Organised begging plagues Tauranga's Greerton Village

Sunday, 15 April 2018

Many of the beggars are not homeless at all, the Te Tuinga Whanau Trust says.

Organised beggars are intimidating shoppers in a Tauranga suburb.

Service providers to the homeless in the area say the beggars are not rough sleepers and will often drive home after panhandling for 'booze money' for gangs.

Te Tuinga Whanau Trust suspects many of the beggars are gang prospects. A van has been seen dropping them off and picking them up.

There have also been reports of people standing over elderly people to take their prescriptions and harassing people near ATMs for cash.

Te Tuinga Whanau Trust representative Tommy Wilson said some of the beggars appear to be gang prospects.

Local businesspeople say the begging problem is a relatively recent development.

Te Tuinga Whanau Trust spokesman Tommy Wilson says the beggars have been seen intimidating elderly shoppers.

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Local businessman Dan Hughes has seen young children caught up in one fight between members of the gang.

'When you are a prospect, you have to return $200 a day,' the support service worker said.

'They've figured out they can make $200 a day standing around with a sign,' he said.

'It takes away from the genuine homeless who are looking to better themselves.'

Wilson says the group is organised, which is a concern.

'There's a van that picks them up and drops them off,' he said.

'Now there has been some heat on the topic and security in place, they have backed off a bit.'

Wilson said the answer to the problem is for the public to stop giving money to all beggars and instead only offer 'kai and kindness'.

'We get to know the genuinely homeless people pretty quick,' Wilson said. 'These people are not them.

'We have services that can help people get back on their feet, but giving money to homeless people just creates bigger problems. The only winner in that scenario is the local bottle shop.'

Local business owner Dan Hughes, from Copyman, said the problem with the begging gangs happened suddenly.

'I've been here for six years and we've had challenges, but never problems like this.'

Hughes said he'd seen young children caught up in one fight between members of the gang.

He said the problem was affecting businesses and some were talking of closing for good.

'As a community, we are starting to get through the problem,' he said.

'We're trying to make Greerton the Village the lovely place it has always been. Our poster campaign telling people not to give to beggars is rasing awareness.

'There is also a presence from security companies, who can report issues to police.'

Wilson held a public meeting outside the Greerton Library calling on all residents to join him on a rahui prohibiting giving money to street beggars. The meeting was attended by gang members, councillors and concerned residents.

'Direct them to us and we can get them the help they need,' he said.

'We're like the halfbacks and can feed them out to services that can give them a bed or some food.'