Zipping through famous landmarks on electric scooters, riders on a tour of Melbourne will be taken to the rough side of the city and exposed to the realities of homelessness.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The Eyes Open Ride is part of the annual Open House Melbourne event, where buildings and spaces in Melbourne that are normally shut off to the public open their doors for keen explorers.
For The Big Issue vendor Phil, who tourists will visit on their ride, it's personal.
He's experienced the hardship of being homeless and sleeping on the streets for more than two decades and will share his story with those who ride by.
Phil briefly began selling the Australian version of the street newspaper from the UK in 1996 before it became part of his lifestyle in 2010.
"I love doing it because I love mixing with different people who come up and have a chat with me," he told AAP.
But life wasn't always enjoyable for the 53-year-old, who spent 21 years jumping from home to home and a handful of times sleeping on the streets.
He had a stable home four years in between but after a car accident knocked him off his bike, leaving him with metal rods in his legs, went back into temporary housing and bouts of rough sleeping.
"I had to be careful sleeping on the streets because you could get attacked," he said.
"You step the wrong way and you will get accused of something you've never done."
Living in temporary shared housing also brought its challenges.
"You can't spread yourself out (and you've) only got one room and can't put much in the rest of the house," he said.
"You can have fights and arguments and drugs all over the place."
The tour is a chance for people to learn from those working to end homelessness and rough sleeping so they can consider it through new eyes, having not experienced it personally.
Launch Housing is a Melbourne-based community organisation offering support for people at risk of homelessness.
Its chief partnerships and engagement officer Howard Ralley said homelessness was a defining issue for the city.
"It's something everyone sees on a daily basis," Mr Ralley said.
"They come into work and see someone sleeping rough and a lot of people don't know what to do about that."
Mr Ralley, who is leading the tour, said an increasing number of employed people were asking his organisation for help.
Measuring homelessness is difficult as data is captured infrequently, but a push for local governments to learn the names and needs of those sleeping rough in their community is resulting in better outcomes.
In June 2022, there were 307 homeless people and 122 rough sleepers in the CBD, according to Launch Housing.
The latest data shows there are 143 homeless people, including 76 people sleeping rough.
"Although it's a frightening issue, and rough sleeping is one of the most violent, frightening things to experience, the reality is there are so many solutions to this problem," Mr Ralley said.
Mr Ralley hopes tour riders will gain a deeper knowledge of the solutions and that Melbourne can end rough sleeping with the help of supporters.
"There's a growing sense that as the cost-of-living crisis takes hold, people are fragile - worried with just one or two big events in their life, they could be in a vulnerable situation," he said.
While there is political will to tackle the housing crisis, he said homelessness was the result of a failure in a system to help vulnerable people and more houses without support attached wouldn't end homelessness.
Melbourne City Council has committed to 230 affordable homes on council-owned sites and has invested $1.5 million for frontline services supporting homeless people.
Lord Mayor Nick Reece conceded Melbourne, like many other world cities, is in the midst of a housing and homelessness crisis.
"We all need to play our part in creating and finding a solution," Mr Reece said.
"Events such as The Eyes Open Ride are an important contribution to our shared efforts to foster empathy and understanding for people experiencing homelessness, providing an engaging and creative opportunity for our community to learn about the underlying causes of homelessness."
Phil, who is now living in his own place and working to make that a reality for others, remains optimistic about the future.
"We've only got one planet. We need to help each other and that's what I believe in - respect," Phil said.
The event runs on July 27 and 28 and is supported by Melbourne Zero, a group of businesses and community organisations working to end rough sleeping by 2030.
Australian Associated Press
