No tiny task ahead for this Samaritan
As the coldest months of the year approach in Waikato we have yet another shameful example of the long term results of drug dealing, social neglect and another example of the commendable generosity of ordinary people working hard to help people living in poverty.
Hidden away under bridges and other out-of- the way places are dozens of people sleeping rough every night. A few are there to escape from illegal escapades but many simply have nowhere else to go.
Few people sleep rough by choice and their reasons for being homeless are as varied as the people themselves.
However the one thing many have common is drug addiction, usually methamphetamine or more recently so called synthetic cannabis – a home concoction of potentially lethal substances sold by dealers with no more empathy for the vulnerable than a hungry crocodile.
Homelessness, for at least some of these people, is clearly a consequence of meddling in illicit drugs and nothing can mitigate the actions of drug dealers.
Meth is much easier to produce than gold, quicker than growing cannabis and production is cheaper than providing a week of roast dinners.
It is much more harmful than alcohol abuse and tobacco, and as deadly as cancer.
It is without doubt the most serious threat we have faced as a nation since the world wars of the last century and we are not ready to meet it by a long way.
Homelessness is one of many outcomes of having drug dealers loose in society. Most people with warm homes to go to at night would rather not know about these hidden communities of unwanted humanity but every now and then social heroes appear on the scene to provide some rare compassion.
Last week a giant of a man, who goes by the name of Tiny Deane decided something needed to be done to provide shelter for homeless people in Tokoroa similar to shelters he has established in Rotorua and Taupo.
He was so affected by the sight of people sleeping rough he set up the Helping Hand Charitable Trust and established night shelters in Rotorua and Taupo and now intends to open one in Tokoroa.
His aim is to provide more than a place to crash for the night and plans to involve social workers to help homeless people deal with additions and find some stability in their lives.
The commendable project has the support of South Waikato Mayor Jenny Shattock who acknowledges that homelessness was a growing problem in the Waikato community which was getting worse.
She said she wants to understand the scale of the problem and the support and services that homeless people need.
Tiny Deane and Mayor Shattock have provided an example of humanity which other civil leaders in Tauranga and Christchurch would do well to follow.
Tauranga City Council recently resolved to introduce a Street Use and Public Places bylaw outlawing sleeping rough within five metres of any Tauranga retail space.
The move was contrary to the council’s own Community Wellbeing Strategic Plan.
A hotel in Christchurch has taken the innovative step to play loud music above the footpath outside its premises right through the night to make sleep impossible for the homeless.
Waikato winter nights, often with damp fog and hard early morning frosts have a lethal potential for those with no proper shelter. No one should be in such a dangerous situation.
Not all homeless people are destitute, and in Nelson where the climate much warmer than Waikato there is a semipermanent subculture of families sleeping in cars and vans in supermarket car parks every night and driving off for the day.
Even there local authorities accept the situation and, in the absence of a workable nationwide approach to the problem most local authorities have no option but to tolerate their homeless citizens and provide basic public ablution facilities for them.
They accept and understand that homelessness, at least in New Zealand, is the result of much more than a shortage of affordable housing and unregulated real estate speculation.
There are many other social and political drivers but sadly most of those in the best position to address the problem of homelessness are either in denial about the issue or so removed from the reality of poverty that they have no concept of what it is like to go without a home.
Two of the people who do understand and are prepared to do what they can are a former truck driver and the Mayor of South Waikato.
Our world is the richer for such people.