It madethe place look untidy, they said, but the absent owners could reclaim their precious blankets when they returned. That's if they could work out what had happened to them, and where to recover them.
It revived memories of that earlier favourite of downtown landlords trying to move the homeless on: the shower head in the doorway ceiling trick. But as temperatures that night dropped to 6C, it was a heartless and potentially life-threatening act. One, for which we all, I guess, have to take some blame.
Yes blame, that we're willing to live in a community that looks the other way while, based on last September's homeless census, more than 800 fellow citizens live rough on the streets, in parks and in cars. And although the City Mission and the Housing First Collective and others do sterling work trying to get on top of the long-term problem, the immediate crisis is relegated to the too-hard basket.
At this time of year, the immediate need for rough sleepers is somewhere warm and dry to rest their heads at night. Barrister Jo Wickliffe this year set up The Nest — the Night Emergency Shelter Trust — to establish a night shelter to fulfil this need. After representing rough sleepers in court, she said she had recently moved into the city "and these people became my neighbours and I became more aware of them. I can't ignore it any more."
She is amazed Auckland seems to be the only major city in the world without a publicly run night shelter.
The trust has secured a three-storey building in inner-city Nelson St and is planning accommodation for 80 men and 40 women, with annual running costs of about $1.2 million. A resource consent application should be filed this month. Unfortunately too late for this winter. So how about a bit of lateral thinking?
Suited security guards removed blankets belonging to homeless people from Queen St. Photo / Supplied via Twiiter@Rebekah_Jaung
A quick ride from the CBD is Eden Park, which a few weeks ago hosted a crowd of politicians, business leaders and other celebrities in the annual Lifewise Big Sleepout. There, according to the promotional blurb, "participants ... battle the elements, spending a night sleeping on a piece of cardboard, and receiving an insight into what it means to sleep rough".
Hosting this celebrity sleepover, Eden Park chief executive Nick Sautner said: "The park is a whare for all and the stadium remains ready to be utilised for the benefit of local and wider society."
Sounds like an invitation, to me. It has plenty of kitchen and bathroom facilities so let's take the CEO at his word, and create the Eden Park night shelter. If nothing else, it would be a way for Eden Park trustees to thank ratepayers for our $63 million bailout of theunder-used facility.
Alternatively, there's the little-used "Cloud" venue on Queens Wharf, or its recently flossied-up neighbour, the overseas cruise ship terminal. In winter there will be few tourists to disturb the slumbers of the homeless. Or vice-versa.
If it costs a bit to adapt these facilities, so be it. Taking care of the weakest and most vulnerable is a defining sign of a civilised society.
And whatever it costs will be spare change compared with the $212m that Auckland Council and the Government are paying to bankroll a home a little further along the waterfront for the 2021 America's Cup regatta. This includes a $13m rent holiday to the yachties of Team New Zealand for their exclusive use of the council-owned Viaduct Events Centre for the next four years.
If we can afford those sort of handouts to the rich and unneedy, while fellow Aucklanders huddle on the pavements overnight, a publicly funded night shelter will surely make all involved sleep a little better.
