Our Hidden Homeless: Donations pour in to help furnish Northlanders' new portacoms

When Katie Rowsell read about the plight of Northland's hidden homeless, she knew she wanted to get involved.

The 38-year-old who grew up in Whangārei and now lives in Brisbane is an avid follower of the Northern Advocate on Facebook.

She has been reading with sadness the series of stories highlighting the issue of housing deprivation in the region.

But she was quick to respond to the call for donations to furnish 10 portacoms under the Whakamanamai Whānau Trust's Whare to the Whenua scheme.

Rowsell donated "what I would want" which included a bedding set complete with accessories like throws and cushions.

Rowsell, a trade union official, said she was happy to help the "amazing initiative".

"It's such a creative, cool solution and I wanted to be a part of it.

"It makes me so sad that it's happening commonly in Northland.

"For some people it just takes one bad month and you could be sleeping on your friends' couch and that's homelessness - it's not just sleeping under a bridge."

Rowsell should know.

She is a volunteer with homeless outreach programmes in Australia; currently 3rd Space in central Brisbane, a drop-in centre where those without homes can have a shower, wash their clothes, rest up and have a meal.

Before that she volunteered at St Vincent de Paul, another homeless outreach programme in Canberra.

Rowsell said even though many homeless are dealing with complex issues, "housing has to come first for people".

Cale Pooley and Tye Matthews from The Hits Northland pick up donated goods from around Northland. Mike Beazley from Kamo (right) kindly donated some items. Photo / Michael Cunningham

"For the people who come in ... we can't help them with drug and alcohol issues until we help with housing."

In November the Northern Advocate teamed up with The Hits Northland, Whakamanamai Whānau Trust and Solomon Group to furnish portable cabins for residents struggling to get into conventional housing.

The trust's Whare to the Whenua scheme allows people to locate the cabins on their whenua and pay what they can afford each week, often with the goal of owning them.

Our aim was to fit out 10 of these portacoms with an equal number of quality beds, couches, chairs, bedside tables and dressing tables to transform the small buildings into homes.

Northern Advocate editor Rachel Ward with a collection of furniture items donated during Our Hidden Homeless campaign. Photo / Tania Whyte

All four groups involved in the campaign have been inundated with offers of donations from kind-hearted readers from Northland to Auckland, along with Rowsell in Australia.

This week crews hit the road to pick up the items.

The Hits client and content solutions manager Dillon Johnstone was in the midst of coordinating 34 pick-ups from across Northland from Thursday until today.

"It's quite overwhelming," he said.

"We go to pick up stuff and while we're there, people are piling on more and more stuff they've found in their house.

"It's mindblowing how giving people are.

"Even when people can't donate furniture they're still going out of their way to donate services."

The Solomon Group picked up a truck-load of household furniture items last Sunday including about 10 beds and lots of couches, drawers and chairs.

Generous residents from Northland and Auckland and as far as Australia have donated household goods. Photo / Michael Cunningham

These were donated by Aucklanders from Bombay to Coatesville and Waimauku.

Solomon Group chief executive Lynette Donohoe said people have been "really generous".

"I've been so touched by people's generosity; just the well-wishes and real encouragement for the project, it's been awesome.

"It's really highlighted for some people that hadn't known it [homelessness in Northland] existed."

Northern Advocate editor Rachel Ward thanked everyone who donated to the campaign.

"They really have made a difference to someone's life with their generosity."