Compassionate strategy for Whanganui homeless at freedom tenting websites

Whanganui County Council has enforced its freedom camping statute for some overstayers at the Anzac parade, while others are left homeless due to a lack of affordable housing. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui’s lack of affordable housing has been identified as a reason for some leniency regarding Whanganui’s freedom camping statute.

Whanganui District Council has received complaints and expressions of concern from the community regarding the remaining people
at Anzac Parade Freedom Campground. The council’s free camping ordinance, passed last year, was enforced at the Anzac Parade and other designated free campgrounds in the district.

But Stephanie Macdonald-Rose, the council’s corporate general manager, said there needed to be some leniency in applying the statute when people couldn’t find affordable housing.

“We have found that many of the people who have used the Anzac Parade website over the past few months are homeless,” said Macdonald-Rose.

“The housing shortage in Whanganui remains a serious and challenging issue and we are working to find alternative housing for these people.

“Unfortunately, Whanganui continues to have a sizeable waiting list for social housing and a shortage of emergency shelters and specialized assisted living for people with high needs.”

Macdonald-Rose said the Government Freedom Camping Act 2011 stipulated that the Act and related regulations should not apply to the homeless.

“Following the passage of the Freedom Camping Ordinance, the Council and Safer Whanganui have developed guidelines to ensure people affected by homelessness are not negatively impacted by their enforcement. Our compliance team enforcing the ordinance will only do so when it is clear that someone is not homeless but is in violation of our freedom camping regulations.”

The council has taken practical steps to address homelessness at Freedom campgrounds, including staff visiting all sites regularly under community advocacy and security contracts, Macdonald-Rose said.

“And at the local, regional and national levels, the council is lobbying for appropriate agencies to increase specialized, assisted housing for Whanganui. We have reached out to all housing agencies to contact people experiencing homelessness and ‘camping’ in Whanganui to find individual solutions. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix and we continue to work on this complex issue,” she said.

On the subject of matching items

Whanganui still faces a chronic shortage of affordable housing and for some who cannot find rental accommodation, campsites are the only option. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui People’s Center manager Sharon Semple said the local housing crisis has worsened, leaving people with nowhere to go and motels that provide emergency shelter have come under pressure.

“It’s a nationwide issue that cannot be ignored in Whanganui now,” Semple said.

“The council is showing compassion by working with agencies and allowing people to stay in campgrounds where they have access to community support. Whanganui needs more affordable housing for all and an assisted living facility for people with complex needs. The situation will not change until those needs are met.”

The Whanganui People’s Center was established in 1999 to support welfare recipients and in recent years housing needs have become the main focus of the agency, which has a contract with the Ministry of Social Development (MSD).

MSD Regional Commissioner Gloria Campbell said there were currently limited shelter options in Whanganui.

“However, what’s on offer changes from day to day, so we want to encourage anyone who needs it to speak to us so we can identify available options and how we can possibly help,” Campbell said.

“We do everything we can to prevent people from slipping into homelessness by reacting to signs of housing shortages at an early stage.”

The demand for emergency shelters is a symptom of a broader problem of the lack of affordable housing, she said.

“A major program of work is underway across government aimed at increasing the supply of social housing and improving affordability and housing supply.”

Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga (Ministry of Housing and Urban Development) and Kāinga Ora are responsible for increasing the supply of affordable and public housing.