Arabic version: إلزام سكان مخيم روكينغهام بالمغادرة بحلول 22 سبتمبر

According to ABC News, people sleeping rough at a makeshift camp along Memorial Drive in Safety Bay have been told to leave by September 22. Around 50 people have been living in tents or cars at the site, about 50 kilometres south of the Perth CBD, with some staying there for months. The Department of Biodiversity and Conservation issued Notice of Intention letters to what it described as “unauthorised campers”.

A woman who had lived at the site for a month, speaking anonymously, said she did not know where she would be the following week. She said she lost her job six months earlier while her husband was dealing with a back injury, leaving them unable to afford rent of $700 a week. She said people at Memorial Drive were vulnerable and that a lack of security affected mental health.

Gemma Jones, who has lived in her van at Memorial Drive since the start of the year, said residents were scared and had few alternatives. She said a caravan park could cost nearly $800 a fortnight and a house $900 a week. Ms Jones said many people at the camp faced mental health challenges, and some had left before being formally moved on because they feared the order.

WA Minister for Homelessness Matthew Swinbourn said people had been given seven days to leave and that the government wanted to connect them with crisis, transitional or permanent accommodation. He said the government had made more than 1,000 points of contact with people at Memorial Drive, while raising safety concerns and an increase in anti-social behaviour. Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said an eviction notice needed to come with somewhere for people to take shelter. He welcomed a night-space facility opened in Rockingham this week but said drop-in spaces were not a permanent solution.