At a Whanganui Residents and Ratepayers Association meeting this month, Mayor Andrew Tripe said the council had been asked by the community to fix a problem “that’s only going to get worse”.
There was no Government minister for homelessness, he said.
Tripe said the People’s Centre did a great job but some homeless people living at the Anzac Parade freedom camping site were deeply complex individuals.
“We actually don’t have all the answers, otherwise we would have solved it,” he said.
“It’s not in our mandate, we don’t have a budget for it, and we don’t have the skills to do it either.”
Greg Morris, treasurer at the Whanganui Budget Advisory Service, said the Government was “sidestepping the issue” but the council had borrowing capacity “coming out of your ears” and could invest as well.
He said his organisation’s government funding had been cut by 30%.
Tania Bailey, speaking on behalf of support service the Koha Shed, said some homeless people were dealing with issues such as mental health, addiction, and trauma and they had been failed by the system.
The solution the Koha Shed had been working on was sites “of transitioning and healing” for people so they could enter housing.
Bailey said the council needed to “ease up” on those living at the Anzac Parade freedom camping site.
Council chief executive David Langford said the council was not evicting people from the site but it was not okay for them “to verbally and physically abuse members of the public and my staff”.
People’s centre manager Sharon Semple told the Chronicle in August that a block of land with half a dozen cabins and intense wraparound support was a potential solution but Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora had to be involved.
Whanganui MP Carl Bates (National) told the Chronicle it was hard to have a minister for every issue the country faced.
Homelessness was complex and emotive and there was disagreement among Whanganui support services about the ideal solution, he said.
The Government was working hard to provide new housing and he regularly spoke to Tripe and Langford.
“We’ve got to make sure that we don’t end up in a scenario where local councils say it’s a central government problem and central government says it’s a local government problem.”
In Whanganui, the social housing waiting list had fallen from 351 in September 2022 to 279 this September, he said.
Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe (standing) speaks at a Whanganui Residents and Ratepayers meeting alongside (from left) council chief executive David Langford and councillors Kate Joblin and Rob Vinsen. Photo / Mike Tweed
Langford said he and Tripe spoke to relevant ministers about homelessness at every opportunity.
“Andrew and I have our regular catch-up with Carl next week. On the agenda? Homelessness and what are [the Government] doing about it.”
Someone needed to address the issue and that was “how council has found itself [standing] in the gap”, he said.
Minister for Social Housing Tama Potaka said homelessness was something nobody should have to experience and he was committed to continuing to address the problem.
“I am pleased with the work our Government is doing to fast-track whānau with tamariki out of emergency housing and into more permanent housing through priority one,” he said.
Priority one is a category for families with children in emergency housing to help them move into social housing faster.
Potaka said the Government was working on issues that could be drivers of homelessness, including social welfare, mental health, education, emergency housing, and “cracking down on criminals who supply our communities with drugs”.
In a statement, the Government said it would increase the number of social housing places and support community housing providers (CHPs) to build additional support and investment.
Products and services available through the MSD to support people with housing included housing brokers, navigators, ready-to-rent programmes, housing support products, and assistance such as the accommodation supplement, the statement said.
A business case will be presented on November 28 and councillor Kate Joblin said public consultation would follow.
“As part of that process, we can have some hui with whoever is interested.
“We also need to meet about the more pointy end of homelessness, which is what we are seeing down at Anzac Parade.”
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
