Homeless residents have refused to leave their makeshift camps amid fears they’ll have nothing to return to as a category two cyclone barrels towards Australia’s east coast.
Four million residents in south-east Queensland and northern NSW are preparing for the worst with Tropical Cyclone Alfred expected to make landfall between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast on Friday.
But despite the threat of damaging winds, life-threatening flash floods and extremely high tides, many homeless who have set up camp in Brisbane’s low-lying areas have vowed to ‘hunker down,’ with just their tents as shelter instead of relocating to higher ground.
Beau Haywood, 47, who runs a homeless food initiative Nourish Street Inc, warned that time is running out to relocate to emergency accommodation before Cyclone Alfred batters the coast.
‘We have been told that critical response teams are reaching out to vulnerable individuals, but what I witnessed tells a different story,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Many people I spoke to were unaware that a cyclone was on the horizon and are now choosing to stay and ride it out because they believe they won’t have the time to move or if they do go, there will be nothing to come back to.’
‘I’m truly shocked by the lack of communication and support. This could be life or death.’
Mr Haywood and his volunteers spend five night a week delivering hot meals to the vulnerable in Brisbane’s north, including the low-lying Moreton Bay region.
Beau Haywood and his volunteers deliver hot, homemade meals five nights a week across Brisbane’s north, including the low-lying Moreton Bay region
Homeless Aussies in Brisbane’s ‘tent city’ have refused to evacuate out of fear they won’t have anything to return to
Mother-of-five Faigan Parker, 47, has been living in Sweeneys Reserve in Petrie for four years after being made homeless when she couldn’t afford her rent during the pandemic.
The Moreton Bay LGA has Queensland’s longest social housing wait list of 4,421, where homelessness has risen by 90 per cent in the past decade.
Last week, the council voted to make it illegal for people to camp on public land and have since been hand delivering letters to those living in ‘tent cities,’ threatening fines of up to $8000.
With the threat of ‘move on orders,’ looming over their future, many of those living rough have refused to evacuate and take shelter out of fear they won’t have anything to return to.
Mother-of-five Faigan Parker, 47, has been living at Sweeneys Reserve in Petrie for four years.
She became made homeless after she couldn’t afford her rent during the Covid pandemic.
‘We really don’t have anywhere else to go,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I’m going to bunker down and then if it gets bad, I will go to the toilet blocks.’
In a desperate attempt to the protect the few possessions they do have, Ms Parker and her neighbours have erected their tents and belongings on milk crates in the hope they will stay dry.
‘It’s really frightening to think about and I don’t feel like I’m going to be safe,’ she said.
Monique Nowlan, 28, who has been on the waitlist for public housing for six years was ordered by police to evacuate from her tent on Thursday.
But like many others, she has vowed to stay put.
Monique Nowlan, 28, who has been on the waitlist for public housing for six years
Many in Brisbane’s ‘tent cities’ have erected their tent on pallets in the hope they’re not flooded
Many of Brisbane’s homeless community don’t want to leave their possessions behind and have no way of moving them
‘My support worker has offered me three days in a motel but I can’t take my dog Sage. She is scared of storms and I’m not leaving her here,’ Ms Nowlan explained.
‘I have lost so much in my life and I just can’t lose more. If I leave, I may come back to nothing because if its not destroyed by the cyclone, it will be stolen or removed by council and then what?’
Ms Nowlan moved in with a friend after her mum died of cancer and her siblings were placed into foster care.
But when their rented home was sold to new owners, she struggled to find anywhere else to live and has been homeless for the past four years.
‘This is all I have got and I don’t have a car or anyone to come and help me move. I have put my tent on pallets to try to stop the water reaching it, but I’m on the creek line so I don’t think it’s going to help,’ Ms Nowlan said.
Her sentiment is one that Mr Haywood has heard at every camp he’s delivered meals to this week.
A resounding concern that if what little they have miraculously survives the ferocious cyclone, they don’t believe it’s safe from the authorities tasked with clearing the ‘unsightly rows of tents’ they call home.
Beau Haywood delivers hot means five nights a week in Brisbane’s north
‘I haven’t even got words,’ Mr Haywood.
‘This is just so awful. Housing at capacity but there is nowhere these people can go. The evacuation centres are not open yet, so what? Do they have to wait until is pissing down with rain and then let them in?
‘It’s been so frustrating dealing with this incompetent council. People are telling me they will stay with their bikes or generators because that’s all they have.’
Handing out food until 10pm most evenings Haywood was shocked to learn this week that some residents were still oblivious to the imminent danger.
Tom Weir, 76, a Vietnam war veteran who fought for his country and paid taxes his whole life now lives out of his car in Redcliffe.
The former university lecturer fell on hard times after a bitter divorce from a short-lived second marriage.
With $129,000 to his name, he bought a car and caravan to tour Australia but without cashflow, Mr Weir has spent the last two years living in council-run carparks.
‘Now here I am sitting in the path of cyclone and waiting to get swept away,’ he said.
‘No one wants to be homeless and I have never asked for anything until now. I called 173 different organisations offering support off a list the Salvation Army gave me and only one has been helpful.
‘This bloody lord mayor thinks he can make being homeless illegal and you can’t sleep in carparks.’
Tom Weir, 76, a Vietnam war veteran who fought for his country and paid taxes his whole life now lives out of his car in Redcliffe
The housing crisis forced boilermaker David Grant, 34, onto the streets
Angela Bobeldyk, 40, lost her home in the 2024 floods in Caboolture on the Sunshine Coast. She’s been homeless ever since
Taner Campbell (pictured) has lived on the streets for a year
Boilermaker David Grant, 34, has been lived in tent for two years.
He has also decided to stay put.
‘I find it hard to trust people and feel I am not worth much attention, so I’m just going to bunker down on higher ground,’ he said.
‘I’m trying my best to just work hard and now it’s illegal to be homeless with fines if we stay so I’m just going to hope I find somewhere in the future.’
Angela Bobeldyk, 40, lost her home in the 2024 floods in Caboolture on the Sunshone Coast and has been homeless ever since.
While she is reluctant to leave her camp, she’s also frightened of how bad things could get.
‘I’m waiting for the evacuation centres to be open so I can go there,’ she said.
‘And just hope there is something left when I come back.’
Also awaiting news of evacuation centres is asbestos remover, Taner Campbell, who has been living on the streets for a year.
‘I really don’t know what the options are because we haven’t been told much but if they open the library I will go there.’
