Shadi Al Mahamid, 39, is a former refugee from Syria who does not speak English, suffers cardiac issues and has mainly slept in his car for the past seven months on Dunedin’s St Clair Esplanade after separating from his wife.
As recently as Monday he visited the the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) office in Dunedin and said he was told there was no available transitional housing — the government-funded scheme that enables contracted charities to provide temporary accommodation and help finding a more permanent home.
His story was told in the Otago Daily Times on Wednesday and by Thursday afternoon Emerge Aotearoa — one of the charities funded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to provide transitional housing — had found him a small, temporary flat in a city suburb.
Mr Al Mahamid moved in immediately. The ODT visited him and found him cooking his first dinner at home.
With the help of translation, he said he was very pleased and relieved to be housed and hoped a more permanent home could be found soon, to enable his four children to visit.
Emerge director of national services Gemma Bateman said a ‘‘housing navigator’’ employed by the charity would continue to support Mr Al Mahamid ‘‘to move from this transitional housing location to a stable, long-term solution’’.
Ms Bateman said it had become possible to offer Mr Al Mahamid entry to the transitional housing scheme this week due to MSD providing a bond, of a size agreed with Emerge, for any damage to the property.
Prior to the flat being provided, Emerge had supported Mr Al Mahamid to attend multiple property viewings, but none had resulted in a tenancy.
‘‘Finding suitable housing has proven challenging for a number of reasons that are not uncommon for people in similar situations,’’ she said.
Reasons included affordability, size of properties available within financial means, a Dunedin rental market that was ‘‘under significant pressure’’ and the ‘‘reality that some private landlords are unwilling to offer tenancies to people with a challenging rental history.
‘‘These are barriers our navigators encounter regularly, and they reflect the broader challenges facing people experiencing homelessness, not a lack of effort on our part or Shadi’s’’.
MSD’s acting regional director, Teesh Payn, said her department had been ‘‘working with Emerge on an ongoing basis’’ to find a place for Mr Al Mahamid and confirmed an agreement had been reached over the bond required.
