Wellington mayor joins team who knows city's most vulnerable by name

Saturday, 17 June 2023

Rowan McCardle, DCM outreach team leader, who works with Wellington’s rough sleepers, checks on a regular visitor of DCM.

At 9.30am a notification comes into the inbox of Wellington's Downtown Community Ministry, the team working with the city’s most vulnerable.

A shopkeeper on Courtenay Place in central Wellington is concerned about a woman sleeping on the footpath outside.

It’s a sunny day, but without a cloud in sight, it is crisp. “She has [a] thin blanket and it is very cold,” the notification reads.

The notification first went to the Wellington City Council, using an 0800 number which then notified the Toro Atu (outreach) team at DCM, a social service in Wellington working with people experiencing homelessness.

Wellington Major Tory Whanau joined Rowan McCardle on Friday. The work done by the outreach team is an initiative working with and partially funded by the council.

DCM is then the first point of contact for Wellington’s rough sleepers.

It’s a unique service, partially funded by the council, DCM director Stephen Turnock said. Once notified, the team goes out and engages with rough sleepers to understand what is leading them to the streets, and to provide long term support and housing.

The notification is the quick part but to get to a place where people are willing to engage can take days, weeks, months or in some cases years, Turnock said.

On Friday, mayor Tory Whanau joined Rowan McCardle and Clifton Raukawa from the outreach team.

Rowan McCardle says it is important to get to know the rough sleeping community and to take time to build relationships with them.

McCardle said they know who the woman is at the centre of the notification on Friday morning. Her belongings are left outside the shop but she’s not there.

The team visits the places known to be home to some in the rough sleeping community, including Waitangi Park, the CBD, waterfront, Evans Bay Marina, the town belt, Botanic Garden, regional parks, as well as cars.

Towards the Hutt Valley, people can be seen in tents in the bushes where it can be slightly warmer.

For some people, homelessness is “entrenched” and it could feel safer to be outside than be confined within four walls, McCardle said.

The outreach team see a lot of DCM regulars out on Wellington’s streets and stop by to check in.

The most recent DCM data in the January to March quarter showed there were 122 notifications reporting homelessness. Seventy-seven were known to the team, while 25 were new.

Almost half, 58, were identified as having complex mental health needs, while a third (43) had complex alcohol or other drug addictions.

Turnock said they have seen an increase in rough sleepers and beggars – exacerbated by the housing and cost of living crisis.

Often Māori are overrepresented in the data – 60% in the last quarter - mostly men aged 45 to 65. But increasingly, they are seeing families who are homeless, including children and women.

McCardle said women in particular were resourceful, which made it harder to determine the true extent of homelessness. “They might stay with a violent partner, just to have a roof over her head.”

Clifton Raukawa, also part of the outreach team, says it sometimes takes proactive support to engage with people who spend time on the streets.

It was the case for one young woman they worked with in her early 20s. She experienced severe trauma and had been in a violent relationship, using meth to cope.

As a result, she was evicted from her housing and there was currently nowhere to put her, McCardle said.

“This is the reality, we functionally don’t have enough houses to put them in.”

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More long-term housing supplied by Kāinga Ora and the council is crucial, she said.

Mayor Tory Whanau speaking with Mere who recently moved into a rest home. Whanau says she’s proud of the initiative and hopes other councils will engage in similar work.

Whanau said joining the outreach team and meeting the whānau they worked with opened her eyes to the “humans behind our homeless issue”.

She was proud of the council-supported initiative and hoped to see other councils around the country doing the same.

Whanau sat down for a kōrero with Mere, who was known to DCM for a long time. They shared their whakapapa in Taranaki.

Mere recently came off the streets after moving into a rest home, Raukawa said.

She has actually always been housed, but like many others, spent a lot of time on the streets. “This is the world they have.”

It took proactive support to help Mere move off the streets. Since moving into the rest home, she was looking much better.

“It just takes time to say yes, I need it.”

Turnock said donating kai or money to rough sleepers or street beggars did not lead to the best outcomes.

“If people are getting warm food, it’s contributing towards that being an OK situation to be in,” he said.

He encouraged people to donate time or money to the organisations which specialised in supporting the community and which often work together.

If you are concerned about a person who is rough sleeping, you can ring Wellington City Council on (04) 499 4444, and they will notify the Toro Atu team.