Glib words:
Speaking to Morning Report today, Prime Minister John Key said it was not acceptable that people were living in cars or under bridges. Mr Key said people in those circumstances should seek help from Work and Income.
Emergency housing beds gave ‘false hope’
Confirmation that 3000 emergency housing places to be funded by the Government are mostly already provided shows New Zealanders have been misled, the Green Party says.
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Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said Ms Bennett’s comments about the new emergency housing funding had given “false hope” to desperate people.
Not cutting it:
Hundreds tell WINZ they’re homeless
But Labour finance spokesperson Grant Robertson said if Mr Key was spending any time on the ground he would know there was a long waiting list for social housing.
“There are huge problems with access to emergency housing and the reality of life for those people living in cars and garages is appaling, and the prime minister should be more in touch and know what’s going on.”
Not cutting it:
Latest figures from WINZ show 428 people across the country were recorded as saying they were homeless in the month of March.
However that figure is far too conservative, according to chief executive of advocacy group Lifewise, Moira Lawler. She said there was a tidal wave of homelessness in Auckland that was too big for Work and Income, which was desperately under-resourced.
The reality was there were not enough places to shelter people and many would give up after waiting months or years for housing or for benefits to be approved. “What is the point of putting yourself through that bureaucracy, the constant reporting, the constant turn-up, when if you’re in Auckland you know they have nowhere to put you anyway?”
Ms Lawler said Work and Income staff could only put vulnerable people on lists and did not have the mandate to make sure they did not end up on the street.
Not cutting it:
Laughter at PM’s suggestion Auckland homeless should try Work and Income
Married Auckland couple ‘Chris’ and ‘Dee’ aren’t celebrating their latest anniversary. The couple are going on one year homeless and laugh bitterly when asked about seeking help from Work and Income New Zealand – as Prime Minister John Key suggested to homeless people.
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For nearly a year Chris and Dee have made a late model Nissan people mover van their home because they say they cannot afford a place to live. In their fifties, the couple, who don’t want to use their real names, said they had given up on trying to deal with welfare agencies.
Not cutting it:
Homeless mum: ‘It’s pretty scary at night’
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Julie, a homeless woman in Christchurch who has five children aged between 3 and 16, moved out of her ex-partner’s home six weeks ago because of domestic violence and says she has been forced to spend many nights sleeping alone in her car.“It’s pretty scary at night, down dark roads, hoping that nobody is going to come in the car. I’m a bit of a scaredy-cat so any little bit of noise is quite frightening. A lot of thoughts go through your head, like ‘what if?’, and ‘why am I even in this position?’. It’s not nice.”
With no family to help out, Julie has approached government agencies for assistance. She said she had been on the Housing New Zealand waiting list for five months, but was kicked off when she refused a house around the corner from her ex-partner’s mother’s home.
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An Auckland advocate for the homeless said Work and Income was overwhelmed by the problem, and unable to address a growing social disaster.Corie Haddock has worked with the homeless for nearly a decade, and said in that time the problem had grown to such a level that social agencies could not cope, despite their best intentions. He said it was now beyond the capability of government agencies to fix.
“The staff at WINZ are amazing, but they don’t have the systems and processes in place to address homelessness.
“They do what they can, but the reality is that the majority of people that would go to WINZ continue to be living on the street. And when you’re talking to Housing New Zealand, they’re telling people they have to wait for 18 months. Well, if you’re living on the street or in the car, you need support now.”
Not cutting it:
Homeless borrow thousands for motels
Earlier this week, when asked what people living in cars or garages should do, Prime Minister John Key had a simple reply.
“My really strong advice is to go and see Work and Income,” he said, “and we’ll see what we can do, because I think people very often don’t understand what’s available to them. “My experience with Work and Income is they do their very best to support people in those situations, especially when children are involved.”
He was talking to people like Nicole. Her stay cost $2200 – money loaned to her by Winz. But today, Nicole’s booking ran out. This afternoon she was at Winz, begging them to loan her more money, so the family could stay there. But she said Winz had no other options for her and so tonight, bed looked likely to be her car. “That makes me terrified for my kids especially, because the first time that this happened to me… They couldn’t sleep there.” She said she just wanted somewhere for her family to sleep.
And Nicole is not alone. …
This is a massive market and moral failure, and it’s obvious that the Nats haven’t a clue what to do. The problem isn’t going to go away, it’s going to get worse, and the media are going to stay on the case. Time for National to borrow some more Labour / Green policy thinking.
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