ikram Lama had a morning ritual.
The rough sleepers of Hyde Park remember it well.
The young Nepali man would emerge from his sleeping bag, perched in the bushes near the bustling tunnel entrance to Sydney’s St James station………
…Asylum seekers are also restricted in their ability to access mainstream supports.
The Refugee Council of Australia estimates that about 5,000 people seeking asylum across Australia are living either in crisis or destitution, though exact figures on homelessness are not readily available.
The Centre for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees, a support service, says it is increasingly fielding requests for help from asylum seekers at risk of homelessness.
The centre’s chief executive, Suha Ali, says the situation is “hugely unjust”.
In Western Australia, the centre successfully lobbied the state government to let asylum seekers access hospital emergency departments without a Medicare card but that gap still exists in other states.