YMCA strategic adviser Gareth Jones says a new shelter for rough sleepers won't be a quick fix, and any improvement in behaviour would be incremental. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
The man behind a plan to build a rough sleepers' shelter at New Plymouth's YMCA says it won't be an overnight solution to problems with homelessness in the city.
YMCA strategic advisor Gareth Jones told an extraordinary meeting of council on Tuesday when homeless people had a safe place to sleep, food security and professional help for trauma their behaviour tended to improve over time, but it was not a quick fix.
"It will be a gradual process as people build themselves and build their own integrity, behaviours will change, but it won't be all at once, it won't be overnight."
The New Plymouth District Council last night approved contributing $350,000 towards establishing the shelter and a further $450,000 towards running costs over three years.
It's estimated the shelter - Whare o te Tapatahi a Taranaki - would cost $600,000 a year to operate.
Jones told the packed council chamber that the Lemon Street shelter was a community-based solution and the YMCA had consulted with its neighbours including Central Primary School to develop a safety plan.
"They are going to be part of our advisory committee and part of that is to ensure we put the right mechanisms in place. They are being cautious. I would be cautious as well."
The YMCA wants to convert part of its Lemon Street premises into a 20-bed shelter for rough sleepers. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
About 20 homeless men and between four and six women were sleeping rough in the New Plymouth CBD with many more believed to be doing so around the district.
Their presence had become more visible over the past two years, prompting complaints from retailers and intimidated shoppers.
Recently, the council threatened to impound rough sleepers' belongings that had begun piling up on footpaths in the CBD only to ditch the idea at the eleventh hour.
The YMCA wanted to build a 20-bed shelter, which would also include 22 secure lockers to store personal belongings during the day.
Arrival and departures would be supervised by staff and security personnel, with security positioned permanently outside the entrance.
Overnight stays would follow a detailed 12-step process. Anyone not complying would be turned away.
Not all those who gave deputations at the meeting were in favour of the YMCA proposal.
Mark Coster had a decades-long career in the probation service.
He feared the council had a naive vision of the people it was dealing with.
"If it wasn't readily apparent to some of you before it should be now. Some of these people just do not want to behave.
"That is the message some people out in the community struggle to understand and accept."
Coster did not believe the homeless was core council business.
"My problem is council ... somehow believing you can house these people in isolation to all the other baggage that comes with them.
"Just because the relevant government agencies are ambivalent and reluctant that should not be a cue for council to try and fill that gap."
Barrister Caroline Silk, who worked with the homeless in her role as a defence lawyer, praised council for attempting to fill that void.
"I think council should be commended for looking at solving a problem that really is a central government issue."
Lawyer Caroline Silk tells a packed council chamber there are only two degrees of separation between them and the homeless. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
She said it was a myth that people chose to live on the streets.
"You and I are only two degrees from the person on the street, living rough. We could have poor health that we weren't expecting that means we can no longer pay for the roof over our head let alone access healthcare."
Lani Hunt spoke from lived experience.
"I used to be one of these guys on the street. Twenty years ago I used to sleep under that bridge. I used to get drunk everyday.
"I used to ask everybody for a dollar. There was about 30 of us we were in the paper everyday.
"I once was a troublemaker on the streets. I once was homeless ... and what I hear here is people giving up."
Hunt, who turned his life around with help from the social agency Waves, wanted to hear about solutions.
"You want to hear a solution right now? How many marae in Taranaki?
"How many homeless do there need to be before the marae are open? We can help our own people."
Lani Hunt tells a packed council chamber he had once lived on the streets. He suggests funding marae to help the homeless. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Hunt, who worked as a cleaner in the city starting at 3am, suggested funding marae to help.
"I see these guys. I go up to them. I talk to them, these guys, every morning.
"We need more people to go out onto the streets and tell these boys. Our kuia, our kaumātua.
"That's where our power is. These kids have respect for our elders, but they've just lost their way whānau."
Putting the motion to approve funding, Mayor Neil Holdom criticised government agencies for their lack of action on homelessness.
"So, once again it's up to us. It's up to our volunteers, our philanthropists. It's up to our community organisations.
"We have to come together to make something work because it's us or nobody. The problem will not go away without a coordinated effort.
"I do not believe it is the role of this council to be funding health, welfare and housing for our most vulnerable, but the reality is that if it is not us stepping in, it will not happen.
"Doing nothing may well mean one or two people of these people in our community may well be dead before winter ends."
Philanthropic foundation Toi had also committed $390,000 towards the project, including seed funding to get planning under way and begin the fit out of showers and laundry services in the YMCA space.
The Taranaki Foundation had also set up an online fund page through their website to allow members of the public to donate to the project.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
