14 November, 2012 9:29AM ACDT

Adelaide Parklands homeless to be given one week to move

The Adelaide City Council has adopted a 'zero tolerance' response to illegal campers in the city's parklands, and is expected to begin serving notices to move at the end of the month.

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Adelaide City Council Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood told ABC News last night that long term camping in the parklands was no longer acceptable.

"Council also has a responsibility to ensure that city streets, squares and parklands are welcoming and safe places for all to enjoy."

Mr Yarwood said the council understood that the problem was a very sensitive issue and would not be adopting a 'big stick' approach when they began giving move on notices from the end of this month.

Gwen Moore, general manager of Uniting Communities and chairwoman for the Eastern and Statewide Housing and Homelessness Roundtable, told 891 Breakfast the result was 'an ill-informed decision', and one the board would not accept.

"The people who are in the parklands at this point in time are either Aboriginal people, travelling through from the [APY] lands, who will only be there for a short period of time anyway, or people who have multiple issues that prevent them from being housed or sustaining housing," Ms Moore said.

Ms Moore said that those who were unable to be housed had generally been through a number of attempts to find accommodation, but had been unsuccessful due to serious underlying issues such as mental health problems and drug and alcohol addictions.

"We can't place people into supported accommodation if their drug and alcohol issues are so great that [it] would prevent them from making even that successful."

Ms Moore said that due to these problems, in the current situation, she could see no other place where these people could be housed.

"We'd rather be able to know where they are and be able to keep contact with them than to lose them."

Ms Moore believed the move on orders would only relocate the problem.

"They'll end up finding another place, either in the parklands or another area, where they will sleep rough again."

The Adelaide City Council is expected to begin issuing parkland illegal campers with notices to move within seven days from 1 December 2012.