A BENDIGO man recently made homeless has spoken about life on local streets.
The 44-year-old has spent much of the past two months sleeping in his car or at a makeshift campsite, as he battles against a system he believes has ignored him.
But Loddon Mallee Housing chief executive officer Ken Marchingo has revealed support for homeless people has never been greater in the region.
He said the organisation had purchased another 53 units (of housing) within the past fortnight for emergency cases.
The homeless man - who contacted The Advertiser last week to discuss his plight - has an acquired brain injury and a history of alcohol and drug abuse.
"I’ve been living like an animal for the past eight weeks or so," the man said.
"You don’t realise how many people are homeless until you’re out and about, just walking around talking to people.
"When you’re a bit scruffy, people tend to come up and talk to you - if they’re homeless."
The man criticised an interim housing system which he believes is in need of a drastic overhaul to ensure people don’t fall through the cracks.
"I realise there’s plenty of people who are homeless, and I’m trying to help them out, too. When I was in interim housing, I put people up on my couch," said the man, who was evicted from public housing last month.
"We’re all pigeonholed - we get stuck in interim housing," he said.
"I’ve been in prison, but I’ve done my time for my stupidity... I was adopted and, in the house I grew up in, there were problems with alcohol and abuse," he said.
"How can you win?
"People wonder why I’m fighting the system so hard, it’s because you can’t win."
Mr Marchingo said homelessness was well and truly on the political radar, considering the recent Federal Government focus on the issue.
"Clearly it is a massive issue in Australian society. In Bendigo it is as much of an issue as it is anywhere," he said.
"In Bendigo we see about 9000 people a year coming through our services.
"Some of them come through the door once and some of them are very regular visitors.
"We know that about a third to a quarter of people going into homelessness services have or have had a mental illness... we know we have a drug and alcohol problem in our community.
"(The amphetamine) ice has well and truly made its presence felt in Bendigo; GHB not as much.
"We know it disintegrates relationships and destroys people’s capacity for work and we know that exacerbates homelessness."
St Luke’s Anglicare chief executive David Pugh said his organisation was working to manage the impact of drug and social issues on younger Bendigo residents - measures designed to reduce homelessness long-term.
Mr Pugh said St Luke’s worked with homeless people normally under 21, so the issues tended to come back to trouble at home.
"Situations where younger people face domestic violence, or a parent with a problem with drug or alcohol abuse, or the young people are developing drug or alcohol issues themselves, are common.
"But we’re having a high rate of success connecting these people back to their families.
"We’ve been seeing in the last couple of months a reduction in youth homelessness in Bendigo."