00:04364 nights of the year, these two vans are loaded up with the essentials – hot drinks,
00:10warm clothes, fresh food and toiletries – to help those doing it tough get through the
00:16night.
00:16Then the volunteers hit the road.
00:19This is our stop just up here.
00:21Night patrol has been running since 2001.
00:25How's it going?
00:25But lately the service is seeing more demand than ever.
00:29Have you got anywhere to stay at the moment?
00:32The team's busiest stop is in Civic.
00:35This is pretty tame night.
00:36It can get up to maybe 50 or 60 people here and we just end up giving out black coffee
00:41because we run out of milk.
00:42Some are experiencing mental health and substance issues.
00:46Others have a home but are struggling to afford the essentials.
00:50I come out to get some food which supplements my diet.
00:56I do come here two or three times a week.
00:58Over the last financial year, night patrol has provided more than 19,000 instances of
01:04support here in Canberra and Queanbeyan.
01:07It's a 38% jump on the previous year.
01:10Struggling for socks, sorry man.
01:12People say that I'm only two paychecks removed from coming out here, you know what I mean?
01:18I think everyone's feeling that lately.
01:19Data doesn't show a surge in the overall homeless population in the ACT.
01:25There's your Milo.
01:26But local services are experiencing major strain.
01:30We've seen a significant increase in the number of older people, particularly older women.
01:35We do see around 38% of people who are seeking supported children and young people.
01:43There are currently more than 3,600 approved applicants on the ACT's public housing waiting
01:49list.
01:50Would you like anything to eat?
01:51The average wait time for priority housing is more than five months.
01:56For standard public housing, it's five years.
01:59You need to have a house to address homelessness.
02:02The Territory Government has promised to build 1,000 new public housing properties by 2030.
02:09If the Government were to meet their current commitments to public housing, we would still
02:13see public housing continue to decline as a share of all housing and relative to population
02:20growth.
02:20Leaving many out in the cold.
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