Wellington homeless sheltered in serviced apartment for lockdown, after agencies step in
Friday, 10 April 2020
It was a race against the clock.
Late last month, all New Zealander were given just 48 hours to be off the streets and in shelter they would stay for the next four weeks. But for some of the country's most vulnerable people that was close on impossible.
These are the people whose days are spent on the city streets and nights passed in doorways, on park benches or the couches of acquaintances.
So how do you stay at home when you don't have a home to stay in?
**READ MORE:
* How do the homeless handle the lockdown?
* 2020 deadline arrives for Wellington homelessness
* Living homeless under the threat of pandemic**
Two weeks after the national lockdown began, 34 men are now safe and warm in the newly-named Te Paapori which just a fortnight ago was a building of self-serviced apartments for Wellington visitors.
Wellington City Missioner Murray Edridge told he's still amazed at how it was all achieved in conjunction with Wellington City Council and government agencies.
'We were able to set up a service that in normal times would not have been possible.'
In three or four days Te Paapori was fully staffed and boasted 38 rooms of self contained accommodation, Edridge said all the rooms - complete with 55 Sky channels- would be full this weekend.
'Several people have said 'this is the nicest place I've ever stayed in my life'.
The Coivid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown was hard on everyone but for vulnerable people it was even harder.
'They do it really tough but they're survivors…people learn to cope when everything's normal but nothing's normal anymore so the coping mechanisms are impacted by that.'
People who were homeless often suffered from complicated health conditions that made them even more vulnerable. Edridge said many were frightened by the lockdown.
The new facility meant they could relax and rest without having to be hyper-vigilant.
'If you were really optimistic you'd say wouldn't life be wonderful if we could achieve this level of action and responsiveness when we don't have a crisis. If we can work this well together when its tough we should be able to do it doubly easy when it's easy.'
The first 16 men who moved into Te Paapori were from the Wellington Night Shelter which was struggling to accommodate people under the social-distancing rules.
Manager Pete Leach said lockdown initially meant having 45 men under one roof in less space than a rather large 3 bedroom house.
'All of a sudden we were told we had to lock them in and it was impossible, some of our guys were very frightened.'
The shelter was now home to 22 men receiving care and support while they were isolated in their rooms. Where once they shared a common room, each bedroom now had a fridge and jug.
It wasn't perfect but it was working, he said.
'One guy said 'the problem with the virus is we can't see it, on the street I can see someone coming to attack me'.'