Homelessness Awareness Week: Mark McNeill tells his story

"It was daunting, shocking - I didn't know where I was going to go," he said.

"I had just lost my son so I wasn't in a good state of mind - I just wanted to be with him.

"I was crying, I was emotional, and I was homeless battling these emotions at the same time - it was just terrible."

Now, 18 months since he first stepped into Vinnies Albury, he is an official volunteer, offering help to people who, like him, are striving to reclaim their life.

Vinnies tailored support coordinator, Shantelle Lidden, remembers the first day she saw Mr McNeill.

"He was very withdrawn, very shy and clearly he had had significant trauma in his life," she said.

"But I've seen him improve in leaps and bounds since then; he is more outgoing, he loves helping other people and he is now engaging with mental health services to address that trauma, which is amazing."

Mr McNeill said what helped him recover wasn't just having access to food and shelter, but finding a purpose, which turned out to be helping others.

"I just get a special satisfaction in helping other people," he said.

"I can't explain it, I do it for no money and it doesn't matter, just seeing them improve is all the motivation I need.

"Here at Vinnies it's like a big family, probably the first stable family environment I've been in."

Informed by his own hesitance, Mr McNeill said to help a person, they must first want to be helped.

"Homelessness is like a dark forest, you walk in frightened wondering what to do," he said.

"You always need someone to guide you through the darkness and at the end you may just see a bright, beautiful clearing.

"But if the person doesn't want to change it's useless trying to help them, they have to have the desire to change and live a better life."

Currently, there are over 500 people registered for social housing in Albury.

"But that's just the numbers we know of," Ms Lidden said. "There are many people who are not registered for social housing assistance for a variety of reasons, maybe by choice, maybe because there's too many barriers preventing them from seeking that support."

Once you are registered for social housing, it can take years before you actually have a roof over your head.

"The current wait times, even for priority housing, is anywhere from two to five years," Ms Lidden said.

"Where do these people go in the meantime?

"We just don't have any short term temporary emergency accommodation options on the Border to house these people in a safe environment.

"So we need a sustained and significant investment from all levels of government, because in this day and age in this country, to think that we have so many people waiting for social housing doesn't make sense."

Mr McNeill is urging anyone who may be homeless or is struggling to "hold on", seek help and don't give up.

"This can happen to anybody at a click of a finger," he said. "Nobody is ready for it and when it happens it hits you like a tonne of bricks.

"So if a homeless person is reading this, found out where you can get help, trust the people who are helping you and your life will get better, trust me."

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