Homeless children

Written By: - Date published: 12:55 pm, November 18th, 2015 - 75 comments
Categories: housing, human rights, national - Tags: , , , ,

Right wing lines on poverty: The poor should try harder. They need to get off their arses and get a job. They should just give up drinking and smoking. Everyone has the same opportunities. They have chosen poverty as a lifestyle. And so on.

Sick as those lines are, they become even sicker with the realisation that those most affected by poverty are children.

In the news today:

Calls for increase in social housing as nearly half of the homeless are children

Startling new information has come to light on the homeless in Auckland revealing nearly half of those seeking assistance are children, according to a new survey.

Of the 1202 who sought help from the charity group from November 2014 through to May 2015, 47 per cent (568) of them were children.

The organisation said most were found living in cars, garages, camping grounds and emergency housing.
However, the Sallies says the study is limited to only those who had already sought help.

They’re calling on the government to increase the supply of social housing by 1000 houses a year in Auckland over the next 10 years, or at least until the waiting list is less than a hundred.

And:

Salvation Army calls for law to ensure housing for children

Children have been sleeping in cars, garages and outside, the Salvation Army has found – and the charity is demanding a new law to ensure all children have adequate housing.

Its second of three reports into homelessness, published today, said a survey of shelters in Auckland during three months found 1202 people needed help, with 47 percent of them under 18.

New Zealand is falling short of providing one of the most basic necessities for children, it said.

The Salvation Army’s latest report, Invisible in the SuperCity, was triggered by staff seeing many working families left homeless because their wages couldn’t pay for a home.

The Nats’ plans to sell off state house will not increase the stock of “social housing” by a single bedroom. We need to be building more state houses, not rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. These figures are a national disgrace.

75 comments on “Homeless children ”

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  1. Rosemary McDonald 1
    18 November 2015 at 1:22 pm

    Suggestion.

    Find a flat acre or so of Auckland green zone. Cornwall Park comes to mind, or maybe a patch of green in Epsom, Remuera or Paratai Drive.

    Erect tents, shelters. A toilet and shower area. A kitchen area. Declare it a Freedom Camping zone…as according to the Freedom Camping Act…councils cannot have blanket bans on freedom camping unless there is obvious environmental impact.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camping_in_New_Zealand

    “Guidance to Local Authorities[7] concerning the Freedom Camping Bill was issued. The Update clearly stating “freedom camping is permitted everywhere in a local authority area unless it is prohibited or restricted in accordance with a by-law”.

    The surrounding residents not ‘wanting those kind around here’ is not sufficient reason to ban freedom camping.

    Welcome all the homeless in Auckland to this safe, secure and nurturing environment. Feed and clothe the people, and most importantly insist the area is kept environmentally pristine. (The FA Act, remember..NO environmental damage to give them an excuse to move the people on.

    Be nice to the neighbours…but see how quickly the Powers That Be sort this shit out.

    Just a suggestion.

    • DoublePlusGood 1.1
      18 November 2015 at 2:53 pm

      I recommend Glover Park and Churchill Park in Kohimarama

    • savenz 1.2
      18 November 2015 at 3:20 pm

      How about camping outside John Key’s Parnell pad?

    • Sabine 1.3
      18 November 2015 at 5:14 pm

      I have been saying on occasion that the homeless and homeless association should simply declare a part of the Domain in Auckland a “KeyVille” named after the infamous “Hoovervilles” Shack Cities during the great Depression, so that the homeless families can come and pitch a tent, or put up some sort of shack. IF we can’t be bothered housing our people that we need to accept that they will eventually start building Shanty Towns.

      • Tracey 1.3.1
        18 November 2015 at 6:05 pm

        Yes. The disruption the cricket matches will be enough to get the attention of the middle a d uppers

  2. adam 2
    18 November 2015 at 1:39 pm

    Two points to add to this.

    This report is incomplete. It is based on figures of people who will talk to salvation army. So a large group of people are missing from this. They are aware of this. So it is worse than this. It is much, much worse than this.

    This weekend in the Hiokoi for Homes. It is in the three main centers. I know the Auckland start time etc.

    Glen Innes (GI) Train station starting at 12.pm

    Here the link

    http://www.cpag.org.nz/the-latest/hikoi-for-homes-everyone-deserves-a-home/

    and a piece from Sue Bradford in the Herald as well

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11546712

    OK that not opening now – mmmmmmm

  3. McFlock 3
    18 November 2015 at 1:45 pm

    Well, that all sucks.

  4. heather 4
    18 November 2015 at 1:48 pm

    Dear Sir,
    wth reference your article in this mornings Herald on Families living in cars.
    What an indictment on this National Government this is, they collectively should hang their heads in shame.
    To see empty state houses around the country which could have these families living in them is outrageous.
    These children will not be attending school, not being fed properly and having no life as a child. More than likely, their parents will not be able to access a benefit, you can’t get a benefit if you have not got an address.
    It is a national shame and I am really upset about it.

