Record number of Auckland children spending Christmas in homeless shelter

Monday, 3 December 2018

Family violence forced a young mum out of her home just before the festive season (file photo).

A record number of children will be spending Christmas at Auckland's homeless organisations this year, figures show.

In total, 67 children and one newborn baby will spend Christmas at Birkenhead's De Paul House, a housing and support service for homeless families.

Sarah* and her young son are living at the house because they have nowhere else to go.

When family violence drove Sarah from her home, she was referred to a women's shelter, from there to Work and Income and finally to De Paul House, she said.

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De Paul House manager Jan Rutledge said this was the highest number of families the house has had at Christmas.

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'I was being moved around every week from one motel to another, having to pack every day. I finally feel like I have stability here.'

Sarah's Christmas at De Paul House would not be her son's first Christmas, 'but he will be more alert to what is going on this time', she said.

'It's hard to make it special, with everything that has been going. I'm just grateful we have each other, and that we have a roof over our head.

'A lot of people at this time wish for presents, but we are lucky enough to have a place to call home during this time.'

Manager Jan Rutledge said the house had tripled accommodation space in two years. It got two calls and inquiries a day, and was at 99 per cent occupancy.

She said the high cost of rentals was likely partly driving the demand.

'While the turnover is hard to keep up with, we are successful,' Rutledge said.

'We are able to house two families a week, providing security for them.

'It's a huge responsibility for us. We are proud we can provide the accommodation but it's stressful the need still exists.'

Family support social worker Sam Clarke has worked the last two Christmas at De Paul House. He said the way families celebrated Christmas differed from person to person.

Some left the house to spend time with extended families, others stayed in their accommodation, while some in the house got together to share the day with other families, he said.

Clinical team leader Paula Barker said the families were very lucky to have such a supportive community.

'We are very supported [with] presents donated through the community. It takes the strain off families and they don't have to worry about going out and buying presents for the kids.'

Across the bridge, the Auckland City Mission was expecting this Christmas to be its most demanding ever.

'Our statistics tell us 2018 has been a particularly challenging year with the highest ever demand for our food parcels,' Missioner Chris Farrelly said.

'There's been a 27 percent jump in demand and that means many Auckland families are doing it tough this festive season.'

Farrelly said he was always amazed and grateful at Christmas time when Aucklanders showed their generosity.

'We remain a very caring community and there is more than enough Christmas to go around.'

*Name has been changed.