Dan Wichitakul and Adam Dyson* both called 'tent city' home for a large part of 2017.
The controversial homeless encampment occupied Sydney's Martin Place for much of the year, but 12 months after its residents were forced to leave, their stories couldn't be more different.
Dan, 46, was one of many homeless people from the settlement who was offered and accepted social housing. Speaking to SBS News at his apartment in Stanmore, in Sydney's Inner West, he spoke fondly of the nine months he spent there.
Dan Wichitakul spent nine months in Sydney's tent city. Source: Nick Baker, AAP
"Tent city was a community. There was laughter, joy, tears and talk. It was like a family," he said.
"Most of the public were very kind. They would stop by and talk. I'd say about 90 per cent of the public were very nice."
Dan, who worked as a cook in tent city's makeshift kitchen, now does casual chef work.
He said the camp made homelessness much more visible to the public and the state government was "snapped into doing something" about it.
A spokesperson for the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) told SBS News "everyone sleeping rough in Martin Place was offered temporary accommodation leading to permanent accommodation".
Tent city in August 2017. Source: AAP
The spokesperson said Dan was one of 157 individuals that lived in the encampment who has since been housed and "FACS continues to offer assistance to those who didn't take up the offer and continue to sleep rough".
'Roach infested' social housing
Adam tells a different story.
He remains homeless and spoke to SBS News in Martin Place this week, where he occasionally returns to.
"I lived in tent city for nine months … The community looked after each other, it was usually a pretty safe space," he said.
Adam said he, like others, was offered social housing, but his particular accommodation in Waterloo "was unsafe [and] the place was roach infested. It's actually cleaner here [in Martin Place] than there … so I'm back on the streets."
Adam, who became homeless after a string of "bad business events", said the most difficult part of sleeping rough was the risk of theft.
One of the residents of tent city hangs out his washing. Source: AAP
"I can stand the cold and the heat … but not [the theft], I've had my phone, blankets, bags, stolen."
'Gutless inaction'
Tents started to appear in Martin Place in December 2016. It soon grew into a functioning community of homeless and served as a very visible reminder of the country's growing homelessness crisis.
Despite consistent economic growth in Australia, census data showed homelessness increased nationally by 14 per cent and rough sleeping by 20 per cent between 2011 and 2016.
But tent city was not without controversy, with major concerns over public access around the thoroughfare. By August 2017, it had become a political flashpoint, with the NSW Government and City of Sydney council sparring about responsibility for the area.
A man walks through tent city in August 2017. Source: AAP
Sydney mayor Clover Moore accusing the state government of "decades of gutless inaction" on homelessness. Its residents ended up vacating voluntarily in mid-August 2017, being faced with a possible forced removal from the site.
Looking back
A spokesperson for St Vincent de Paul Society NSW told SBS News it is important tent city, and what it represented, is not forgotten.
He said tent city was a "protest against the housing affordability crisis that is a major contributor to homelessness in NSW".
"People on low incomes or government allowances simply cannot afford the cost of living in Sydney. Rents and energy prices especially are crippling, with many people barely keeping their head above water.
"All it takes is a health crisis or losing a job, and the situation quickly spirals to crisis."
A spokesperson for the City of Sydney reiterated the point that "without a supply of a diverse mix of affordable housing, people sleeping rough are at risk of becoming entrenched in homelessness".
While the office of Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward said the state government was "getting more proactive in the way we engage and build trust and relationships with people sleeping rough".
Healing through art
Dan said one of his biggest struggles with homelessness was public misconceptions.
"There is so much stigma. People think homeless people bring it on themselves. But you need to understand that no one chooses to become homeless," he said
"There are back stories … broken families, mental illness, health problems."
He summed up his own experience with homelessness as, "dangerous, lonely, depressed".
Dan Wichitakul and one of his artworks. Source: Nick Baker, AAP
On the walls of his Stanmore apartment are several artworks he has created, a cathartic process that helps him deal with his past.
"But now I'm thinking about the future," he said.
"I want to open my own restaurant and keep making art."
*Name has been changed
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