Features

If we ever stop to think about it, most of us know little to nothing about homelessness. We’ve probably walked past unfortunates huddled down for the night in an alley or turned away from the guy at the bus stop asking for change. Caitlyn O’Fallon set out to find out who the homeless in Dunedin really are.

 
The picture most New Zealanders have of the homeless is of people sleeping on the street, huddled under newspapers and cardboard boxes. Drug abuse, alcoholism, mental illness, and criminality probably come to mind. But despite their high profile in the media and in the public eye, people who fit this picture, though they do exist, make up a small fraction of the homeless population in New Zealand. 
Partly, this is because the people who form the ‘public face’ of homelessness are not representative of homeless people in general. The individuals that get noticed, and even given nicknames and ‘celebrity’ status, are the ones whose behaviour makes them stand out. And even these individuals are probably not who we think they are. Most of them are not even homeless.
 
Celebrities?
Adrian Higgins is a psychologist who works with people with intellectual disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). He says he certainly doesn’t see the people he supports as Dunedin personalities or celebrities, and has sometimes been an advocate for their privacy when they’ve been subjected to unwanted attention on YouTube, Facebook, or other websites. As he rightly points out, they do not belong to anyone.
One such accidental ‘celebrity’ is a man called Jamie, sometimes known to Dunedinites as Speedy. He is an identifiable figure on campus and around town, striding purposefully with his voluptuous beard, boom box in hand. Rumours about his past abound: according to some, he is a former professor, or maybe a Lotto winner. Legend has it he lives on the street, or with his family, or in some kind of home.
None of these are true. Jamie knows that these rumours exist, particularly since he saw the article Critic published in Issue 12 this year. But his reality is very different. He was offended at the suggestion that he is homeless or a vagrant, and hopes that in future, people will check with him before they publish anything about him. He is certainly not a public figure by choice.
To those who know him personally, Jamie is not a celebrity but a man who is very protective of his privacy. Contrary to the myths, he lives in a flat on his own. The legendary Lotto fortune doesn’t exist, but Higgins is concerned that this hasn’t stopped people trying to get money from him. One thing in that article was accurate: he loves ‘70s rock music, with Pink Floyd, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones numbering among his favourite bands.
Without the support Jamie receives from a local community trust, he would face considerable challenges in going about the activities of daily life. Fortunately, in Dunedin and throughout most of the country, support is available for those who need it. Even so, some Dunedinites will be going to sleep in makeshift accommodation tonight, even if it is only for a short period of time.
 
Falling through the cracks
The Otago Mental Health Support Trust is an organisation that provides peer support, advocacy, education, and information regarding mental health issues. The team there provides a huge variety of services to people with mental illness, their families, and health professionals. 
An issue that sometimes comes up is housing. Mike McAlevey and Denise Kent, who work for the Trust, say that the problem often arises when people leave the hospital and need to find a place to live, often at short notice and short on funds. They both agree that in Dunedin, homeless people living rough on the street is not really a problem. The problem is people living in unsuitable situations.
The options for someone leaving a psychiatric ward range from facilities that offer full nursing support to independent flats with a variety of levels of care or supervision in between. But there are barriers to accessing some of these services: waiting lists, funding, lack of information, and a myriad of other factors mean that finding the right place is not a given. And as Kent says, “If you’ve lost your accommodation and have no income, you don’t have a lot of choice.” However, some people who the Trust support do own their own homes.
One form of shelter people find is the boarding house. In a boarding house, inhabitants have individual rooms but usually share bathroom and kitchen facilities, a lot like a flatting situation. Also much like flatting, there are boarding houses that are well-maintained and well-run, and those that are not really fit for human habitation. But these are the places that will accept people who other landlords are wary of: transients, substance abusers, the mentally ill, and recently-released criminals. They are the last resort.
 
