On our doorstep: The story of Auckland's homeless youth

Wednesday, 18 January 2017

Auckland's thousands of homeless youth are the subject of a new documentary.

Studies from Otago University found half of New Zealand's 40,000 homeless live in Auckland, and that the majority of them were under 25.

On our Doorstep - a documentary made by students from AUT's master of human rights class - aims to shine a light on lives within a largely hidden demographic.

During the production process, student Monique van Veen said she had heard a 'massive spectrum of reasons' why youth ended up homeless; from fleeing violent families to feeling marginalised in smaller towns and drifting to Auckland 'to find their people'.

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'The subject really called to us as something hidden, even though homelessness in general was a hot topic in 2016,' she said.

Adequate housing is recognised as a human right by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is not legally binding but serves as a policy guideline.

Van Veen's classmate Emily Griffin said New Zealanders may have a problem with acknowledging that the nation's youth homelessness issue was a violation of human rights.

'Even though youth homelessness is definitely on the increase in New Zealand, I don't think it fits in with the idea we've got of ourselves,' she said.

'We have a sense that we're the land that defends human rights, that we're really good global citizens, and that it can't be happening on our doorstep.

'But unfortunately it is. There are 20,000 homeless youths.'

These are people under 25-years-old without a house fit to live in.

Van Veen said the definition covered a broad spectrum of living arrangements - 'everything from literally sleeping on the streets to living in a really unfit, unhealthy home'.

'A house can be unfit through physical violence happening within, or through being damp and mouldy enough to lead to sickness,' she said.

The seven homeless youth interviewed in the documentary had spent nights on footpaths, in cars, and bouncing between acquaintances' couches and garages.

Not all were living separated from their families, but were considered homeless because of the dire conditions they lived in.

One of the youths interviewed for the video said he had been sleeping in a 'mate's basement'.

'At least I wasn't alone, considering there were spiders and rats down there as well - they made me feel welcome,' he said.

'But sometimes you're contemplating 'why should I even be alive right now?''

The human rights students wanted to raise awareness through their documentary - a theses alternative that Van Veen said 'could actually do some good'.

She said that Auckland had become a hub for the disenfranchised, as it was a 24-hour city where wayfarers could find a sense of community.

'It's the only city where you go to an internet cafe and pay eight dollars to sit in a seat, in the warmth, overnight, for example,' she said.

'We also spoke to many woman who were kicked out of their families for being transgender - they just felt like they didn't belong.

'So they came to Auckland and wound up on K road, and felt like they'd found their people for the first time.'

Barriers in the form of paperwork, jargon, and often technology required to access support services available stopped many of the youths from attempting to change their situation, she said.

The film-makers hoped their efforts could help end New Zealand's youth homelessness by 2025.

Van Veen said that as an election year, 2017 was 'a perfect opportunity to put pressure on people who are standing to run as our representatives'.

The documentary will be screened at AUT on Wednesday evening, and there will be a petition for attendees to sign.

A panel discussion will follow, featuring Salvation Army Social Policy Analyst Alan Johnson, New Zealand Prostitute Collective's Annah Pickering, Tenancy Protection Association's Angela Maynard, and former Human Rights Commissioner professor Judy McGregor.