Helping homeless begins at home

In May this year Kellie Kioa opened her home to the 30th homeless family in 24 months and she told the Bay of Plenty Times the city desperately needed an emergency housing facility.

At that time she had a family of five living in the garage at her Housing New Zealand home and another single working mother-of-two staying in a bedroom.

In 2012 she had started Te Tawharau o te Ora, a charity dedicated to providing that service, and had applied for funding and lobbied politicians.

In the last quarter of 2015 she had fielded 33 more inquiries from people seeking emergency housing, she said.

Her most recent case included a family who moved into a home which was sold six weeks later, she said and they had until the end of January 2016 to find accommodation.

Homelessness was still a problem in Tauranga and was caused by a variety of problems, she said.

"In the old days being homeless was defined by one category, that being the poor. These days we have the poverty stricken group (for whatever reasons they cannot meet the cost of living) working poor (families who are living from pay to pay), transitional (families with good credit and references who face being homeless due to the actual lack of houses available), and there is also the hidden homeless who stay under the radar."

Low-income earning families could not make ends meet, she said.

"There are not enough houses in Tauranga and the cost of living is just too high."

Unfortunately despite applying to be registered as a social housing provider in 2015, Te Tawharau o te Ora did not meet the criteria, she said.

"This was due to the lack of finances we already had, lack of property ownership and the fact that our services are for emergency housing not social housing."

It had not put Ms Kioa off from setting goals for 2016.

"My ultimate aim is to open up a motel-like facility with multiple families living there. There will be lots of opportunities for the community to donate in 2016. Also raising awareness in the community that being homeless could affect anybody at anytime ..."

Her garage and house "has done me proud however they cannot stand up to the increase of families needing accommodation," she said.

Meanwhile educating the community about homelessness, having an open day for the public to experience what it is like to be homeless and continuing to network with other organisations were also on the priority list, she said.