The only night shelter for women has opened in Tauranga, but it needs more money to be able to be open on Friday and Saturday. Photo / File
Being raped, abused, beaten, bullied, robbed, living in tents or on the streets, and exposed to the winter elements.
These are some of the things the homeless women in Tauranga are facing. If it hasn't happened to them, it's something they fear, an advocate says.
Some depend on alcohol to keep warm; others depend on alcohol to numb their trauma.
Speaking to the Bay of Plenty Times, He Kaupapa Kotahitanga chairwoman Tania Lewis-Rickard says it was this suffering that sparked the motivation to open Tauranga's newest and only women's night shelter: Hine Ngākau - a warm, safe haven.
She said it was about bringing hope, highlighting the hope on offer, and the other community services doing good to help the most vulnerable women.
However, it's in "desperate" need of funding - $64,800 to be exact - to operate every night, Lewis-Rickard says.
The Tauranga City Council is consulting on a new community grant bulk fund as part of its Long-term Plan, and also co-ordinates the Kainga Tupu programme along with a range of partners.
Hine Ngākau is the newest branch under the He Kaupapa Kotahitanga Trust umbrella which was formed three years ago to help advocate for single homeless women in Tauranga Moana.
The Board of Trustees is made up of Patricia Sharp, Soi Pearson, and Lorraine Miller alongside the trust's co-founder and chairwoman Lewis-Rickard.
Their combined experience and skillsets include business, finance, human resources, legal advice, mental health, social sector experience, and governance experience.
Together, many hours were put in, between families and day jobs, to open the night shelter.
The trust also operated Awhina House, an 11-bedroom transitional house for homeless women.
It opened in 2019 and provides wraparound, long-term support to women to help get them out of poverty.
Hine Ngākau is only for the winter, and only able to open five nights a week from Sunday to Thursday, because the trust can't afford to pay for security on Friday and Saturday nights.
Tauranga homeless advocate Heidi Tidmarsh said the shelter was a good thing to have in the city and was calling for funding from NGOs and agencies to help it open on Friday and Saturday nights.
These nights were the "most dangerous" for the women who suffered "all sorts of atrocities from men coming out of the bars".
"If the measure of society is the sum of our most vulnerable, we are failing miserably."
Over the weekend, an elderly lady carrying a backpack needed to be at the shelter, but because they were not open or staffed, the shelter couldn't take her in.
"We don't know where she went," Lewis-Rickard said.
They needed a permanent building in the CBD and "massive funding to employ clinical staff, proper security, and night staff at living wage rates".
One "amazing" private funder and smaller individual donations allowed them to open last month.
"We opened quickly because we wanted to action our hui and get to the doing ... it was urgently needed."
However, the trust was paying market rent which she said took up a large chunk of its funding. It relied on other agencies, community providers, and donations from the public.
The shelter's total expenses are $78,000 per month which includes rent, staff pay, running costs, power, Wi-Fi, a cleaner, insurance, and minimum security.
Additional security, including for Friday and Saturay nights would cost an extra $64,800 for six months - money they don't have.
The need for a women's night shelter in Tauranga was widespread and growing, with more also presenting high-risk needs, and elderly women had the biggest need, Lewis-Rickard said.
"Women do not choose to be on the street, for most, it's circumstantial."
She said the situations were worse for those already carrying historical traumas of abuse from their childhood or more recently, and there was no easy fix.
"If you heard some of their stories, you'd surely cry, you wouldn't go to sleep at night without thinking of her," she said.
While it was the only women's night shelter in Tauranga, she said more needed to be done.
"What we've done is meet the need of where our women are at right now, and that is that they need a place to sleep, a warm shower and kai.
"To build their dignity and restore their mana to go on another day ... no use helping our wahine women when they are dead."
She had heard from women on the streets that they were raped, beaten, intimidated, and robbed, though she did not have statistics on this.
For women who hadn't experienced these traumas, they feared them, she said, which forced them all to isolate "further into the shadows of becoming hidden homeless".
"This is not to put a focus on men as there are a lot of good men out there."
Lewis-Rickard said women were hiding in their cars at night - if they had one, or in other obscure places in the city, Mount Maunganui, and Pāpāmoa; they felt they were the only ones able to keep themselves safe.
"If they are not drinking alcohol to keep themselves warm at night then they are drinking to numb the pain."
She said some women still chose not to go to the shelter, which came down to trust. For some, they never would, and for others it would take time.
For those who go to the shelter, it's a place of manaaki (support, take care of) to feel safe, and have kindness and love.
"We need to help our wahine women feel they belong and feel valued."
She said the shelter aimed to provide the love they needed - a start to get them through to the next phase of their journey when they're ready, whatever that is.
Hine Ngākau was also a stepping stone to Awhina House if they chose it and were ready, she said.
Whether the shelter would continue in the summer was still unknown because they needed a secure building.
The kaupapa could not have got off the ground without the love, support, and expertise of the board of trustee's members and the "amazing" team at both Awhina House and Hine Ngākau, Lewis-Rickard said.
Since May 31, the council has had 520 reports of homelessness.
Tauranga City Council community services general manager Gareth Wallis said they were currently consulting on a new community grant bulk fund as part of the Long-term Plan.
Wallis said the council did not currently have any space that would be suitable for the trust.
Wallis said the council co-ordinated the Kainga Tupu programme along with a range of partners, including the He Kaupapa Kotahitanga Trust.
A police spokesman said police did not keep data on the number of homeless and said they respond to all reported incidents or witnessed by frontline staff.
He said homelessness was complex and it wasn't a criminal offence to sleep rough, beg, or be homeless, but police were occasionally called to issues involving public disorder or complaints.
He said many who had run-ins with police suffered a wide range of welfare issues and alternative resolutions were used, with police and putting in referrals to partner agencies for specialist help.
• Who: For wahine women and transgender women living in chronic or rough situations - car, tent, street, and couch surfing.
• When: Open Sunday to Thursday nights from 5pm to 9am the next day. Not open on Friday or Saturday.
• From May 9 to October 31
• Contact: 07 205 5034 or 022 528 3945
• What: Women need to bring, if they have it, WINZ ID, or other form of ID.
• Registration and arrival between 5pm and 7pm.
• Warm on arrival, free Wi-Fi, hot shower, dining area.
• Hot drinks, toast and cereal for breakfast, other food items from external sources.
• No fresh cooked meals, however, frozen prepared meals for those that are hungry to heat.
• Staff on-site at all times.
• Designated smoking area.
A disregard for authority could be why those attending court are thumbing their noses.