Mayor Phil Goff concedes ball has been dropped on solving Auckland's ballooning chronic homelessness problem

Thursday, 21 June 2018

Mayor Phil Goff and Housing First Auckland’s Fiona Hamilton have announced Auckland’s first region-wide count of people living without shelter

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff concedes 'not enough' has been done to fix the region's ballooning chronic homelessness, and says it is getting worse.

Goff on Thursday announced a $375,000 homelessness census will be carried out in Auckland for the first time in an effort to eradicate the region's exploding rough sleeper problem.

The census will take place on September 17 between 9.30pm and 12.30am. It will account for people living in cars and on the street to give officials a 'snapshot' of the extent of the problem.

Goff conceded 'not enough has been done' to understand and try and solve the problem – officials have little data on the size and nature of what he calls a 'chronic homelessness' problem in Auckland.

* Government announces $100m plan to fight homelessness

* Pregnant woman among the homeless on cold Auckland streets

* Homeless man living in South Auckland hotel costs taxpayers $2000 a week

* Auckland security guards 'kicking rough sleepers awake'**

'We are dealing with a situation that has got progressively worse as house prices have gone up, as rents have spiralled upwards,' he said.

A homelessness census will be conducted on September 17.

'Yes, we have to do a lot more, yes … a survey like this would've been useful five years ago, so we had a benchmark to say 'well how have things changed between then and now?''

'The best time time to start something that's been needed in the past was yesterday. The second best time is today.'

Stuff pressed Goff on who was to blame for failing to quantify the extent of the problem.

'I could turn this into a political rally,' he said.

'The intention of the meeting today . . . is to say this is what we need to do now – let's scope the size of the problem, let's look at what we're achieving at the moment, let's look at what more we need to do to get the solution as good as it can be.'

The census would cover the region from Wellsford in the north to Waiuku in the south, Piha in the west and the Hunua Ranges in the east.

Goff said it aimed to help 'end homelessness, not just manage it'.

Housing First Auckland project manager Fiona Hamilton said work completed during the 2013 census suggested there were 771 people sleeping without shelter across the region.

Another study, by Auckland City Mission chief executive Chris Farrelly, estimated 179 people were sleeping rough within three kilometres of the Sky Tower.

Mayor Phil Goff and Housing First's Fiona Hamilton have announced Auckland's first region-wide count of people living without shelter. Goff says not enough has been done to solve the homelessness issue.

Hamilton said it was unclear how accurate those numbers were, hence the upcoming region-wide count.

Goff indicated the overall problem could be worse.

'There's been estimates that homelessness in Auckland, on the widest definition, may be as many as 26,000 people, but within that category there are the people that are chronically and severely homeless – sleeping in cars and sleeping on the streets,' he said.

The count would be the first time a tally of this nature had taken place in New Zealand. Hamilton said 750 volunteers were needed to complete the 'point in time' count.

'A point in time count provides a snapshot of people living without shelter at a given time on a given night,' she said.

'Measuring the extent of homelessness is essential to ending it. When data is used to inform service delivery and national policy-making, we can have the most significant impact.'

On September 17, volunteers would talk to people on the street or in cars. They would work in groups of three.

Homeless people would also be asked to take place in a survey, but this was optional and those sleeping would not be disturbed.

However, all people would be included in the tally of people sleeping rough.

Goff hailed the success of Housing First, which had housed 420 people in its first 12 months, but said more needed to be done.

'That is a great start, but this survey will spell out more clearly the scale of the problem we have to address and the extra efforts we as a community must make to deal with homelessness,' he said.

'There is a long, long way to go [so] that we can be satisfied that we are effectively tackling this.'

Goff said he saw homeless people on a bitterly cold morning in Auckland on Thursday.

'I don't remember problems of that scale as I grew up in Auckland.'

Findings will be announced on October 10 and a full report will be available by year end.