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Age 11 and living on the streets: Auckland’s youth homelessness ‘crisis’

Thursday, 15 May 2025

Kat has been sleeping rough since she was 10. Now 24, she’s speaking out about the violence, fear and invisibility faced by a growing number of rangatahi living on Auckland’s streets.

This reporting was produced by The Hui and has been republished by Stuff **with permission. *For more stories from The Hui, click here.***

Kat has lived on the streets of Wellington and Auckland since she was 10 years old. She knows the doorways, bridges, and corners of the inner city where she can find shelter.

Now 24, Kat wants to speak out about the dangers faced by rough sleepers - and how being young and without a roof over your head makes things even harder.

“The streets - they’re pretty dangerous for young people like me to be on. Violence, drugs. Sleeping in public is really dangerous - under bridges, in car parks,” Kat says.

It’s a reality that youth worker Aaron Hendry sees all too often in his mahi running Kick Back, a Tāmaki Makaurau-based service offering wraparound support for vulnerable rangatahi (young people).

“We’re talking about, in some cases, children living on the street in environments where they are at constant risk of being physically and sexually assaulted. At times, their lives are at risk,” says Hendry.

Rangatahi advocate Aaron Hendry runs Kick Back, a support service for vulnerable young people in Tāmaki Makaurau. He fears some children may lose their lives due to the unsafe conditions they are forced to live in.
Rangatahi advocate Aaron Hendry runs Kick Back, a support service for vulnerable young people in Tāmaki Makaurau. He fears some children may lose their lives due to the unsafe conditions they are forced to live in.

And the danger isn't just from others - it’s also from themselves.

“There are times they leave our doors and we fear we won’t see them again. That’s the thing that keeps me up at night - that we’re going to lose someone. That one of the young people we care for and love will die, either because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or because they’ve lost hope.”

Kick Back is currently monitoring around 100 young people in Aotearoa’s largest city. The youngest is just 11 years old.

Hendry describes the situation as a crisis.

“A lot of our young people are being directed to lodges and hostels. These environments are often really unsafe. The pricing is often exploitative - $660 a week for a tiny, dark, damp, mouldy room. It doesn’t seem like the Government understands how much risk they are putting these children in.”

Between September 2024 and January 2025, there was a 53% increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in Tāmaki Makaurau - that is those sleeping with no shelter.

Several factors have contributed to the crisis, including the Government slashing $20 million from rangatahi transitional housing in the 2024 budget, Hendry says.

Kat has lived on the streets of Wellington and Auckland since the age of 10.
Kat has lived on the streets of Wellington and Auckland since the age of 10.

“Since then, we’ve seen more young people seeking support, being denied that support, and ending up sleeping rough in extremely dangerous situations.”

In August, the Government also changed emergency housing criteria, giving preference to families over young people - leaving rangatahi like Kat more vulnerable than ever.

Māhera Maihi runs He Pā Piringa, a 10-bed accommodation facility for homeless youth. She’s seen first-hand how difficult it has become for young people to get on housing waitlists.

“We’ve noticed in our stats that nearly 100% of our young people have been declined emergency housing.”

He Pā Piringa offers a tikanga-based, kaupapa Māori solution to the housing crisis.

“The rules of the marae are exactly the same when you come to our whare. When you go to your marae, you take your shoes off. You know that if you get angry, you don’t punch holes in the walls - you’d get in trouble. Same here - you don’t punch holes in the walls.”

Māhera Maihi runs He Pā Piringa, a 10-bed accommodation facility for homeless youth. More than 100 young people are on the waitlist for just 22 available beds.
Māhera Maihi runs He Pā Piringa, a 10-bed accommodation facility for homeless youth. More than 100 young people are on the waitlist for just 22 available beds.

All young people who stay must commit to a year, learning the skills they need for independent living. Zevania Mead, a recent arrival, says she immediately felt at home.

“I fell in love with it straight away. Everything was here. Beautiful kitchen. I was like, fantastic. I thought, ‘Cool as!’”

But demand is far outstripping supply at He Pā Piringa. More than 100 young people are on the waitlist for just 22 available beds.

“We’ve had zero property damage, zero police call-outs for violence against each other - which is an achievement in itself. It’s unheard of - not just in New Zealand, but globally, when it comes to youth transitional housing,” says Māhera Maihi.

However, after their year is up, rangatahi face yet more uncertainty about their living arrangements.

Children as young as 11 are sleeping under bridges and in car parks in Aotearoa’s largest city. With government cuts to housing support, frontline workers say Tāmaki Makaurau is in crisis - and it’s the children who are paying the price.

Aaron Hendry is calling for urgent action to support our most at-risk rangatahi.

“Think about the reality that for some children, the first time they get a roof over their heads, the first time they have food in their bellies, the first time they feel stability - it’s in a youth prison.

“When you reflect on that, you realise something is going seriously wrong in our communities. Something is seriously wrong with our priorities. That’s the consequence of homelessness. That’s the consequence of abandoning our children.”

Watch The Hui’s full story on Tāmaki Makaurau’s youth homelessness crisis here:

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