Orange Uniting Church, Christian Ministry Centre helping the homeless with caravan

The caravan was set up by the Orange Uniting Church, which is collaborating with the Christian Ministry Centre, to provide temporary accommodation for people who are sleeping rough, sleeping in their cars or who aren't eligible for existing services.

Orange Uniting Church member Bev Rankin has been involved with the project since the beginning and said there have been two inquiries from people wanting to use the van in the past week.

Five people have stayed there since came into use in September or October last year.

"We are getting a steady stream of people who are saying, 'I know somebody who needs accommodation', or 'I need accommodation', so there are people who are contacting the church to see if we can help," she said.

She said it's temporary accommodation that the church has set aside for people who are homeless, haven't got other accommodation options including those who don't fit the criteria for agencies such as Housing Plus.

"It's targeting people in need of accommodation who need a bit of space just to get themselves sorted," Mrs Rankin said.

"It's meant to be a stepping stone to getting more permanent accommodation but it's particularly to care for people especially in winter in Orange that was out main focus originally.

"It was for people who were sleeping rough or sleeping in their cars or couch surfing who really needed a safe place to sleep."

Mrs Rankin said the stays have varied so far with some people only spending a couple of nights while others have stayed for up to three months.

"For some people it was because their accommodation was unsafe, some people was because they ended up sleeping in their cars or tents, and some people had been away and came back to Orange and couldn't find anywhere to live so it was a variety of reasons," she said.

"It's not ideal but it makes a difference between being able to stretch out and be warm because the caravan is air conditioned so it's got heating or cooling, you've got capacity to cook your own meals, it's got a fridge in it, you can stretch out, you've actually got a bed.

"That's a lot better than sleeping in a tent or a car."

Mrs Rankin had been doing community development work with Fusion, which used to run a community centre in the kinder hall, which is now subject to a development application for homeless accommodation.

"There was a bit of a cross over of interests and so through that work we had done a fair bit of work of raising awareness of homelessness," she said.

"Between the church and Fusion we had been involved in a Sleep in You Car program to raise awareness about homelessness issues."

Due to that awareness, the church received an anonymous financial donation to continue that work with homeless people and they got the idea to buy a caravan.

Mrs Rankin said the church bought the caravan locally in late 2021 and it took a while to get the project set up and it's now been running since about September or October 2022.

Mrs Rankin said most of the people who have stayed in the van came through the community centre and the hot meals outreach projects, where demand has not dropped off this year with a slow night seeing 115 meals collected but on an average Saturday night volunteers aim to cater for 150 meals.

Others have been referred by other people or from Facebook posts.

With the housing crisis putting the van in high demand Mrs Rankin said the church would love to get another van so they can help more people get a roof over their heads while they work on getting more permanent housing.

"There's two things we're working on at the moment, one is we would need the funding or the donation of an actual van or funding to obtain one," Mrs Rankin said.

"You're probably looking at around $10,000ish to purchase one commercially that would be suitable."

Mrs Rankin said the van would also need to be registered or registerable and in good condition because people will be living in it and they need to be able to insure it.

"The other thing we are wanting to do is work with the people who own the property to actually set up a shower on the property because at the moment, the people who are tenants in the van they have access to a toilet but they don't have access to shower facilities.

"We can get a temporary shower for $1000 or thereabouts whereas a more permanent inbuilt shower you're looking at tens of thousands of dollars. There's a building there that we can work with but it will cost a bit more money to do that."

Some of those who have stayed in the van have been able to shower at friends' houses or work, others have access to gym facilities, the aquatic centre, or there are also showers at Cook Park.

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