Stigma not helping displaced families

Love Soup Rotorua's Gina and Elmer Peiffer are asking for the public's help finding home for desperate families. PHOTO/FILE

Love Soup Rotorua's plea for homes and temporary accommodation for locals struggling to find a place to live has not gained much traction, but the charity group is hopeful help will arrive.

At the weekend, 12 families facing eviction from their rental properties contacted Love Soup Rotorua's Gina and Elmer Peiffer, desperate for help for permanent or temporary accommodation.

Love Soup helps to feed homeless people and struggling families in Rotorua and made a plea for help in Tuesday's Rotorua Daily Post.

"We had an offer of a block of land we could put cabins on, but it was in Pukehina, so it's too far away from Rotorua for many of these struggling families to travel or afford the cost."

Mrs Peiffer said the generous offer was made by a farming couple, but they had to turn them down.

She said just one person had made an enquiry to date, "but a lot of people are really hesitant because of the stigma attached to homelessness".

"I describe these people as 'displaced families' and it's due to the rental market being so hard to find anywhere to live.

"These families are in totally different circumstances than the rough sleeper-type or homeless person.

"Three years ago, when we first started, we used to deal with older single males between ages between 45 and 70.

"The whole thing has changed and now it's predominantly families, and they can be large families."

She said those displaced families were slow to come forward, "they can be embarrassed to come forward or don't know there is a service to look after them".

Mrs Peiffer said she wanted to reassure those thinking about helping them out that all families were thoroughly vetted before moving in.

"We go through a process where we will interview a family and match them with people.

"We keep a close eye on our families and work closely with our host families and visit every second day, or once a week.

"We know who the rat bags are, so we make sure both families are safe," she said.