    Heather Tanguay
    Glen Eden

  5. infused 5
    18 November 2015 at 1:49 pm

    So, where are the parents? I’d be pretty surprised if kids were homeless by themselves.

    • weka 5.1
      18 November 2015 at 1:53 pm

      try following the links.

    • Whispering Kate 5.2
      18 November 2015 at 2:00 pm

      Infused – no other word for it you are a wanker.

    • Whispering Kate 5.3
      18 November 2015 at 2:03 pm

      Infused – I forgot to add, every time you come on this site you leave a bad smell.

    • Anno1701 5.4
      18 November 2015 at 2:07 pm

      where are the parents ?

      sitting in the front seat to afraid for the safety of their children to get any sleep

      I know thats where i would be anyway…..

    • korero pono 5.5
      18 November 2015 at 2:07 pm

      Parents are probably homeless too. People don’t choose to be homeless (and children certainly don’t, playing the blame game does not solve this issue). Government policy and societal attitudes contribute to and create this appalling situation.

      • infused 5.5.1
        18 November 2015 at 2:09 pm

        Who said I’m playing the blame game? I’m asking a simple question. Can’t read the article at the moment, but I see no mention of it anywhere.

        • Whispering Kate 5.5.1.1
          18 November 2015 at 2:17 pm

          Infused, going back to where are the parents – look on the Open Mike, I have told of a case there, where a family with a terminally ill child have been evicted from the garage of a state house, even the Salvation Army spokewoman said they could have been left there – now they are absolutely homeless. Of course there are parents in the picture, it was just the interview and following information was about children being left without a roof over their heads.

          Now how do you feel about kids being seriously ill with death pending being thrown out on to the street. Explain yourself please. Do you feel good about this you jerk.

          • infused 5.5.1.1.1
            18 November 2015 at 2:22 pm

            You haven’t linked to any detail at all, even in open mike.

            Try slowing down the insults and applying some IQ for a few seconds.

            • weka 5.5.1.1.1.1
              18 November 2015 at 2:31 pm

              you just said you can’t read the article so what’s the point of linking? Kate just gave you an example of where the parents are, did you miss that?

              And pull the other one about not blaming.

              One of the articles in the post is about families that are homeless. This is part of where the Sallies stats are coming from, children that are homeless with their family.

              “Try slowing down the insults and applying some IQ for a few seconds.”

              Lol @ the black pot.

            • McFlock 5.5.1.1.1.2
              18 November 2015 at 2:36 pm

              Why bother? You’ll still ask incredibly broad questions and then respond to answers with moans that there were no links to details.

              Because you’re a slippery little fuckwit who looks for any excuse for him to leave homeless kids on the streets without being called a sociopath.

              • weka …
                18 November 2015 at 2:40 pm

                spot on, not much more to say after that 🙂

              • infused …
                18 November 2015 at 2:42 pm

                Kids living on the street is pretty damm broad too. Hence the question.

                You guys are a joke. Only one moaning is you lot. I’m just asking a question, I still have no answer to.

                lprent always asks to cough up links to back up a claim. So cough up or shut it.

              • tracey …
                18 November 2015 at 3:31 pm

                And of course they are not genune questions they are rhetorical snipes.

            • tracey 5.5.1.1.1.3
              18 November 2015 at 2:51 pm

              Take your own advice over here infused where you have been found incredibly wanting

              http://thestandard.org.nz/something-smells-honest-john/#comment-1097392

            • Whispering Kate 5.5.1.1.1.4
              18 November 2015 at 5:18 pm

              Infused – I commented on Open Mike this morning no.7 – I did not link on to anything just trust me it was on the news (either RNZ or Channel 1) with a Salvation Army spokeswoman being interviewed about the garage eviction with the family with the terminally ill child – children have parents and where children are without a home its for many, many reasons – not all homeless are useless retards like you like to think they are.

        • Korero Pono 5.5.1.2
          18 November 2015 at 3:05 pm

          Regardless, your question “where are the parents” is pretty irrelevant in the context that there are homeless children.

          • tracey 5.5.1.2.1
            18 November 2015 at 3:12 pm

            especially if they are homeless children because their parents are homeless… this is what happens eventually when all someone does is repeat lines they heard from a Nat

        • Tracey 5.5.1.3
          18 November 2015 at 6:06 pm

          There is no link to John Key if that is what you are looing for

    • tracey 5.6
      18 November 2015 at 2:50 pm

      You need to do some reading infused in case you are heading down the wrong track in this thread too

      http://thestandard.org.nz/something-smells-honest-john/#comment-1097392

    • Sabine 5.7
      18 November 2015 at 5:16 pm

      To clear up your confusion, often homeless parents have homeless children.

