Women’s refuge under pressure

14–17 Following an unusually busy Christmas, Palmerston North Women’s Refuge is still flat-out, putting housing services and staff under strain.

Manager Danielle Berry said the refuge’s emergency housing and safe house were still at capacity – as they were over Christmas. She has not seen demand for housing like this before and was surprised to see the safe house full over Christmas.

‘‘I can’t see a time in the nearfuture 18–19 20–21 when this demand will let up. As soon as we get a room free, someone’s waiting to move in.’’

The safe house has five rooms, with three beds in each, and the refuge’s emergency housing consists of nine 3-bedroom houses.

Berry said families were staying in motels waiting for rooms to become available.

Demand for housing services usually rose for January and February, rather than the festive period, but Berry said demand ‘‘hasn’t let up’’.

She attributes the busy period at the beginning of the year to the 22 23–28 24 financial burden of Christmas, as well as the expenses associated with children going back to school.

The refuge only receives partial funding from the Government, so it relies heavily on donations. Berry said the refuge needed more funding so it could provide long-term support for the families using its services.

Over the Christmas period, the refuge relied heavily on support from members of the public and businesses so it could give food packages to more than 70 families in need.

The refuge services Manawatu¯ and Tararua and has four social workers to cover the area, meaning each worker has about 30 clients.

It was not uncommon for staff to work unpaid hours due to their high workload. Monitoring the 24-hour crisis line is unpaid work that is shared around.

Berry said the refuge was always on the hunt for new volunteers, especially to work on its crisis line. Full training would be provided to anyone interested.

Prospective volunteers can contact Palmerston North Women’s Refuge on 06 354 5355.