Shed life's a step up for Dave

ALEX HICKEY
Napier man Dave Senior lives in a shed at the bottom of someone's garden.
It has no heating, no electricity and no furniture, other than an old bed, but it's very much a step up the property ladder for the 50-year-old ex-orchard worker. At this time six months ago, Dave did not have a home, or even a shed - he lived on the streets of Napier.
That might come as a surprise to the average Napierite. Homelessness is a problem normally associated with teeming metropolises such as Auckland, London or New York, but not the small, relatively affluent Art Deco city.
But Dave spent seven years sleeping rough (two in Hamilton and five in Napier) and, according to him, he was not the only one.
He said at least seven or eight others could be homeless at any one time, although mostly they were there by choice - as he was.
He moved out of his last flat in Hamilton seven years ago because too much of his money was going on rent.
"By the time I paid rent I had no money left," he said.
Again he acknowledged that had been his choice but he was dismissive of any suggestion that there was not a homeless problem in Napier.
"If people are out there on the street don't tell me they are not homeless, it might be by choice but they are still homeless. It's bullshit to suggest there are no real homeless (people)."
Dave managed to hold down a job for at least some of the period he spent living rough, working in Hawke's Bay orchards during the fruit-picking season.
Getting to and from work was easy. The difficult part of the day was finding a good place to sleep at night when work finished.
He always did.
"There are plenty of places to sleep in Napier, it's just finding them."
He slept everywhere, from the beach in the summer to outside school buildings or anywhere that was out of sight from pedestrian foot traffic.
"All you need is shelter from the wind and some sort of roof over your head."
The trick was not to get wet, otherwise it was difficult to dry out and shake off the cold, leaving you susceptible to diseases such as pneumonia.
Finding a bite to eat was simple. Plenty of hotels and caf?s discarded "perfectly good food" and some church groups in Napier and Hastings also provided the occasional hot meal.
His lucky break came about six months ago, when he stumbled across the Lighthouse, a Napier-based drop-in centre for people with a mental illness.
Dave wasn't ill, but the centre still provided him with a hot meal every afternoon and, just as importantly, a place to connect with others.
"The Lighthouse has a good little community down there," he said.
While there he slowly started to get his life back on track.
He found the shed, got free access to a GP for the first time in years and found he could no longer work (because of sky-high blood pressure) and was entitled to an invalid's benefit.
Dave has no regrets about his time on the streets and is thankful for the temporary shelter of the garden shed but he wants his life to move on again.
"I've been in the shed too long. This time next year I hope to have my own unit," he said.