Increased demand for food and housing support over Christmas holidays

A Tauranga homeless shelter has been forced to turn some people away and a charity has seen an 80 per cent increase in people needing food as support services grapple with a “huge” spike in demand in the city.

A sexual harm support service has also reported an increase in demand for “urgent medical and crisis support”.

St Vincent de Paul was understood to have been the only organisation providing food support over the Christmas and New Year period, with Western Bay of Plenty area manager Lorna Edlin saying they were “absolutely flat out”.

Edlin said they spent about $80,000 on food and provided 1900 households with food parcels in December. This was an 80 per cent increase in the number of households they helped compared to the same time last year, she said.

“We were the only agency open. Nineteen hundred is a huge amount of for us in one month considering how many holidays there are,” she said.

“I have been here 10 years and I have never seen it as busy as we have been. December has been a bit of a blur and January is getting a bit like that.”

In addition to food support, the charity also attended police welfare callouts and provided some families with furniture, whiteware and items for infants.

It was vital they stayed open in the holidays to support those facing emergencies, she said.

On Christmas Eve, Edlin and her husband furnished a house for a mum of two boys from Taupō escaping domestic violence. They were also given food, Christmas presents and clothing, she said.

“The mum was silent with tears running down her face.”

Then on January 1, they furnished a house for a young man whose mother had just passed away. He was going to be caring for his teenage half-brother so needed ongoing support, she said.

Takitimu House manager Annamarie Angus. Photo / File

Takitimu House manager Annamarie Angus told the Bay of Plenty Times the men’s shelter had been “at capacity” since Christmas and staff had to turn some people away.

She described the need as “huge”, saying it was higher than the Christmas and New Year period in previous years.

“We are fielding so many inquiries and we just can’t take them because we are full,” she said.

She said it was difficult to pinpoint the cause of the increase in demand, but some needing a place to stay were going through family crises.

A reduced number of staff members were working at the men’s shelter - which had 20 beds - over the holiday period but, Angus said the job was no more intensive than it was during the rest of the year.

Tauranga Women’s Refuge manager Hazel Hape said alcohol, power and control, intimidation and elder abuse were all factors contributing to the rising number of urgent calls.

Many of the calls received over the holiday period had been from women reaching out for support for the first time, she said.

The safe house - which had four rooms for women and children- was full. Hape said staff had to explore other options for women and children in need, including referrals to refuges outside Tauranga, emergency housing and accommodation with family and friends.

Strangulation, intimidation, and isolation continued to be “key tactics” used by abusers, she said.

Meanwhile, Bay of Plenty sexual harm support service Tautoko Mai saw a “consistent number of referrals” over the holiday period, but more demand than usual for “urgent medical and crisis support”.

Tautoko Mai Sexual Harm Support chief executive Blair Gilbert. Photo / Emma Houpt

Chief executive Blair Gilbert said sexual harm and assaults were the main reason for people seeking help during this time, with patients needing counselling, social work and medical support.

He said the organisation offered a 24/7 service every day of the year to ensure “we are there for anyone who needs support”.

Here to Help U connector Sarah Baldock said the service helped a large number of people needing food and financial assistance during the holidays.

The free service, manned by three staff, was established by the Wise Group in June last year. It connected people in Tauranga and the Western Bay with wellbeing and social support.

Staff working during this time had spoken with many who had been “sombre” and ashamed for having to reach out for help, she said.

“Many of the people supported over the holiday period said that they had to go without Christmas presents this year or ask for help so they could put some food on the table,” she said.

Asked why there had been high demand over the holidays, Baldock believed a range of factors had contributed to people “really struggling”. This included bad weather, rising food prices, Covid infections and the structure of benefit payments during this time.

“Many people have shared that they were severely impacted by the recent bad weather. We have received a large number of help requests from whānau who are employed in casual outdoor work and were relying on their normal wages to cover the Christmas shutdown period.”

She said due to the weather they ended up with “no work and no earnings” at a time “when they have high costs and high needs”.

Te Tuinga Whānau Support Service Trust community social worker Scotty Harvey was supposed to take annual leave from December 19 until January 9 but made the last-minute call to work until the end of the year because of how busy it was at Whare Taratoa on Chadwick Rd.

He said many people needed housing and food support during this time and estimated they helped about 110 families in December.

“Over that two weeks people know we are on a skeleton crew but the housing issues are still there. People are still in their cars. Right up to the day we closed we were still referring people to the foodbank,” he said.

“It was still too busy so we just didn’t take the time off. We just couldn’t because people are still needing support through that period.”

- Additional reporting Cira Olivier