Mr Fish said he would never have imagined he would have to face his current situation. 

“It’s not a choice, you just find yourself there at a great rate of knots,” Mr Fish said. 

Mr Fish traces his path to homelessness back to 1996, following the sudden death of his partner. 

 After which he “crashed and burned”, and also attempted to take his own life. 

According to Mr Fish, his partner, Julie, was killed in a car crash after being hit by a drunk driver. 

“I blamed myself,” he said. “I was at a barbecue and I was supposed to go and pick the kids up from the beach,” he said. 

“Because I had had a couple of drinks, she went.” 

Mr Fish met his partner in kindergarten at just five years old. They married and had two children. Both children now live overseas. 

Prior to her death, Mr Fish had run a business.

“I lost everything," Mr Fish said.

In the years since, he has drifted in and out of homelessness. 

For the past few nights, Mr Fish has been staying at Our Backyard, a Lake Macquarie facility which gives people who are living in their cars a safe place to pull up and spend the night. 

It is Mr Fish’s second time around at the service which provides showers, food, and other essentials to people with no-where else to go. 

The Macquarie Care operated program is the only homeless service in Australia which allows pets to stay with their owners. 

Community program manager Peter Di Girolamo said 120 people used the service during 2017. About 70 per cent were men, with an average stay of about 10 days. 

“It’s a crisis service for those who fall through the gaps, those who have pets,” he said. 

Mr Di Girolamo said owning a pet made it very difficult for homeless people to access services. 

The service is funded by Macquarie Care and is well supported by the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie community, through donations of everything from blankets to toilet paper. 

For more information visit: ourbackyard.info