Without an alternative to Emergency housing, the risk of increased homelessness grows / A.J. Hendry

It is already difficult to access Emergency Housing without an advocate, I struggle to comprehend how things could get harder.

Photo by Jake Stark on Unsplash

On Wednesday the Government announced their intention to address one of New Zealand's greatest shames.

Emergency Housing.

Minister Chris Bishop spoke about the blight Emergency Housing is on this country. He acknowledged the horrific conditions so many of our whānau and young people are living in and affirmed "It's just not good enough."

When I first heard that the Government was serious about addressing Emergency Housing, I was encouraged. Our current emergency housing system is inhumane, in many cases, the environments we are putting people in are just totally unacceptable. Poor living conditions, cramped quarters, unsafe environments, in many cases emergency accommodation has been sustaining homelessness as a result of compounding trauma experienced in these spaces, not - as we would hope - ending it.

However, as I looked into the detail of what the Government is proposing I became concerned. Many of the points discussed by the Government appeared to be designed to make Emergency Housing harder to access.

And as Emergency Housing can already be extremely hard to access without advocacy or support, I have struggled to fathom how it could get even more difficult.

It's important to highlight that a lot of what the Government discussed on Wednesday is not too different from what was happening under the previous Government. The Labour Government also encouraged greater scrutiny, the status quo already examines whether someone has "contributed to their own homelessness", and people already have to justify that they have done everything they can to locate alternatives.

The human reality to this is that for those who do need shelter, it can be extremely difficult to accesss Emergency Housing without the support of an advocate.

Many whānau and young people describe the experience of reaching out for help from Work and Income as dehumanizing. Many young people I have spoken with have expressed the feeling that when they asked for help, they weren't listened to, they were often blamed for their experience of homelessness, and for them, greater scrutiny meant more barriers, more blame, and less support.

What I've described here is the status quo.

I struggle to comprehend how things could get harder.

Now, I do believe emergency housing should be a last resort. I also agree with the Government that greater assessment can be completed prior to a person being supported into emergency housing, and greater support offered to find alternatives. In fact, I do a significant amount of work within the Youth Sector training Youth Workers to complete robust assessments with young people, to ensure that if it's possible to keep them out of emergency housing, that we do so.

Largely, this is because emergency accommodation is so extremely unsafe, that in many cases, we do what we can to support young people experiencing homelessness within the community, rather than putting them at greater risk within the current government funded system.

However, these young people are still experiencing homelessness, and no matter how strong our assement may be, in many cases, they still require emergency housing. Because to be frank, there are just no other options.

This is one of my key concerns with the Government's announcement on Wednesday. I heard a lot about how we would reduce the use of Emergency Housing, but nothing about how we would build an alternative to it.

The reality is, in a spectrum of housing need, there is a need for a crisis and intervention space for those in immediate housing need.

A space where people can just turn up, receive support, care, love, and the manaaki they require to move out of crisis into stability.

I have been involved in developing such alternatives. One, The Safety Net Project, which is a collaboration between my own organization Kick Back and Massey Community Trust, is a host home initiative that reroutes young people in immediate housing need, into safe and supportive host whānau environments in the community. We've just completed the inital pilot with tremendous results. On average young people engaging with our program have moved into more stable housing within 2-3 months with many reporting increased mental health, decreased reliance on drugs or alcohol, and a stronger sense of connection to community.

Kick Back's other project is The Front Door where - alongside Mana services - we are building an alternative to emergency accommodation. Our vision is a full 24/7 space, with health care, mental health support, housing, and support on site, to meet our young people where they are at, and then swiftly move them into more stable housing as quickly as possible.

For a long time, Governments have said that emergency housing is better than being on the street. The reality is, its not.

In many cases young people report to us that they felt safer in their cars or on the street, than they did in the space they were placed in by the Government when they reached out for support.

So, the Government is absolutely right that we must address this issue. And I commend them for being so clear on naming the horrific reality of our current system.

But, if we are not going to begin building an alternative system within the shadow of the status quo, then any move away from emergency housing will only see increased homelessness and greater harm to our people.

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.