Redcliffe sleepbus ready for service

Moreton Bay’s first sleepbus rolled in to Redcliffe at the weekend after four days on the road from Melbourne.

Sleepbus founder Simon Rowe was thrilled by the welcome when he arrived at the City of Moreton Bay council carpark in Sutton St on Saturday morning.

“It was really positive to get a good crowd out and we had 20 additional people sign up to volunteer,” Simon says.

“It’s been so well supported from the beginning.”

Sleepbus provides free, safe temporary accommodation, offering an immediate first-stop cost-effective solution for society’s most vulnerable people in buses that have been custom renovated.

Community effort

The $100,000 bus’s move to the peninsula was made possible by the team from The Breakfast Club Redcliffe, who set a goal of raising the money and achieved that thanks to generous donations from the community including their own contribution as well funds from The Jelley Family Foundation, Commbank, Kedron Wavell and City of Moreton Bay.

The bus features 16 individual sleep pods and ensures people who are homeless or sleeping rough have access to a safe place to spend the night when it’s ready to welcome guests on October 4.

Each sleep pod has a bed with a memory foam mattress, clean bedding, ducted heating and cooling, its own toilet, iPad, and USB charging port.

How it works

“Everyone is looked after with overnight volunteer caretakers and CCTV surveillance, we also have under bus storage for belongings, and pets are welcome to stay,” Simon says.

“It's not a perfect solution, but we hope it's enough until you can get back on your feet.”

The bus will be parked at the Redcliffe Showgrounds during the day before moving to its service location at the corner of Creek St and Fisher Dve, Redcliffe on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

There’s no need to book - guests can board the bus at 8.30pm each night of service, with doors closing at 10pm and reopening at 7am the next day before the bus departs at 8am.

Simon says volunteers become part of the sleepbus family and are critical to its success.

How you can help

“Volunteers is the thing we always need,” he says.

“We have all sorts of roles – the housekeeping role is a good way to have a coffee and chat and clean the bus for the next night.

“We also need drivers’ drivers to come to the service and help get the bus driver back to their car.”

Simon says training is provided and sleepbus rosters are flexible - once volunteers have registered they’re able to visit the service’s website to see when shifts are available.

“You don’t have to do it all the time,” he explains.

“People say ‘I would love to do something about helping people who are on the streets’ and sleepbus means they can.

“Most of our caretakers are women and they often bring a pet, a partner or their kids.

“A couple came to our open day on Saturday and he’s a fly-in, fly-out worker and when he’s home he’ll be the bus driver and his wife will be the drivers’ driver.”

As well as volunteering, the community can donate to sponsor safe sleep nights here. 

Find out about Simon's new project, Homepody, in the video below.