Havelock Housing will hold Canberra’s first memorial vigil for people who have died while experiencing homelessness, marking the opening of Homelessness Week next Monday.

The Havelock Memorial Vigil to Canberra’s Homeless will begin at 6pm on August 3 at Havelock House in Turner. The event will include a candle-lighting ceremony, speeches from homelessness advocates and people with lived experience, followed by a minute’s silence.

Havelock Housing says the vigil aims to recognise people whose deaths often go unmarked while also highlighting the continuing impact of homelessness across the ACT.

According to the 2021 Census, 882 Canberrans were living in improvised dwellings, tents or sleeping rough on Census night, while another 447 people were living in severely overcrowded housing.

Homelessness Australia will mark Homelessness Week from August 3 to 9 under the theme Homelessness Action Now.

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