Rights for homeless on election agenda

Homeless woman Mary prepares for a cold night on a bus stop bench in Albert St behind Aotea Centre. Picture / Martin Sykes

Homelessness is on the election-year agenda, with a call by housing advocates for a law to enshrine a human right to housing.

About 70 people from churches, social service agencies, councils and state agencies agreed at a meeting hosted by Auckland City Council yesterday to form a national homelessness forum to push for the new law.

Similar laws in Britain and other countries require local councils to provide housing for homeless people.

The chairman of Auckland's community development and equity committee, Dr Cathy Casey, said the New Zealand law would have to give roles to both local and central government.

Auckland City sold its council houses under former Mayor John Banks, but new Mayor Dick Hubbard's council proposes a $1 million fund for cheap housing, probably to lend money to housing groups.

Opening the meeting yesterday, Mr Hubbard said he had made friends with a homeless woman called Mary who sleeps outside the Town Hall.

"I have been meeting Mary most mornings as I come to work for the last six months," he said. "She always has a friendly smile, always has something to say. She's always there at 7am whether it's dark or light, wet or sunny."

Mary told the Herald that she had been living on the streets "for quite a few years now".

"You should try it. Just bring warm clothes, a sleeping bag and some food and try living on $60 a week. It's fun," she said.

Another homeless Aucklander, Peter, told the meeting of an 18-year-old youth with an immune system breakdown, lupus, who applied for a Housing New Zealand flat in February and had yet to find a home.

"I challenge you to wake up," he told the housing groups. "You are paid to be of service to us."

Housing New Zealand's Auckland manager, Graham Bodman, said the youth had been offered two houses but turned them down because they were in the wrong locations.

The director of Wellington's Downtown Community Ministry, Stephanie McIntyre, said it was a myth that homeless people chose to be homeless. What they needed was help to deal with the problems that had made them homeless.

The Wellington City Council has given her ministry $130,000 a year for two years to help find housing for homeless people, mainly in council flats, and then to support them in their new homes.

"We have taken a housing-first philosophy - get people into a flat and then pour in as much support as we can, ensure a rental redirection out of their benefit and make sure they get services in place so they don't get into trouble because of debts," she said.

"We have still got some with late-stage alcoholism. What does a 40-year-old late-stage alcoholic do? If we don't want them sleeping on the streets, we have got to house them."

She said the ministry had housed 40 homeless people since the project started last August and visited them all at least once a week to make sure they were getting health services and benefit entitlements.