Trust helping the homeless

Tai Tokerau Emergency Housing Charitable Trust says they will be moving quickly on applications to access a share of the Government’s $300 million funding injection for emergency housing.

The Government recently announced the funding boost for more emergency housing places, extra support for tenants and more frontline staff.

Trust chairperson Adrian Whale says there is no doubt there is a housing crisis in Northland and something needs to be done to alleviate the issue.

’’We (the trust) have built up a good relationship with the ministry over the past 10 years and they are aware of the good work and results we are achieving with our care plans.’’

He says the trust, if funded, is well-positioned to meet the challenges of the district’s increasing homelessness.

Currently the trust is receiving around 360 inquires each year for emergency housing in Whangarei.

They have a seven unit property, a family home and a men’s unit that accommodates 16 people but more is needed to meet the demand which is quadrupling each year.

An eight unit property in Kamo, leased by the Trust from Housing New Zealand, was to be opened last week but more accom- modation is needed, particularly properties suitable for larger families.

‘‘At the moment we can only accommodate a family of four people,’’ Whale says.

Whale agrees with the Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett’s idea of buying or leasing motels and similar type housing as a short term relief, but says this should only be a pathway to more permanent housing.

The Minister says the $303.6m package run over four-and-a-half years, will provide up to another 1400 places and ‘‘fill the gap’’ while permanent homes are built.

Six hundred of those places will be in Auckland and the other 800 in ‘‘areas of high demand’’ around the country.

According to an Otago University report released in August there were nearly 1900 homeless in Northland in 2013.

Of those,183 were without habitable accommodation, living rough or in a mobile dwelling. A further 144 were in night shelters, Women’s Refuge or marae, and 360 were living in crowded dwellings.