Suited security guards removed blankets belonging to homeless people from Queen St - but they say they were all given back. Photo / Supplied
Suited security guards removed blankets belonging to homeless people from Queen St - but they say they were all given back. Photo / Supplied
It's a confronting photo - two black-suited guards taking away sacks full of blankets belonging to people who sleep on Queen St in Auckland.
Former Greens candidate Rebekah Jaung tweeted that she had seen two security guards removing a pile of blankets and mats belonging to a group of homelesspeople who sleep outside the QBE building, which houses Queens Rise and the New World Metro.
The tweet has raised concerns that rough sleepers may be left without blankets on some of the coldest nights of the year.
Jaung said the guards had told her they would return the blankets if the owners came back and asked for them.
"But removing them in the first place and not having any plan of letting the owners know where their belongings have been taken is already a breach of rights that would not happen to people who were not marginalised," she tweeted.
"It's the middle of winter and taking blankets away from people who are sleeping on the street could be a matter of life or death."
Just spoke to these people who were bagging up and removing blankets and mats that belong to people who sleep on Queen St. I think they work for the building that the New World Metro is in but I didn't ask them directly because I was a bit overwhelmed. pic.twitter.com/TwCGUh8Wx3
He said the blankets had been stored in the office upstairs and at shift handover he had made sure the next guards gave the blankets to a group of rough sleepers who said they belonged to them when they came back that evening.
"I'm human, you know. It's freezing out there," said the guard, who spoke to the Herald on condition he not be named. "We can't just take away all their stuff - they've got nothing."
The blankets were bagged up and removed by security guards at the QBE building. Photo / Supplied
He said it was fine for people to sleep in that spot. But the QBE building manager didn't want a pile of blankets left in front of the building during the day because it made the premises - which includes an upmarket foodcourt - look untidy.
The blankets had been left behind the building's railing and were technically on private property, he said.
The people had been asked to take their belongings with them in future, although he conceded that was difficult without transport.
However, a homeless woman spoken to by the Herald claimed they were her blankets and they had been given back to the wrong people.
Jaung was happy to hear the blankets had been returned but said the incident highlighted a wider problem.
"The focus of the issue should be how we eliminate homelessness and how we ensure people's rights are upheld, not how this one incident is resolved."
Auckland currently has no homeless night shelters, she said. Last night's temperature dropped to 6C - a far cry from the minimum 18C mandated by the new healthy homes legislation.
"It was completely irresponsible that someone involved with the building/business thought this was an action that they had the authority to take. It's both an issue of legal accountability and human rights."
Building manager Mark Fogarin declined to comment to the Herald.
A Herald investigation last year found homeless people die on average 36 years earlier than the general population. Asthma, hypothermia and pneumonia were common causes of death.
