Crisis housing failing
The slow – but necessary – transition away from emergency accommodation
Wellington developer Alex Cassels may own two emergency housing providers – earning more than $3 million throughout the housing crisis – but says the failed model needs to end and soon.
Emergency housing did not give wraparound support and perpetuated problematic societal norms, the 39-year-old said.
‘‘It creates a two-tier system and that is not on.’’
There were 69 emergency housing providers in Wellington City as of the end of December. Throughout the wider Wellington region, there was a total of 209 providers. They accommodated 162 households, at last count, while emergency housing in the region increased by almost 300 per cent over the past year.
Cassels owns The Setup on Manners, which has reaped $1.81m from emergency housing special needs grants from the Ministry of Social Development. This was more than anywhere else in Wellington, except the Harbour City Motor Inn in Webb St ($2.5m). Cassels also owns the building at 140 Ghuznee St, which brought in another $1.21m.
The way forward? Transitional housing, Cassels said. People in emergency housing are signed on to short-term contracts by the Ministry of Social Development, known as emergency housing special needs grants, one week at a time. Transitional housing, however, is contracted for an average of about 12 weeks and typically includes some wraparound supports, depending on the provider.
‘‘I don’t think the emergency housing system was ever contemplated, or designed, to deal with such a dramatic increase in the number of people who needed to use it.
‘‘I believe that inevitably there will be a series of imperfect steps before we find a solution. That solution is obviously, slowly but surely, moving from emergency housing to transitional housing.’’
Musician Ihaka Huata has experienced both accommodation types after falling into housing insecurity, following a move from Taupo¯ to Wellington in order to join his ex-partner and five children.
He spent several months at an emergency housing provider in Ghuznee St and remembers some of those days as the ‘‘darkest times’’ in his life. The bright side was seeing his children – also in emergency housing through a different provider, on the other side of the street with his ex-partner.
‘‘I could spend time with my kids and that kept me sane,’’ the 48-yearold said. Huata moved into transitional housing in March at The Setup on Manners, operated on level two of the former budget hotel, and managed by the Wellington City Mission through a contract with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
The assistance he received included jobseeker support and led to a nightshift job in Petone. His expartner and children have since moved into a private rental in Lower Hutt, closer to where he now lives, at another transitional housing complex managed by the Mission, Britannia House in Petone.
City Missioner Murray Edridge said transitional housing was effective – emergency housing was not.
‘‘The transitional housing model we operate has a focus on putting a significant effort into addressing the issues that got people into that space in the first place,’’ Edridge said.
‘‘The failure of emergency housing is a lack of adequate support around people. When you put a group of inherently vulnerable people together, I think that increases their vulnerability without that support.’’
‘‘I do hope the Government is going to change the emergency housing model, so more support is wrapped around those people that are doing it hard.’’
In a speech today, National Party MP and housing spokeswoman Nicola Willis is going to urge the
Government to end its dependence on emergency housing within a year.
She thinks the Government could and should move to transitional housing. ‘‘By this time next year, that shift could be complete, with emergency motels only used by families for genuinely short-term stays of a month or less,’’ Willis will say in a speech in Napier.
Ministry of Social Development Wellington regional director Jamie Robinson said the ministry aimed to place people in suitable accommodation. ‘‘It is extremely important to us that people are not left to sleep rough or in cars.
‘‘The motels we use are commercial businesses and should meet all their compliances that are required by that industry.’’