The government is making legislation to give police the ‘tools’ to move street people on. The question is on to where? The Upper Hutt housing trust is opening a drop in space in its office to offer respite to people living on the street and who are finding the securing of housing hard. This group of people often present with other complex factors, rather than just being shut out of housing, that make securing accommodation difficult, if not impossible. The reason that it is difficult or impossible is not only due to their complex needs but the lack of appropriate housing with support services that can minimize the factors that make them hard to house.
The Trust’s objective in opening the drop in space is to build trust with the hard to house and to support them to access health professionals to address unmet health issues and benefit assistance to secure funding for housing. This however will not answer the question of where suitable housing for them is. The trust can provide some transitional housing with funding through government but has no resources to provide the accommodation with support services that is need for people who have, as is stated by government emergency housing policy, caused their own need for emergency housing due to behaviour or failure to pay the rent.
The trust is being confronted more often with the needs of the hard to house without the tools to support them due to lack of dedicated funding from government. The trust exists to house individuals and families who are finding housing difficult to secure, we want too, to be able to support and house the most vulnerable who sleep rough and who need professional support due to addiction or poor mental health. We are holding a street appeal on Tuesday the 29th of September and would appreciate the community’s financial support.
What we also need is government support to house the vulnerable and work with them to secure sustainable housing but without Government funding for us to provide, what was government funded, emergency accommodation with access to wrap around services our hands are tied. This will make the street the only place for the vulnerable, with police being required by law to move them on.
Teresa Homan
Chair Upper Hutt Housing Charitable Trust
A “thank you” to Teresa Homan for sending this article to The Upper Hutt Connection.
23/09/26
