Shelter for rough sleepers

LUKE KIRKEBY

Tiny Deane’s a big man but seeing 15 people sleeping rough under a Tokoroa bridge almost had him in tears.

The Rotorua based founder of Visions of a Helping Hand Charitable Trust recently opened night shelters in Rotorua and Taupo¯ . He’s now set to do so in Tokoroa.

Deane, a former truck driver who started the charity just under a year ago after a major accident almost took his life, has been in talks with community representatives and organisations to get the ball rolling.

He said there was an immediate need as the number of people sleeping rough in the district was getting worse.

‘‘The situation is s**t,’’ he said.

‘‘I have been over here at 10pm at night until 4am in the morning going around to places where they are hanging out.’’

‘‘We spotted 15 sleeping under one bridge and some of them didn’t even have blankets, they were sleeping straight on the grass.’’

‘‘We also found a couple of people under vents because they were blowing out warm air. It was disgusting and just about brought me to tears,’’ he said.

Deane said synthetics continue to play a major role in homelessness.

‘‘My biggest concern is synthetics. They are so easy to get now,’’ he said.

‘‘What I am trying to achieve is not to just house people and chuck them into a warm comfortable bed, it’s to work on their mental stability and all their addictions to find out why.’’

‘‘We will have social workers in to talk to them so that within six months to a year they will have more stability in their lives.’’

South Waikato Mayor Jenny Shattock acknowledged homelessness was getting worse.