Auckland City Mission wants to become an official place of refuge for the homeless, if the Government’s move-on orders go ahead.
Missioner Helen Robinson told Auckland Council’s Community Committee she staunchly opposed such an order. She believed it would only cause harm to homeless people, while being a drag on the court, prison, and police system.
Robinson feared the Government wanting to move-on rough-sleepers and beggars a “reasonable distance” could mean people weren’t able to access services at the Mission’s base HomeGround.
She said becoming a place where people can seek refuge could mean people could still get help while technically complying with move-on orders.
Robinson admitted she wasn’t sure if changing its status would be legally possible.
“We stand in realities though where we seek alternatives for people so, I wanted to make sure people could come to us and it could genuinely be a place of refuge.”
She also took issue with what constituted someone as a rough sleeper.
“Imagine me on a hot day on one of our park benches waiting for someone and I close my eyes. Am I a rough sleeper in that moment?”
On Sunday, the Government announced it was giving police new powers to move on rough-sleepers, with penalties of fines or prison time for those who breach the orders.
The committee had a planned meeting in which it was going to discuss a new report signalling a 29% decrease in known homeless people in the city between October and February.
The majority of the committee members who spoke expressed a clear distaste for the proposal.
Chair Julie Fairley asked if it was just targeting people “who are looking scruffy”.
She also mentioned a slew of social media comments which called rough sleeping annoying and a nuisance.
“Well, leaf blowers are an annoying nuisance, is that now our bar for criminalising something? I don’t think it should be.”
North Shore councillor Richard Hills said he thought it “was a bit of a sick joke” and felt “physically ill” watching the Government’s announcement.
Whau councillor Sarah Paterson-Hamlin at one moment shared tears with Robinson over the impact they believed the order would have for some individuals.
“It’s not often I get emotional during a public submission,” Robinson later told Newstalk ZB.
Waitākere councillor Ken Turner said the Mission’s presentation was “confronting” and caused him to do some “soul-searching”.
He questioned how to differentiate between those in “genuine situations” and those with accommodation choosing to live on the street.
Howick councillor Bo Burns was curious as to how to target individuals who don’t need housing, but need help.
Robinson said there was no one-size-fits-all to homelessness and believed social and health services wouldn’t properly work unless it was tied to work around sustaining tenancies.
She suggested more immediate access beds for central city Auckland.
There are currently 10, all of which are at the Mission’s James Liston Hostel, and these are funded until October.
“Very specifically we need 200 for the city,” she said.
“We’ve had 79 referrals, of which 36 have been ... accepted.”
She gave credit to the Government for funding an extra 207 housing places in the city through the Housing First programme, but said it still fell short.
“When I try to triangulate all the inadequate data, I believe that we need 1000 additional Housing First places in Auckland.”
Police Minister Mark Mitchell said Auckland City Mission received the same briefing from St John which said rough sleepers were targeted and at risk.
“City Mission do some great work. They’ve been there for a long time. They were there when I was a young beat cop.
“But they have not been able to fix that problem. So we are bringing some tools in for the police to be able to fix that problem and we want to take a social investment approach to this.”
Jordan Dunn is a multimedia reporter based in Auckland with a focus on crime, social issues, policing and local issues. He joined Newstalk ZB in 2024 from Radio New Zealand, where he started as an intern out of the New Zealand Broadcasting School.