Homeless in Australia: ‘You have to be on your guard constantly’

Soon after he left foster care, Phil found himself living on the streets of Melbourne, where he says he would sleep on traffic islands as they were brightly lit and felt safer.

More than 116,000 people are homeless on any given night in Australia and that number is rising all the time. As the country marks Homelessness Week, we tell some of their stories. Melbourne, Australia – Few people would consider sleeping in a public toilet, on a park bench or on a traffic island “lucky”. But that is how 50-year-old Phil, who asked that we only use his first name, considers the decade he spent living homeless on the streets of Melbourne.