Catholic Social Services in Dunedin has been granted Ministry of Social Development funds to continue its support service for those sleeping rough in the city, following a seven-month pilot programme.
The advocacy work aims to place people in homes by working collaboratively with other agencies. So far, housing has been found for 17 of the 51 family units the agency has worked with.
At the same time, the Dunedin City Council is interviewing candidates for two homeless-outreach advisor roles, whose aim is to improve the chances of those needing housing and support actually getting it.
A society is only as good as the way it looks after its most vulnerable members, they say. We are failing on that score, a pretty upsetting reality to accept.
Our country changed forever in the 1990s, when radical welfare reforms by the then National government led to rising economic inequality and increasing poverty.
Attitudes towards homelessness and those sleeping rough have continued to harden during the term of this government, which appears aggrieved at supporting those who most need it.
While there is money and excited chatter for roads of national significance, those on the outer risk becoming people of national insignificance.
Three years ago, Statistics NZ estimated about 112,500 people nationally were severely housing deprived, living in either unhabitable or severely crowded dwellings, or in temporary accommodation, or sleeping rough. About 4900 were believed to be sleeping either on the streets or in cars or tents.
In Otago, Stats NZ calculated about 4100 people were experiencing severe housing deprivation, with about 270 sleeping rough, and things are getting worse.
A walk through central Dunedin at night or around The Oval gives some idea of the extent of the problem.
The disparities are alarming. A report by Community Housing Aoteaoroa in May said 28.8% of homeless people were Māori and 22.6% were Pasifika.
In Parliament this week, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon revealed he is out of touch, making the jaw-dropping statement there are no night shelters in New Zealand. That is wrong.
A spokesperson for Mr Luxon later explained that what he had meant was ministries had not been funding night shelters, but Labour housing spokesman Kieran McAnulty said it wasn’t just a slip of the tongue, but evidence Mr Luxon hadn’t ‘‘bothered to understand homelessness or the people living through it’’.
Another sign of this lack of understanding, in both cognitive and caring ways, is the government’s determination to push through its plan for police to issue move-on orders against those sleeping rough.
The legislation will allow police to order those as young as 14 to move elsewhere — wherever ‘‘elsewhere’’ might be — or face jail time if they are begging, acting disorderly or merely sleeping in a public place.
Mr Luxon justifies the proposed law on the basis that people don’t want to feel intimidated by those living on the streets. While there is an element of truth in that, very few rough sleepers are aggressive, even if their presence may be off-putting for shoppers and minutely disrupt retail activity.
If passed, this is yet another weight added to the shoulders of police patrols. The prime minister is quite happy to distance his government from its own law and hand that on saying he trusts police to handle it ‘‘sensitively and well’’.
As long as they are moved on somewhere else, the problem in his mind has gone.
Anything to declare?
Well, how about one very large El Nino only just starting to show its full potential?
Earth Sciences New Zealand has joined other meteorological agencies around the world in declaring an El Nino is officially under way.
For us in the South, the typical El Nino brings a mixed bag of weather.
Dryness and possible drought is a major concern in North Otago, but the further west and south you go in Otago and Southland it tends to get wetter and colder.
The next month or so should give us a good idea of what to expect.
