More than 500 Auckland homeless helped into homes by new initiative

Labour MP and Housing Minister Phil Twyford visiting the Tauranga offices of Housing First provider, The People's Project, this month. Photo / Andrew Warner

More than 500 homeless Aucklanders have now been given the keys to their own homes, according to the latest Housing First statistics.

Housing First was launched in the city in March last year with the idea of putting homeless people into homes before helping them tackle any mental health and addiction issues.

And by the end of June, it had helped 525 homeless Auckland adults and children into 282 rental homes across the city.

It also met its goal of keeping at least 85 per cent in permanent housing after one year and has found 77 per cent of its rental homes from the private market, with just 11 per cent supplied by Housing New Zealand.

Methodist support group Lifewise runs the programme in the inner city with the Auckland City Mission and says the programme is unique because feedback given by people who had been homeless was factored into its design.

This was particularly important for Māori, Lifewise chief executive Moira Lawler said.

Māori make up 59 per cent of those helped by Housing First, while 21 per cent have Pacific heritage.

"Listening to the expertise of those who have lived experience of homelessness is a key element of getting this right for Māori," she said.

The latest figures come as Housing First's founder, Canadian psychologist Sam Tsemberis, gets set to visit New Zealand tomorrow on a one-week workshop tour across the country.

When Tsemberis last visited, the Housing First model had been operating in Hamilton for some years but was just starting in Auckland.

However, its success since then has led the Government to adopt it as the major tool to tackle homelessness across the country.

It is now being rolled out to Tauranga, Christchurch and Wellington as well as regional centres.

In each city, the programme will be run by a collection of support groups run backed by Government funding and agencies, such as the Ministry of Social Development.

In Hamilton, the collaboration of support groups running Housing First is called The People's Project and has helped 902 homeless adults and children into rental homes since September 2014.

Last month, The People's Project began the country's third Housing First programme in Tauranga after the Government selected them to deliver it.

Housing First programmes also planned to kick off this year in Christchurch and Wellington and Lower Hutt with the goal of housing up to 100 and 150 homeless in each area.

Regional Housing First programmes aiming to house 550 people between Rotorua, Whangārei, Nelson and Napier-Hastings are also close to getting off the ground.

They are being funded by a $64.3 million Government package announced in February.

The package will also help extend Auckland's pilot two-year programme, which was initially jointly funded by the Ministry of Social Development ($3.75m) and Auckland Council ($1m).

For Lifewise's Lawler, that's just part of the start of a wider strategy that should also address housing affordability and increase support services for those in need.

"We need more permanent housing and more wraparound support so people don't end up back on the streets," she said.

"Let's not forget that homelessness is a symptom of a larger issue of income disparity and poverty."

AUCKLAND'S HOUSING FIRST:

• 525 people (282 adults and 243 children) have been put into 282 separate rental homes
• 143 are from west Auckland
• 52 from south Auckland
• 49 from CBD
• 32 from the city's inner suburbs
• Six from the North shore

• 77 per cent of rental homes used are privately owned
• 11 per cent are Housing NZ owned
• 11 per cent are owned by other sources

• 59 per cent of those helped have Maori heritage
• 21 per cent have Pacific heritage
• 14 per cent are NZ European
• 5 per cent are defined as "other"
• 1 per cent are Asian