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Thursday, 22 June, 2023
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SPORT
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Kicking up a stink
Safe haven found By Emily Chapman Laing Homeless duo 34-year-old Scott and threeyear-old Razor were showered with generosity over the King’s Birthday long weekend. “There’s hope for the homeless,“ Scott said. Scott and Razor began the weekend on Saturday 10 June sleeping on the street outside Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre, where Scott said the security team had gifted Razor with a bed and his very own security vest. The weekend ended with Scott and Razor having half a house to themselves after the community rallied to find them a safe haven from the cold. “It doesn’t actually happen like that really,“ Scott said. “A lot of people are homeless for different reasons and sometimes you just have to make things visual for other people to see that not everybody out there is looking for drugs. “They’re actually trying to change, to do the right thing.“ Nicole’s mum noticed Scott when she was working in Cranbourne, prompting Nicole to set up a Facebook post looking for a safe place for him to stay. “We came back down an hour later, took him soup and a hot chocolate and went through the offers,“ Nicole said. While Nicole, her mum and Scott’s future housemate Hayley were cautious at first, Nicole said they found Scott to be genuine, kind and not at all predatory. “I just asked him questions whether he liked it or not,“ Nicole said. “If he was going to come here to Hayley, I wanted to make sure she was going to be safe and that I wasn’t letting just anyone into her house. “But he answered everything truthfully and he was fine.“ On Sunday 11 June, local Hampton Park man Robert picked Scott and Razor up and offered them his couch for the night.
Scott, Razor and Nicole at Scott’s new home.
Picture: EMILY CHAPMAN LAING
“He’s got two kids himself and I felt like it was a test to see exactly what the puppy was like with kids and that sort of stuff,“ Scott said. By Monday, he was gifted half of a house, which he now shares with Cranbourne single mum Hayley and her daughter. Over the days since then, donations have been pouring in to get Scott and Razor the household furnishings they need, from couches, to a bed, to TVs, clothes and more.
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Nicole said she was surprised when most of the people reaching out to offer Scott a place to stay were single mums. Scott and Nicole chocked it up to maternal instinct and the fact many of those offering had survived their own traumatic pasts. Once he found himself on the street, Scott said he was left without options. “Having a dog it’s hard enough as it is to get a place,“ he said.
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“But when your ID is taken from you, you can’t get a house. “I can’t just go into a real estate and be like ’Hey, give me a house, I have no ID though’.“ Scott said this left him on the street “being watched by everyone and used by everyone“, especially those who “aren’t really homeless“. “People need to understand not all of them are actually homeless. Continued page 8
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