Sleeping rough is rough in winter

One of the things that struck me most when I visited Montreal and Toronto in December 1999 was how many homeless people there were on the streets. It was the middle of winter and the temperature plummeted between -10C to -20C each night. I couldn’t conceive that there were people lying directly over the grates on the snow-covered pavement in the cities to keep warm from the rising steam. Chris, the friend I was staying with, said most nights at least one person would be found dead on the grates after they got damp and froze to death.

Whilst Melbourne doesn’t get as cold as Canada, we still have thousands sleeping rough on our icy cold winter nights. Last Thursday night a bunch of Melbourne CEOs joined them as part of Vinnie’s CEO Sleepout. I was supposed to be amongst them but pulled out at the last minute because I caught the cold that’s been doing the rounds of our office. After much deliberating I made the decision that it wasn’t worth getting pneumonia and potentially jeopardising STREAT’s own work trying to stop homelessness. As I climbed into bed on Thursday night I was acutely aware that thousands in Australia don’t have the luxury of this choice.