Couch in central Whangārei puts spotlight on homelessness

A couch outside Open Arms used to illustrate the theme of World Homeless Day. Photo / Supplied

A couch is not a home and homelessness is not invisible - that's the message from 155 Whare Āwhina and Manaaki Rangatahi this World Homeless Day.

They placed a couch outside Open Arms on Robert St yesterday to raise awareness of the taitamariki across Taitokerau facing homelessness.

155 Whare Āwhina is a member of Manaaki Rangatahi, a collective of youth housing, payment and service providers trying to end youth homelessness in Aotearoa.

Last year, with the support of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 155 Whare Āwhina and youth advisory group Whare Finders initiated a project to develop a youth housing plan for Northland.

As part of the project, 170 taitamariki aged 16 to 25 years shared their experiences of housing deprivation.

"We now know that 14 per cent of Māori and 8 per cent of non-Māori taitamariki in our region have experienced housing deprivation and that's not okay. Housing is a human right," 155 Whare Āwhina chief executive Liz Cassidy-Nelson said.

She said homelessness could take many forms, be it sleeping rough outside, in cars, and on couches.

"Young people facing homelessness are also facing unique barriers presented by their young age. How can they afford rent when they're still in high school?"

There were many reasons taitamariki found themselves without a home, Cassidy-Nelson said.

"For some, it's intergenerational, where they've grown up moving from home to home, or their home has been a halfway house for others. Others are dealing with discrimination and homophobia. There's also a stigma around renting to young people."

However, she said there were solutions and 155 was seeking funding and infrastructure for taitamariki housing, in which they would be actively involved in the development of.

Cassidy-Nelson said they were responding with whānaungatanga and whakapapa to connect taitamariki seeking housing support with whānau too.

"At the same time we will be working with schools, community services and key agencies to better inform them on how to respond.

"Ultimately, we want to have clear referral pathways in place for our community to support a young person who can't answer the question 'where are you sleeping tonight?," Cassidy-Nelson said.