00:01A community in mourning, following the death of a newborn at a homeless camp on the banks of the Murrumbidgee
00:08River.
00:08It's quite a tragedy and it's impacted the community greatly.
00:12The mother and the baby's twin are being treated at hospital in Wagga Wagga.
00:16Advocates say the number of people sleeping rough is reaching crisis point.
00:20There are not enough temporary housing, there's not enough emergency housing.
00:25For the most urgent in our community there's a four year wait.
00:28There's real pressure at the moment in New South Wales.
00:31Last year 68,000 people sought help from homelessness services.
00:36Rough sleeping has increased over the last two years by 32%.
00:40The local council is calling on the state government to step up and take control.
00:45We need to get everyone in the same room and stop shoving it around
00:48and actually take responsibility for a whole of government response.
00:54We welcome the opportunity to partner with them in proposing what we think are the kind of sensible solutions
01:00that we've been trying to get off the ground in that community.
01:05Some of the people who live at the camp have told me that official offers of temporary shelter come with
01:09conditions they struggle to meet.
01:11They say they're forced to find accommodation they can't afford.
01:14It's a completely tragic set of circumstances.
01:19Whilst this woman was known to us and had been provided accommodation in the past,
01:24she had disengaged from that.
01:27But, as I said, we're 24 hours into a review.
01:30We're really looking at this from top to bottom.
01:32A report on the newborn's death is being prepared for the coroner.
01:37A report on the foot is being prepared for the
Comments