Family of eight sleeping rough in office entrance
A homeless family of eight are among those sleeping rough on the streets of South Auckland.
The couple and their six children were recently found lying in the entry of the Manurewa Citizens Advice Bureau by its board chairman Gordon Myer when he arrived for work two mornings in a row.
‘‘They lay matting in the area and set their beds up in the foyer,’’ he said.
‘‘There’s another group of people who sleep around the back. There’s about seven or eight of them.’’
Myer said he had a brief conversation with the family, the youngest of whom appeared to be teenagers.
‘‘They had three supermarket trolleys, one of which had food in it.
‘‘They were polite and obliging and they swept up the place and left it neat and tidy.
‘‘It’s very unfortunate they’ve been placed in that situation.’’
Bureau staff have offered help and advice to homeless people they have found sleeping near their premises, and now the Manurewa Local Board has formed a steering group to help such people.
It includes staff from various government agencies and the Auckland Council as well as town centre manager Neil Punja, Counties Manukau Central police area commander Mark Benefield, LinkPeople service and relationship manager Rami Alrudaini, and Wiri Licensing Trust chairman Alan Johnson.
The local board’s efforts follow the death earlier this year of rough sleeper Haami Manahi, 59, whose body was found on steps at the back of Manurewa Methodist Parish Church on July 11.
Board chairwoman Angela Dalton said she and her colleagues were not experts on homelessness, but they were determined to take a leadership role on it.
‘‘What we recognised is we all have a part to play. We want our voice to be heard.’’
Dalton has met with Julie Nelson, who leads the Housing First Auckland initiative and is joint chief executive of mental health and wellbeing provider Wise Group.
The Housing First model works on the belief it is easier for homeless people to have any personal issues addressed once they have somewhere to live.
Nelson also leads The People’s Project in Hamilton, which Wise Group established to end chronic homelessness in that city by 2016.
It employs staff who advocate for local rough sleepers and help them to access services and support they need to get off the streets.
Dalton said she would like to see something similar established in her community.
‘‘I said to them [the Ministry of Social Development] the board wants them around our steering group table and we want something like The People’s Project in Manurewa.’’
There were about 20 regular rough sleepers in the Manurewa Town Centre, Dalton said.