As we face increases in extreme weather and limited crisis accommodation, more people are being trapped on the streets rather than the comfort of a home. How does climate crisis impact the gentrification of cities like Melbourne? A changed, more extreme climate seems navigable only by the wealthy, but this session explores tactics citizens might use to counter their displacement from their own communities.

Featuring
Jason Russell, Peer Education and Support Program, Council to Homeless Persons
Alana Pedler, People at Risk Project Officer, Emergency Services Red Cross

Jason Russell is a proud Aboriginal man and father of three. He was a firefighter and valued member of a regional community when his misdiagnosed mental health issues and traumatic experience of the mental health system, led him to experience homelessness. It was 10 years before a Housing First program, Streets to Home would end his homelessness by providing him support and a permanent home. Now a committed volunteer, he works with St Marks to provide meals to people who are without a home and is a graduate of the Council to Homeless Persons’ Peer Education Support Program, furthering community understanding of what it’s like for someone to be without a home and advocating for an end to homelessness.

Alana Pedler is the People of Risk project officer for the Australian Red Cross – Emergency Services program. She manages a number of preparedness projects with a strong focus on collaboration and co-design. Supporting and building resilience to emergencies and natural disasters with members of the community at a higher risk, such as people experiencing homelessness and those from a culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Alana has extensive experience in Emergency Services response and recovery with numerous deployments within Australia supporting communities impacted by cyclone, severe flooding, bushfires and heatwaves and other community events.

Over our heads: Housing and homelessness is a session of the North Melbourne School of Displacement

Other sessions

Sat 31 Aug
1.30pm Lost for words: Displacement through enforced and prioritised language

Sun 1 Sep
10.30am In a strange land: How does culture survive when you can’t go home
1.30pm A billycan, a crowbar and an axe: Indigenous survival techniques for the apocalypse

Mon 2 Sep
6pm The future is Indigenous: Cultural change to survive a climate change world

Tue 3 Sep
6pm Not a drop to drink: Aqua nullius and global warming, securing First Nations water rights