Long term housing plan needed
We have recently been inundated with stories about the effects of homelessness on our children, our families and our communities. There is an unprecedented state of homelessness here in New Zealand. At least one in every 100 Kiwis was homeless in 2013 (census). The next census is going to be an embarrassing indictment of the homeless situation here in New Zealand.
The expediential growth of homelessness over the past three years will no longer be an anecdotal story; it will be a real hard fact. This is not the New Zealand that I brought my children up in and it is certainly not the New Zealand that I believe and know that any of us want.
The effects of homelessness on children have been well documented and commented on extensively by many.
I recently attended a talk by a south Auckland principal of a primary school who talked about the continuous movement of the homeless children through his school and about the effect that this was having on the community and the long term prospects of the children. At the same meeting a paediatrician spoke about the long term health related issues for children who were in unhealthy homes, garages, cars and in continuous transit and homeless.
What I do know from my time running the night shelter here in Hamilton is that people get caught up in the cycle of homelessness and breaking the cycle is a challenge and often a finically costly exercise for society. What will happen to this current generation of children who have been homeless from an earlier age than many I have met at the shelters?
What I also know about the individuals who come through the shelters is that just putting them behind a front door is often not enough. There needs to be ongoing support for many of our guests or they just end up coming back the shelter or back on to the streets.
There continues to be a band aid approach that is used with no long term strategy and very little long term thought for those living in the state of homelessness. It is really time for us to put our political colours away and start working on a strategy that will assist people into housing, it is time to give back to New Zealanders and their children the basis of a good life and that is a home.
There will be many and varied solutions that we can use and there are people from many different backgrounds who can contribute to solving this problem. There will be people who may have to forego a profit and there may be people who may have to give a little more. This is not going to be totally a political solution, this is going to be a humanistic solution that will require more than a myopic short term approach.
Peter Humphreys is manager of the Hamilton Christian Nightshelter Trust. Email news and views to katrina.tanirau@fairfaxmedia.co.nz