Hutt Valley homelessness issue ‘spiralling’
Hutt Valley’s ‘‘invisible’’ homeless are sleeping in sheds or churches as the area’s homeless problem deepens and winter nears.
Keri Brown told the Hutt City Council last night homelessness issues in the Hutt Valley were ‘‘spiralling’’.
Unlike Wellington’s visible homeless problem – often men, many with mental health or addiction issues, sleeping rough – Hutt Valley’s mostly affected children and wha¯ nau, she said.
‘‘In the Hutt it is families and you don’t see them.’’
She called on the council, currently taking long-term plan submissions, to come up with a homelessness strategy with an aspiration to end the problem.
Brown knew of a family living in a shed with a 2-year-old daughter, another family was living in a church, and a third was ‘‘lucky enough’’ to get emergency housing but it was in Porirua. The distance meant the mother had to wake up at 5am to take her child to school in Wainuiomata.
Figures released on Tuesday showed the number of people on the waiting list for a state house in Lower Hutt had soared by 512 per cent from 57 to 349 in the past three years.
Nationally, the number of households on the list has skyrocketed to 7890 – a rise of 26 per cent, which Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford said was the biggest in four years.
Brown told the council there had been a 70 per cent reduction in rentals, which had severely impacted on families looking for suitable homes in the area.
‘‘We’re really here on behalf of the children. We’re asking everyone to take responsibility.’’
Social housing applications for Lower Hutt now exceed those made in Wellington City. In 2017, 356 applications were made for Lower Hutt compared with 360 for Wellington.
So far, 466 applications have been made for 2018 in Lower Hutt compared with 416 for Wellington.
Hutt City Mayor Ray Wallace said the council had made a good start at looking into the area’s homelessness issue but a workshop would be held next Monday to explore ‘‘a plan of attack’’.
‘‘This is not a third world. Action will have to be taken.’’
He said the Ministry of Housing and the council had begun to talk about possible solutions.
To date, the Hutt City Council does not have a homelessness strategy.
While the council is not a social housing provider it does, through Urban-Plus, provide some housing for older people on low-incomes. The council also worked with Housing New Zealand to provide social housing.
The council said figures only showed part of the problem because of the transient nature of homelessness.
Housing New Zealand regional manager Jackie Pivac said it was building more homes in the Wellington region.
There were 145 planned for Wellington City, up to 300 in Lower Hutt and about 70 in Porirua in the next two to three years.
‘‘We know demand is increasing and we’re moving as quickly as we can to help meet that need through our development programme.’’