Andrew Dickens: Homelessness is a tough problem with no quick fix

Homelessness has increased, but by how much is unclear, according to a government report. 

This is the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development's latest Homelessness Insights Report drawn from data in Census 2023, and observations collected from government agencies, councils, and the general good sorts in the sector. 

The report defines homelessness as living situations where people are forced to live; without shelter, in temporary accommodation, shared accommodation with a household, or living in uninhabitable housing. 

The Opposition was hoping that the report would show the government's ditching of emergency housing was to blame. It doesn't say it's not to blame, but nor does it say it is. 

What it found was that 60 days after leaving emergency housing 37% were housed in social housing, 29% went into transitional housing, 19% received the accommodation supplement. 

That leaves 14% who may be living without shelter, but there's no way of confirming this. 

Housing Minister Chris Bishop says it's an issue he takes very seriously. 

He says it's a better outcome than the last government who spent $1.4 billion on sticking people in motels with all the consequent problems that entailed. 

Homelessness is not a new problem, but there is no doubt the problem is getting worse – blame the economy, and the pandemic hangover, and any number of factors. 

And there's no quick fix.  

But good souls are trying their best. In Rotorua there's an initiative just starting up called Adopt a Streetie. It's designed to help rough sleepers off city centre street. 

It would involve rough sleepers being matched with volunteer local hosts willing to offer free rent in exchange for their guests completing odd jobs. 

There is no knowing whether there will be enough good folk prepared to Adopt a Streetie, because it's not an easy job. The homeless are not easy people. They've not had an easy life. They have big hard personal problems. It takes a very good Good Samaritan to run the gauntlet of adopting a streetie. I commend you if you're helping and I thank you but it's gotta be tough. 

The idea is the brainchild of Love Soup, the organisation behind Rotorua’s Village of Hope. That village shelters homeless people in sleeping pods set up in secret locations, but it's struck problems with compliance issues. 

And that's just one of the problems that affect solutions – a lot of our rules don't suit people who have chosen to live outside society and its rules. 

Once upon a time I helped a friend help a bloke. She befriended him, I met him a few times. She organised some emergency housing for him in Papakura, a warm little brick and tile and one weekend she helped him move in. Bought some furniture from an op shop. 

But two weeks later he was back living rough downtown, because in Papakura he was lonely. His people were fellow rough sleepers, and he valued their company more than a warm house. 

Now this is not a tale to say that housing the homeless is useless because they want to live this way, but it does acknowledge that while they don't like living rough, it's what they know and safer than the solution. 

So the Minister and everybody says it's not good enough, and it isn't, but finding a solution is very hard indeed.  

But while the problem is hard, at least we should be able to understand it. Because that is the first step in learning how to solve it. 

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