Wagga Wagga homelessness crisis: Makeshift camps remain after taskforce set up

A fortnight after an emergency taskforce was set up to address Wagga Wagga's homelessness crisis, makeshift camps around the southern New South Wales city remain in place.

The urgent state government action was triggered by the death of a baby during birth on the bank of the Murrumbidgee River.

"There are rumours going around that they're going to come and clean it up, and people are terrified," said John Cope a camper at nearby Oura Beach.

On Thursday NSW Minister for Homelessness Rose Jackson visited the region for the first time since the tragic death.

The taskforce brings council, police and frontline workers together to help enforce move-on orders and provide additional "wraparound support" to make it more attractive for people to move people into temporary accommodation, such as motels, while they wait for a permanent solution.

Ms Jackson said every effort would be made to support people to move voluntarily, but a deadline would be set at some stage and people would need to "go with police" if they continued to refuse support.

"I really understand that people are anxious," she said.

Some people, such as John Boyce, who has been living at the Wilks Park free camp are near Wagga's CBD for more than seven months, say temporary accommodation is not suitable because he has dogs and struggles living in close quarters with other people.

"So basically I go round and round in circles every day and pretty much get told at the end of it all, 'Move on or we'll call the police on you,'" he said.

Others told the ABC they were recovering drug addicts and conditions in temporary housing were generally not suitable for those trying to stay clean.

Agencies working together

Ms Jackson met with the emergency taskforce in Wagga today, which includes representatives from council, NSW Police, Homes NSW and services such as St Vincent de Paul.

She said it was constructive and that the group would continue to meet weekly to help provide people with a better experience, even if they had pets or other needs.

"We know that people have had experiences of temporary accommodation in the past that haven't always worked out and they've moved out," Ms Jackson said.

"The thing that's different is we're going to move beyond all of that — we're going to be a lot more flexible and really try and lean in to meeting those individual needs."

St Vincent de Paul's manager of homeless services in Wagga, Damien Adams, agreed that the discussions had been positive and that a new approach was underway to try and convince people to leave the camps.

"There's going to be a stronger focus on trying to build a bit more outreach and things like that, just to keep offering opportunities for people to engage and have that soft approach," he said.

Mr Adams said the plan was to let people know that "we're here and we really want to try to help you before the winter gets here to get into something more sustainable and something that's going to be a more long-term plan".

'It's a human disaster'

Kerz, who did not want to use her full name, was one of more than 60 people who attended a community meeting on Wednesday night, aimed at bringing ordinary people together to discuss grassroots solutions.

She grew up in Wagga and moved back after being displaced following the Lismore floods in 2022.

She has been living in her car ever since.

"I just want to see action now," Kerz said when asked what she wanted to hear from the government.

"I want people to be able to get firewood. Open the showers up. There's toilets already down at the river and at different places that lock automatically. Don't lock the toilets.

"This is not a natural disaster, but it's a community, it's a human disaster. So come on, what are you doing?"

Prefab housing set to arrive

While visiting Wagga Wagga today the minister provide an update on six dual-occupancy homes that have been prefabricated in Sydney and will be sent down to add to social housing stock next month.

"Twelve houses is not going to solve the problem in itself, but considering how sporadic housing delivery has been in recent years, it is actually a good improvement to get more housing moving quickly," Ms Jackson said.

The prefabricated homes are set to be placed in different locations around the city.

Their installation will come in addition to larger projects already underway at the Duke of Kent Oval in central Wagga, and a redevelopment of the Tolland suburb.