Housing crisis hits refugees
Anxiety builds for arrivals waiting for homes. Oliver Lewis reports.
Accommodation pressures are being felt across New Zealand in many sectors.
Immigration Minister Iain LeesGalloway
Refugees fleeing persecution and war have been forced to remain at the country’s only resettlement centre for weeks on end due to the ‘‘housing crisis’’.
Since March last year, 292 refugees, or about a third of the current annual quota and emergency intake, have remained at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre, in Auckland, after the end of a six-week reception programme.
Now, two new accommodation blocks are being built at the centre to handle an increased refugee quota, according to three separate organisations in the refugee sector.
‘‘It is a good thing, and it has to happen with the increase,’’ Refugee Council of New Zealand president Dr Arif Saeid said.
The Government has a policy to increase the refugee quota to 1500 a year by 2020. This is 500 more than the increase pledged by the previous Government.
It is understood the development is likely being announced as part of the Budget.
At present, some newly arrived refugees are waiting for weeks while Housing New Zealand and Immigration New Zealand find social or private housing in one of the seven settlement locations around the country.
They face an uncertain wait not knowing how long they will be there or the exact location of their future home – leading, in the words of one advocate, to feelings of abandonment.
Refugees as Survivors chief executive Ann Hood said refugees were noticeably anxious during the last week of the programme, a feeling compounded for the ones left behind.
‘‘They really feel as though they’ve been discarded to some extent, and it really is very hard for them not to be moving on with
their lives and moving into the community.
‘‘It’s just a waiting game.’’ Immigration New Zealand national manager refugee division Andrew Lockhart said they were doing all they could.
‘‘But constraints on the supply of housing have resulted in some refugees having to stay at Mangere beyond the completion of the programme.’’
Immigration Minister Iain LeesGalloway said he was ‘‘concerned’’ and was working on a solution.
‘‘Accommodation pressures are being felt across New Zealand in many sectors, and this is also a reflection of the housing crisis.’’
There are six intakes a year, averaging about 170 refugees at a time. Mangere has 196 beds, and while Immigration NZ says the housing issue has not had a flow-on effect for subsequent intakes, there still needed to be increased capacity.
That appears
to be on the way.
Additional settlement areas, including Christchurch – which ceased to be a settlement area due to the earthquakes – were also being considered to alleviate the housing issue.
The Red Cross, which holds a contract to provide settlement services, and the Refugee Council want to see more settlement areas. Both groups have also emphasised the need for increased investment in the sector as a whole to match any increase to the quota.
War, collapsed states, and persecution meant there were more refugees today – in excess of 60 million, according to the United Nations – than at any time since World War II.
Saeid, a former asylum-seeker who arrived in New Zealand from Afghanistan, said: ‘‘Just one family or one refugee saved is a big thing. But we should help as many people as we can.’’