Support grows to end youth homelessness / A.J. Hendry

Homelessness is a political choice. Bi-partisan support to #EndYouthHomelessness demonstrates hope that we can make diferent ones!

Political parties pledge support to end youth homelessness. In the lead up to the election Manaaki Rangatahi, a collective of organizations serving young people who experience homelessness and advocating for an end to youth homelessness in Aotearoa, requested that each political party commit to six key actions which – if implemented in the next parliamentary term – would represent a decisive step in the fight to prevent and end youth homelessness in Aotearoa.

Of the six actions put forward, The Greens, Te Pāti Māori, TOP and the Labour Party committed to all six, while National committed to 5, Act to 4 and NZ First did not respond.

Though commitment is not yet action, the bipartisan support shown is vitally important and represents hope that in the next term of Government our young people will receive the attention and support they desperately need.

Urgent action on this issue is critical. Young people experience homelessness at a disproportionate rate to other age groups, with tamariki and rangatahi making up almost 50% of all who experience homelessness in Aotearoa. Though specific data regarding the size and scope of the issue is lacking (largely due to lack of investment and attention on the issue), there are some things we do know. For example, we know that 18% of those in emergency housing are young people, and that 70% of those in emergency housing had an interaction with the care system (highlighting the lack of adequate support for rangatahi as they transition out of care). This point is highlighted in a report released by Oranga Tamariki last year which states that 1 in 10 young people transitioning from care or from youth justice residences are experiencing some form of housing insecurity and homelessness. We also know that – according to the growing up in NZ study - that 1 in 14 tamariki will experience homelessness between 8-12yrs old. And according to research by Youth2000 that 29% of High School students also experience homelessness.

We also know anecdotally from the experiences of adult whānau who have experienced homelessness, that many say that their experience began when they themselves were Tamariki and rangatahi. Which if true (and there is every indication to believe it is) means that if we can prevent youth homelessness, we can go a long way to ending homelessness in Aotearoa.

And yet, despite the huge need, movement to address this important issue has been slow. In 2018, when Manaaki Rangatahi began organizing to advocate for a decisive response to youth homelessness, the collective found that there were huge gaps in knowledge within Government regarding the issue. With many Government officials and Ministers unaware of the issue or lacking insight into the specific needs of young people facing homelessness. Since then, the collective, under the leadership of Bianca Johanson (a staunch advocate for the rights of rangatahi, and the collectives Rangatira) has worked to both educate the public and the government on the issue, and outline solutions to address it.

Though the collective has seen small wins (allocation of budget for Rangatahi Transitional Housing, inclusion of rangatahi in the homelessness action plan, increased awareness within government and community), there is a long way to go to ensure that youth homelessness can be adequately ended.

That is why the collective has called for each party to commit to six key actions to respond decisively to this issue. These actions include: 1. Enshrining the Right to Housing (supported by all parties bar National, ACT & NZF), 2. Prohibiting Government Agencies from releasing young people into homelessness (supported by all bar NZF), 3. Developing a comprehensive strategy to prevent and end youth homelessness (supported by all bar ACT/NZF), 4. Investing in upscaling and upskilling Youth Housing and Homelessness Services (supported by all bar NZF), 5. Retaining and Strengthening the role of the associate minister in homelessness (supported by all bar NZF), and 6. Ensuring Government agencies collect data on Youth Homelessness and report regularly (supported by all bar NZF).

These actions are important, because up to this point, no Government has taken decisive action to respond to youth homelessness. This has meant that – even though young people are overrepresented within our unhoused community – there is still a significant lack of resources and strategic mahi being done to ensure that their needs are provided for. Though the inclusion of young people in the Homelessness Action Plan has been welcomed, the Action Plan itself lacks the significant attention and detail needed to identify the key pipelines and drivers of youth homelessness, and thus fails to allocate the investment needed to close them. Without such a strategy, there is significant risk that Governments will view the primary response to youth homelessness as funding front line services to house young people after they have experienced homelessness. Now funding front line services has its place, but if we continue in our failure to fix the much wider systemic and structural issues that contribute to homelessness for young people, than such a strategy will represent no more than an investment into funding a social services machine that cares for young people after they have been harmed and traumatized by an experience of homelessness. Essentially, creating a social services industry that feeds off the suffering of our young people.

This is why Manaaki Rangatahi – as a collective - has consistently called for a youth specific strategy that will examine the pipelines and drivers that contribute to youth homelessness, ensure we have legislation to prevent young people being released into homelessness, and place responsibility on the Government to invest in the structural reform our young people need.

The reality of Youth Homelessness is shameful for a nation that presents itself globally as a beacon of justice and progress. Homelessness is not an accident, it endures due to a series of political choices. And yet, the bipartisan support demonstrated in the response to Manaaki Rangatahi’s call to action represents hope.

Hope, that in an election campaign that has largely focused on what divides us, we can agree on at least one thing.

No young person should be left to live on our streets.

All rangatahi should be provided with a safe, stable, and loving home.

Hope, that together, we can #EndYouthHomelessness.

A.J. Hendry is a Laidlaw College graduate, and a Youth Development Worker and rangatahi advocate, working in the Youth Housing and Homelessness space. He leads Kick Back, a service supporting rangatahi experiencing homelessness and is also an advocate working collectively to end youth homelessness in Aotearoa. He is also the curator and creator of When Lambs Are Silent.