      There, was that easy enough for you to understand?

  6. BM 6
    18 November 2015 at 2:36 pm

    There’s been street kids for as long as I can remember.

    • weka 6.1
      18 November 2015 at 2:39 pm

      how is that relevant to this post?

      • BM 6.1.1
        18 November 2015 at 2:41 pm

        It’s not a recent phenomenon.

        A lot of these kids like living on the street.

        • tracey 6.1.1.1
          18 November 2015 at 2:50 pm

          evidence?

        • weka 6.1.1.2
          18 November 2015 at 3:03 pm

          “It’s not a recent phenomenon.”

          How is that relevant?

        • Anno1701 6.1.1.3
          18 November 2015 at 5:00 pm

          “A lot of these kids like living on the street.”

          why ?

        • Korero Pono 6.1.1.4
          18 November 2015 at 5:20 pm

          At BM – Just because it is supposedly not a ‘recent phenomenon’ does not make it okay. Furthermore, I think you will find that the incidences of homelessness have increased over recent years (evidence is based on the unprecedented reports of such).

          You claim that ‘[a] lot of these kids like living on the street’, why do you think that is the case?

          I am yet to meet a homeless person who actually enjoys it. How many have you met that enjoy it?

      • tracey 6.1.2
        18 November 2015 at 3:13 pm

        Perhaps it’s relevant because BM is saying that he ignored them back then and now there are more of them? BUt the two are not connected in his mind?

    • McFlock 6.2
      18 November 2015 at 2:39 pm

      ah, well, that’s alright then. Carry on with your miserable little life.

    • savenz 6.3
      18 November 2015 at 3:22 pm

      @BM Does that make it better in your eyes to ignore the problem?

  7. Tanz 7
    18 November 2015 at 3:12 pm

    suggestion: stop mass immigration – competing for our houses and jobs. End of story.
    House Kiwi kids first. Common sense,.

    • tracey 7.1
      18 November 2015 at 3:15 pm

      When tertiary providers are in competition with each other for survival, they seek out overseas students cos they get more money for them… the legacy of the last decade is upon us… we are gearing our tertiary education to the needs of international students, who will then use their degrees and ocntacts to become NZers…

    • McFlock 7.2
      18 November 2015 at 3:18 pm

      Mass immigration?
      Net migration is roughly equivalent to our birth rate, and is barely 1% of our population.

      If we can’t handle that, we won’t house kids in a static population (because the will is evidently not there)

      • savenz 7.2.1
        18 November 2015 at 3:26 pm

        Hello over 59,000 migrants in this year alone!

        New Zealand’s Migration Gains (Losses) to July of each year

        Year: Effect of Migration on New Zealand’s Population
        2015 +59,600
        2014 +41,000
        2013 +10,600
        2012 -3,800
        2011 +2,900

        How many jobs created and how many wages dropped, how many Kiwis can’t afford to buy or rent a house now, how much extra money into the health system, social systems, schools, and so forth supplied by the government to cover the costs of increased immigration?

        Country Long Term Gain 2015
        India 12,600
        China 8,200
        Philippines 4,500
        United Kingdom 4,000
        Germany 2,800
        Country

        • McFlock 7.2.1.1
          18 November 2015 at 3:28 pm

          and we have 55-65k births a year, and our population is in excess of 4million.
          Bucket: drop within.

          • savenz 7.2.1.1.1
            18 November 2015 at 3:48 pm

            Tell that to the homeless kids McFlock and have a look at the long list of ‘long term skills’ shortage list, including Chef’s, electricians and ship’s officers, funny we have such high unemployment but can’t find any Kiwis to do these jobs.

            http://skillshortages.immigration.govt.nz/assets/uploads/long-term-skill-shortage-list-2015-03-30-.pdf

            • McFlock 7.2.1.1.1.1
              18 November 2015 at 4:14 pm

              Our, and the families’, problem is not a shortage of ability to house. We have all the resources and land we need to give dignified homes to everyone.

              We lack the will to house them We lack the will to provide them with jobs, and homes, and healthcare, and small class sizes, and food, and clothing. Fuck, the “shortage” of housing is apparently similar to the number of Auckland houses currently sitting vacant because they’re just investment properties, not even rentals.

              We have shortages for skilled workers in some disciplines because we have chosen to gut our education system and apprenticeships. So we don’t have enough kiwis to do these jobs competently and safely. You can’t go from being a checkout operator into navigating a ship. You need training and certification. NZ left that up to industry, and (surprise surprise) industry dropped the ball.

            • tracey 7.2.1.1.1.2
              18 November 2015 at 4:17 pm

              BUT the immigrants aren’t, from what I can tell, buying the lower end houses, they are buying in the closer to 1 million and over price bracket, so how is that taking housing away fromt he homeless? Surely the lack of social housing is impacting that?

