Housing is a right, not a privilege

A new initiative to get homeless people off Christchurch streets and into their own homes requires a fundamental shift of thinking.

Some people will be sceptical about whether it will work, but they can take comfort from experience and research elsewhere, in New Zealand and overseas. This suggests that it will work, and will save money in the long run.

The initiative is called Housing First, and the details of how it would work are being negotiated currently between community housing providers and the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). The idea is that instead of providing emergency shelters for people who are sleeping rough, agencies would start moving longterm homeless people into permanent housing. The scheme could start early next year.

Instead of being required to deal with issues such as drug dependence or mental health problems before they are accepted into housing schemes, the homeless would be housed first and then provided with ‘‘wraparound’’ services to help them.

The concept might present a challenge to people who might consider subsidised housing a privilege to be bestowed only on people who have somehow proved themselves worthy to receive it. However, it is based on the idea that adequate housing is a fundamental human right, and that people are better able to battle their demons if they have a roof over their heads.

And this is not a new or untested idea. Housing First initiatives have been introduced in dozens of US cities since they were pioneered in New York in the early 1990s. A large research project in Canada tracked outcomes for 2000 people and found that just 16 per cent in a Housing First programme ended up permanently back on the street, compared with 46 per cent who relied on shelters.

The Canadian research also found that the Housing First approach was cost-effective – every $10 spent on it yielded savings of $21 elsewhere. This happened because people who have a roof over their heads and help available spend less time in acute care facilities, hospital emergency departments and police cells.

In New Zealand, a Housing First project has been operating in Hamilton since 2014, and has moved hundreds of people off the streets and into homes. The initiative was then taken to Central, West and South Auckland in 2016 and is now being looked at for Tauranga.

Over time, it can be expected to reduce the number of homeless on Christchurch streets by up to 90 per cent. Embracing a different way of thinking could provide a measurable long-term benefit.