Published: 13 January 2023

Eurobodalla Mayor Mathew Hatcher remains hopeful the NSW Government will shortly offer a solution to the homelessness crisis at Moruya’s North Head campground.

Mayor Hatcher wrote to NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet in December, outlining the seriousness of the situation and asking the Premier to urgently find housing appropriate to the needs of the people currently making the campground their home.

The campground is managed by Eurobodalla Council, who is allowing the growing number of people living there to stay beyond the NSW Government’s mandated 50-day per year rule.

Mayor Hatcher said Council is showing discretion and compassion in not enforcing the regulation because there is nowhere else for people living there to go.

“The NSW Government is responsible for crisis and social housing, and they must step in and help us solve this issue,” he said.

“These are primitive campgrounds, meaning there is no permanent hot water or enclosed showers. They simply aren’t a suitable place for people to be living permanently.”

Council has been working with local homelessness agencies and case managers are visiting the campground weekly, where more than 50 people experiencing homelessness are currently living.

“The local agencies are doing great work in terms of providing support, but what no one can offer right now is a suitable place for these people to live,” the Mayor said.

“We need the Premier to act quickly. The NSW Government could buy a motel or a block of units to temporarily house people in a crisis.

“The situation has become critical and now is the time for the NSW Government to do something.

“I don’t want people living in freezing cold tents again this winter and the local council installing temporary hot showers to provide some small comfort and dignity.

“In Australia in 2023, everyone should have a roof over their head and the security of a place to call home.

“I’m asking the Premier to provide this basic human right for the people living at North Head campground.”

For more information on this issue, visit the housing advocacy webpage.

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