              • Sabine …
                18 November 2015 at 5:20 pm

                We are not building lower end housing Tracey.
                A house that is lower end in Auckland is at a minimum 500.000$.

                A crap tiny little seventies build with no land what so ever sold at auction for 640.000. You will be able to watch that spectacle about the renovation on a TV screen near you sometime next year.

                That house, an upper doer, should have been a lower end house, but it was not. 4 people bidding and it went for 640.000.

        • tracey 7.2.1.2
          18 November 2015 at 3:34 pm

          But remember we also have people who say
          “how will we support an aging population with our low birth rate?”

  8. Lara 8
    18 November 2015 at 4:45 pm

    And the most common refrain heard in middle NZ?

    “If they can’t house them, why did those poor people have children?”

    Zero solutions.

    Zero understanding of the effect of macro economic cycles on populations.

    Zero acknowledgement of the effects of 31 years of Milton Friedman style economic policy and growing corporate power.

  9. The Other Mike 9
    18 November 2015 at 5:53 pm

    “Necessitous men are not free men.”

    FDR

  10. Freemark 10
    18 November 2015 at 7:11 pm

    4 State houses at my end of the street I live in. 4 months ago cops with guns investigating an apparent abduction & drug dealing at one of them. Two weeks ago the danger tape goes up around another one, it needs a total refurbish because I imagine meth contamination. All four of the houses had children generally playing only on the street, which is not in itself a bad thing, and I would have some nice interactions with them. Never were the parents out there either supervising, encouraging, or even just hanging out with them. John Key’s fault no doubt. Meanwhile another neighbor has worked not much more than minimum wage for his whole life, is about to retire and sell his house for $650k or so, head to the Hawkes Bay and retire happily close to his grandchildren and a good fishing spot. John Key’s fault no doubt. Some of you people really do need to pull your heads out of your arses – bitter, twisted & just plain wrong is a lifestyle choice without a future, worse is that it has a crippling effect on those you apparently care for.

    • Lloyd 10.1
      18 November 2015 at 9:11 pm

      Freemark, so your neighbour who is selling his house had a steady job and had the luck that neither he nor his wife was not laid off, didn’t get seriously ill and used contraceptives so they didn’t have to feed, clothe and educate 10 kids? If you are unlucky you get screwed by market forces. Once you start down that slide it is often easier to keep taking the piss and smoking the pot.
      Blaming John Key for everything is maybe a little unfair, but he is the cheer leader for the market. The market, if not very carefully regulated, will destroy lives and produce horrendous inequality.
      Getting rid of John Key as leader of our economy will provide an opportunity to replace him with someone who realises that people are more important than short-term profit,

    • millsy 10.2
      19 November 2015 at 7:13 am

      I hope I benefit from rising house values like that.

  11. NZJester 11
    18 November 2015 at 7:38 pm

    And why don’t the government research figures show to what extent there is homelessness in New Zealand and what percentage of those are children?
    Oh that right it is due to the governments 3 wise monKEYs approach to homelessness.
    See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak Lots of Evil!!
    They refuse to fund any research so there is nothing to see. They refuse to hear research information about it from non government sources. They also constantly demonize the poor by saying they can not feed their kids as they are smoking or drinking all their benefit money away and refuse to get a job.
    The reality is few of them actually do that and those that do are addicted to those things but get limited government help if any with their addictions. A lot of those unable to feed their kids are also the working poor who can not afford to pay for some of the necessities even though they have a job.

  12. Brian 12
    18 November 2015 at 8:37 pm

    There was an article on NZ City, this morning about this report, which, much like the damning report regarding education in the Herald, has now been replaced with a “gentler” piece about Bill English’s response. I copide the link to the original article and it now takes you to the second, Bill English, piece.

    More pressure?, else why not have both available?

    Blooody govt is a disgrace.

  13. millsy 13
    19 November 2015 at 7:11 am

    This problem is not confined to Auckland.

    Rents are skyrocketing like no tomorrow.

    • Lara 13.1
      19 November 2015 at 7:40 am

      Yep. I’ve even seen homeless people (okay, one or two) in my very small wee town that I live in just north of Auckland.

      And yet we actually do have enough homes to house everybody in NZ.

      They’re not efficiently distributed though. It’s an economic thing. The inequality gap has been widening.

      Up where I live by the beach in winter most of the place is empty. The biggest best homes are used less than half the time. They’re holiday homes owned by rich people, mostly from Auckland.

      The locals who rent live in some of the scummiest old baches which have not seen any upgrades and as little maintenance as possible since the 1960’s.

      And there are plenty of empty houses in Auckland too. Sitting as “investments” waiting to be flicked for capital gains.

      I don’t think we actually have a lack of housing, we have a property market bubble and it’s causing all sorts of problems.