00:00Where's a good spot for this bin?
00:03Well, we'll put it up, look, nice open spot here.
00:06This place of worship will soon be turned into a place of refuge for those in need.
00:11We thought, can we do something, at least at the pointy end of homelessness, and we
00:15thought, well, we've got buildings, let's use them.
00:20But we found out there were challenges with legislation, so that's been taking a while
00:23to work through.
00:25It's a legal barrier that's led a group of church leaders in the northern suburbs to
00:29initiate a change to state planning guidelines, which will allow churches across South Australia
00:35that comply with building standards to be used as temporary crisis accommodation.
00:40What this winter program will provide is other options for people who are finding themselves
00:45in often quite terrible weather during the winter, a place to seek shelter, warmth, comfort,
00:52a hot meal, a hot shower.
00:55Geoff Kneebling spends his days looking after people in crisis.
00:59It's just so rewarding to see people come that far with their lives, after they've been
01:05sort of in the slumps, they're up now feeling like they're worth something in society.
01:11It's a big difference.
01:12He's one of 45 volunteers who have so far signed up to help run the trial.
01:18There's a need for it.
01:19The amount of people that I started with and what I've got now has tripled in the 12 months
01:25that I've been doing it.
01:26The number of people without a secure home in South Australia is estimated to be in the
01:31thousands.
01:32That's a lot more than the total number of crisis accommodation beds.
01:37Even though there are hundreds of beds available, they're full.
01:41All of our accommodation operates on a 100% capacity rate.
01:46This is one of 10 beds that will be set up for the pilot program.
01:50The program will run on just Monday and Tuesday nights initially for three weeks.
01:55It's hoped that what they learn from this trial will help set them up for a continuous
01:59service throughout next winter.
02:00We want to show care and compassion and love to people in that situation.
02:05Strong community spirit in the face of a relentless cost of living crisis.
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