Rockingham homeless camp residents face eviction with nowhere to go

Homeless individuals at a makeshift camp in Rockingham have been given less than a week to vacate the site, sparking concerns about their safety and wellbeing. The camp, located along Memorial Drive in Safety Bay, has been home to around 50 people for months, with some residents sleeping in tents and others in their cars.

The state government has been aware of the situation since April and has provided Notice of Intention letters to the campers, requiring them to leave the area by September 22. A woman living at the site, who wished to remain anonymous, expressed her fears about the impending deadline.

"I don't know where I'm going to be next week," she said.

The woman, who has been at the camp for a month, said she had lost her job six months ago while her husband was experiencing a back injury, and they could no longer afford their $700-a-week rent.

"As human beings we need basic things like feeling like we belong and security … your mental health suffers when you don't have those two things," she said.

Another resident, Gemma Jones, has lived at the camp in her van since the start of the year. She said she had few options for alternative accommodation.

"Going to a caravan park is going to be nearly $800 a fortnight, moving to a house is $900 a week — it's so unrealistic," she said.

WA Minister for Homelessness Matthew Swinbourn said people had been given seven days to move and that the government wanted to connect them to crisis, transitional or permanent accommodation.

"We're not abandoning them and we're continuing to support them," he said.

However, Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said he had visited the site and people told him they were sheltering there because they had nowhere else to go.

"I'm not sure what an eviction notice does, if it doesn't come with somewhere to go and take shelter," he said.

Concerns about safety and anti-social behaviour

The government has cited safety concerns and an increase in anti-social behaviour as reasons for the eviction notice. Minister Swinbourn said there had been "over a thousand" points of contact with people on Memorial Drive, with concern for their safety and an increase in anti-social behaviour.

Zempilas said while he welcomed a night space facility opened by the government in Rockingham this week, it was not a long-lasting solution.

"So ultimately if you have people living on the side of the road for a year or two years, the drop in spaces can work for a short term but they are not a permanent solution," he said.