Auckland CBD's rough sleepers worry they will be kicked out of the city. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Luke McPake
A tougher stance on rough sleepers in Auckland's central city has some homeless people fearing they will be pushed out to unfamiliar suburbs where they could struggle to survive.
Earlier this week, the government confirmed it was considering new measures that could see people living on Auckland's city streets forcibly removed.
Opposition parties and housing advocates raised alarm over the prospect of an effective ban on homeless people in CBD's, warning such an approach only displaced the problem and caused more harm.
Along Queen St and the surrounding blocks, people were still bedding down in shopfronts, bus shelters, and on building steps.
Earlier in the year, an Auckland Council committee declared homelessness a crisis, with support teams working with more than 800 people sleeping rough. Police Minister Mark Mitchell said he supported giving officers more powers to move people on from public spaces.
Outside the Auckland Central City Library on Thursday, 27-year-old Jae sat with his puppy Snoop and said the solution was straightforward: put more money into housing.
"Instead of putting new stuff in the middle of the street, decorations and all, they should put their money into putting us somewhere, instead of kicking us out of the city. That's the only place we know."
Jae said forcing people into unfamiliar suburbs risked driving some into criminal activity.
"They've already tried to trespass us from the library and that's, this is where most of the free dinners come. If you get trespassed and you can't really eat. If they kick us out of the city, then how are we going to eat?
"It's going to result to other things, like crime."
Further along the street, 21-year-old Angela said crime might be her only way to survive. She had been in and out of jail for petty offending since she was a teenager.
"If I get moved on from the streets, I will go back to jail. [The government] has been trying, but I would just go back to prison again because of the things I do to survive."
Nearby, 60-year-old Tane - who had spent decades sleeping rough - agreed moving people on would only make things worse.
Auckland Council has declared homelessness a crisis. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Luke McPake
"This is our home, the streets. If it gets taken away from us, homeless people will probably break into things, they'll start turning into criminals. They'll move away from begging and go into criminal world."
Another man, who had lived on the streets for more than 30 years and asked not to be identified, said shifting people away from the city centre would not solve the problem.
"There's always places to go, you know, there's... the country's quite big. And there's other streets, there's other parks, there's other hills, tracks."
A few blocks away, John, 71, said the government seemed more focused on appearances than addressing the root causes of homelessness.
"We is what [the government] don't want the tourists to see. And yet, in their countries, they have the same problem with homeless people. And I'm sure they don't go around putting them into mental institutions."
The government said details of its plan to crack down on rough sleeping would be released soon.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said any move-on orders would need to be paired with proper housing and support.
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