Getting people off the streets
One of the most comprehensive studies into how to get people off the streets is pointing to Hamilton as a success story that could be rolled out elsewhere.
Support for as long as someone needs it is one of the key drivers behind the success of The People’s Project (TPP) which has been highlighted in an Otago-led study.
Researchers followed the health, income and justice outcomes of 387 people in the first five years after they were housed through TPP’s Housing First programme.
It found that the lives of people housed through the initiative “dramatically improved”, including a 44% drop in hospitalisations, a 74% drop in residential mental health bed-nights, a 43% drop in criminal charges and a rise in income from both benefits and paid work.
TPP are incredibly proud of the results, general manager Kerry Hawkes says. “The numbers are so significant. I've been in health for a very long time and it's not often you get studies like this that prove that the approach that you're taking is actually making a really significant difference. So we feel very proud.”
Many of the people who step through their doors have experienced significant trauma, they are in crisis and they need lots of support, Hawkes says. That support starts at the very beginning and continues for “as long as people need it”.
“So the first part of the job is about building a relationship, instilling a bit of hope, letting people know, understand that there is help available and we can assist them to change the circumstances, building that relationship and finding them somewhere to live.”
After suitable housing is found TPP sets out to discern what people’s needs are.
“People come in needing medical treatment, needing medication they can't afford, some people need an ED trip because they're actually really unwell and they need that level of support, looking at hooking people up with whatever they need actually to get them started.”
The second part of the journey is helping people to sustain a tenancy and reconnect within the community. “So that could be something as simple as signing up for the doctor, getting to know the name of the guy who runs the dairy, finding out where the supermarkets are and also work.
“We do have employment consultants that sit with us because most of the people who come to The People’s Project have worked before, which is a bit of a myth that homeless people have never worked but actually, most of them actually have.”
Lead researcher Professor Nevil Pierse, the Co-Director of the He Kāinga Oranga Housing and Health Research Programme at the University of Otago says there’s been a dramatic improvement in both the physical and mental health of those housed through TPP.
“In the fifth year after this group of people was first housed, the number of hospitalisations continued to fall significantly, by 44%.
“There were considerable reductions in the number of mental health beds required: mental health inpatient unit bed nights reduced by 63% and mental health residential unit bed nights reduced by 73%.
“Meanwhile, the number of prescriptions filled rose. Together, these results indicated improved management of ongoing conditions, and reduced reliance on emergency or acute services. This is better for individuals’ quality of life and lessens the burden on our health care system.”
TPP was founded in 2014 to address concerns around the growing number of people sleeping on the streets in Kirikiriroa and now has an office in Tauranga as well. Since then, it has housed 1700 people over the nearly 10 years it has been in existence and helped many more, Hamilton manager Carole McMinn says.
Annually, it helps 150 to 170 people across Tauranga and Hamilton. “We want to provide some advice and some support to everybody who comes through our door. We’re really very unique in the fact that we have an open door policy so you don’t have to have a referral from a government organisation to come here.
“You can literally be sleeping outside on the street and come through our door and receive support.”