A program that pollinates communities in some of Canberra's most unloved places has seen demand for its services grow by one quarter in just a year, as the ACT government empties and sells off its public housing flats.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Journos, pollies and musos pulled on the boots for the second annual Reclink Community Cup on Sunday at Jamison Oval in Macquarie.
Through Reclink's High Density Housing Safety and Security Project - which is funded by the ACT's Justice and Community Safety Directorate - Mark Ransome has built community gardens, helped people give up the booze and lose weight, and clothed well over 50 people this past winter.
He asks the people who live in public housing something many of them have never been asked in their life: "What does a better life look like for you?"
The program has cut violent crime by 50 per cent, property crime by 60 per cent and police attendance for disturbances by 49 per cent.
However as Canberra's public housing flats are shut down and sold off, more people need Mr Ransome's help.
In 2016-17, recorded around 3200 "interactions" - which could be a meal served up or a session attended - and another 1600 informal sessions.
This past financial year, that rose to more than 4000 interactions and over 2000 information sessions.
Reclink provides food at Kanangra Court on Mondays and Tuesdays, and the number of people turning up has doubled.
Part of the problem is a lot of people have been left without a roof over their head as the flats close.
While all the people who hold ACT Housing tenancies are being relocated to new places as part of the public housing renewal program, Mr Ransome said some had another six or seven people living with them who weren't entitled to a residency.
"A lot of those people didn't get the opportunity to move because they're not residents. A lot of them are on the streets. Lots of them moved to other housing tenancies," Mr Ransome said.
However just because people are moving on doesn't mean the sense of community is eroding.
"My tough boys from Kanangra Court go to community rooms in the other courts to sit down and have lunch with the oldies in their 70s and 80s, and it builds social cohesion across the sites," Mr Ransome said.
"If my hard boys see oldies in trouble, they'll help them - it could be as simple as pushing a heavy trolley for them."
Even before kick-off on Sunday, the community cup had raised several thousands of dollars for Reclink, and Mr Ransome hopes it kicks on for another year.
"There's a misconception everyone that lives in public housing is a criminal but there's rubbish. There's a bad element but mostly people we deal with are wonderful people who've fallen on hard times," Mr Ransome said.
