the cities are anecdotally reporting to that homelessness report will be caused by the shutting down of those emergency motels. I know the Government's trying to avoid having to admit that, but that is the big thing that's changed since the election.

They've shut down the motels and some of the people who were in those motels, or who might have gone to those motels, have ended up on the streets. And I don't think that that's unexpected.

That is not an unexpected consequence of taking a tougher line on the motels.

Now, don't see me as tough or hard-hearted on this. I don't want anyone sleeping on the streets and I venture most of us don't.

But I still think that shutting down those motels was a good idea because that was out of hand, wasn't it?

I mean, spending $1.4 billion on emergency accommodation in six years was just way too much money. I prefer the line the Government's taking at the moment, which is to put the obligation where it actually should be, which is on family and friends.

Which is to say that if someone finds themselves, God forbid, without a roof over their heads, the first place that they should go for help is not the state. It should be their mum or their brother or their auntie or their son or their friend.

And only then when all of their options are exhausted and they really have no one to turn to, then should they turn to the state.

But that is not what was happening with the emergency motels. The state was the first port of call.

If you think about it, the state has stepped in to take over a lot of roles that we normally would have relied on each other for. And in some cases, it's unavoidable and in some cases it's for the best, for example - police, or whatever.

But in this case, let's be honest, $1.4 billion is a lot of money that could have been spent on anything else that we are running dry on right now. Healthcare, cops, education.

So actually, the first place you turn to if you don't have somewhere to sleep is your family. Only at the end of the road should the state step in.

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