A bed for the night
Frances O’Connell, coordinator at the Dunedin Night Shelter, agrees that most of the characters we’re used to seeing around town are not actually homeless, and so they’re not the people she sees at the shelter. However, there are people in Dunedin who find themselves with nowhere to live and no place to turn. Often, they’ll end up at the Dunedin Night Shelter for a few days. The shelter offers emergency accommodation, dinner, and breakfast for men, although they will also arrange a place for women and families to stay.
Ms O’Connell tells Critic that there are many reasons why someone would need to use their services. Some examples she gives are men who have been evicted, recently released prisoners, men suffering from addiction or mental health problems, itinerant workers who have arrived in town without arranging accommodation, and men escaping debt or other financial problems. Sometimes they’ll even put up a student who’s had a breakdown in their flat.
People can only stay at the Night Shelter for three nights. After that, they’ll be helped to find other accommodation. Often, this is at private boarding houses. They also often need help dealing with Work and Income, or to visit the Salvation Army for a food parcel. The Night Shelter also supplies bedding and clothing packages for men. “The Dunedin community is very generous,” Ms O’Connell says. “Hardly a man leaves the shelter without a change of clothes.”
 
Homeless
There are some people, mostly men, who do live rough much of the time. They sleep almost anywhere: around the University, under the eaves at the library, even on the sand hills near the beach. Often they’ll travel from place to place looking for work. Throughout New Zealand, the number of people who have no real home has been growing due to the impact of factors like the recession and increased unemployment. The imminent increase in GST won’t help.
Australia has been very proud of avoiding the global recession, but although their economy may be doing better than the rest of the world, the difficult financial climate has hit the poorest people the hardest. The Salvation Army in Australia tracks statistics on the people whom they help, and their latest statistics show dramatic jumps in the number of homeless. In Canberra, the homeless population has nearly doubled. It seems reasonable to think that in New Zealand, where the recession has hit hard, the statistics might be similar.
Nobody knows if this is the case. No statistics are kept on the number of homeless people in New Zealand. The 2006 census recorded 6615 people living rough, in boarding houses or night shelters, or in improvised dwellings like garages, sheds, or cars. This is accepted to be an underestimation: some experts think there could be as many as 20 000 people in the country living in these conditions. For obvious reasons, it’s hard to count people who don’t have a fixed address.
John McCarthy, general manager of the agency LIFEWISE, which works with homeless people in Auckland, says that homelessness is a growing problem in New Zealand. “Sadly,” he says, “we’ve seen a marked increase in the number of young homeless coming in. These people – the under-25s – need quick intervention so they don’t get into the pattern of living rough on the streets.” Of course, Auckland is different to, and much bigger than, Dunedin. But if his predictions are correct, Dunedin could be facing problems of its own in the near future.
As students, most of us are pretty familiar with what could be called sub-standard living conditions. Even those of us on the more house-proud end of the scale know someone who lives in a hell-hole. But the biggest difference between the majority of us and the people really struggling with poverty in New Zealand is that being a student is temporary. It’s easier to laugh it off when you know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
 
Side bars
 
Dunedin Night Shelter
o The Night Shelter Trust was formed in 2004 after existing shelters closed, leaving Dunedin with no crisis accommodation.
o The shelter rents a house where men can get dinner, a bed for the night, and breakfast. They find accommodation for women and families in the women’s refuge, hostels, or boarding houses.
o The Night Shelter runs on the generosity of volunteers. Right now they particularly need weekend night supervisors for Saturday and Sunday nights, and volunteers for their collection drive in August. If you’re interested in volunteering, call Frances O’Connell on 477 0546.
 
Stats
o 6615: the number of New Zealanders recorded as homeless on the 2006 census.
o 20 000: one expert’s guess at the actual number of homeless people in New Zealand.
o 100 million: estimated number of homeless people worldwide.
 
What is homelessness?
It is surprisingly difficult to define homelessness. Statistics New Zealand took 21 pages to do it in their 2009 document “New Zealand Definition of Homelessness.” The definition includes a wide range of people who do not have a permanent and/or suitable place to live. The following situations fall within this broader definition of homelessness:
• Living with no shelter or a makeshift shelter like a shed or car.
• Living long-term in a hostel, campground, or boarding house.
• Sharing someone else’s private dwelling.
• Living in a dilapidated dwelling which is not considered fit for habitation.
People living rough on the street make up only a small fraction of the people who are homeless in New Zealand, although this is the problem that seems to get the most attention.
 
World homelessness
On a global scale, homelessness is a serious problem. The estimated number of homeless people worldwide is about 100 million. This includes people displaced by violence or natural disasters. A billion more live in slums. These numbers are increasing as the world population grows and more people move to cities.