Family crisis care a growing need

CRISIS: Tauranga woman Kellie Kioa, who has been housing homeless families in her garage since 2009. PHOTO/ANDREW WARNER

Emergency accommodation for homeless families and single women is "on the radar" among Tauranga community groups and city councillors following the success of the men's nightshelter.

Tauranga woman Kellie Kioa, who has been housing homeless families in her garage since 2009, made a presentation to Tauranga City Council's community development committee this week on the need for an emergency housing facility for families in the city.

"This is not an individual problem. It's a city problem," she said.

"There's nowhere a family can be kept together. I want them to acknowledge that actually Tauranga has a housing crisis."

Ms Kioa has offered a home to 23 families since April this year, including single mothers and fathers, with a combined 42 children. She envisages a motel-type complex catering for up to 15 to 20 families to meet the need in the city.

"We go down to Memorial Park quite often and look for families down there," she said.

Messages she posts on a Tauranga buy, sell, swap Facebook page attract up to 100 responses from people needing emergency accommodation, she said.

While helping single women, particularly those with mental health or addiction problems, to get off the street was a future goal, families had to come first.

"A single woman is resourceful enough to be able to look after herself whereas children don't have a choice," she said.

"I feel for the women. No one should be homeless - we're not Africa or America."

Manager of the Tauranga Moana Men's Nightshelter, Annamarie Angus, knew of four women living on the streets of Tauranga, one of them with her young teenage daughter.

Other women would be "hidden homeless", displaced and living on floors or couches, she said.

The men's nightshelter did have one room suitable for couples and would consider them if the need arose and space allowed, she said.

"We pride ourselves on having no barriers to access."

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby, who is patron of the Nightshelter Trust, supported more shelters in the city.

"The answer is 'yes', the city does have a need in my view for both a shelter for women on their own and families in transition," he said.

Trust member Mike Mills said a homeless shelter for women was "on the radar" as a community need, but the men's shelter created pressing financial responsibilities.

Mr Mills said the trust spent $20,000 researching the need for the men's shelter - "money well spent".

That 2009 research showed there were 30 to 40 men living on the streets of Tauranga, presenting the greatest area of need.

"We did conclude that generally for women, and particularly women with children, there's more support available than for single men."

Helping people who did not have other options was the defining element of the trust, Mr Mills said.

"Setting up a facility has to be at the end of a very long process. We'd really need to do our homework to understand the need," he said.

Mr Mills acknowledged some women avoided homelessness by living with a partner.

"It doesn't mean that they're necessarily where they want to be but it's where they end up," he said.

Tauranga Community Housing Trust manager Chris Johnstone said it was difficult to determine the number of homeless women in Tauranga, but she was seeing some - mostly women with children.

Emergency accommodation for women and families was quite a complicated service to run and fund, she said.

Some women needing emergency accommodation also had other complex needs.

"Then you add children into the mix, it gets quite complicated. You certainly need the right house," she said.

Other resources were also required to address those women's needs.

"It can be quite a complicated need to meet in a common situation," she said.

The housing trust does manage leases on two houses in the city centre - one for women and children and another for single women, where tenants rent accommodation for up to a year.