Auckland mayoral election: Goff's eleventh hour homeless policy gets Tamihere tongue lashing
Wednesday, 25 September 2019
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff's latest homelessness policy has been savaged by political rival John Tamihere following its release nearly one week after polls opened.
Goff wants to create a by-name list of every rough sleeper in the region and is also promising targets for housing the homeless.
The plan appears light on detail and extends a number of initiatives already in place, such as Housing First.
Tamihere was quick to attack Goff's policy, pointing out his own pledges had been public for months and well debated.
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'Ballots have been out six days and this mayor finally wakes up to the fact that he has to walk over and around other humans lying in the gutter in the CBD,' Tamihere said.
'Where was he three years ago, two years ago, one year ago or one month ago?'
Voting for Auckland's local elections opened on September 20.
Goff's policy proposed a by-name list of the Auckland's homeless, which would be put together using information held by the region's social housing agencies.
Factors contributing to each homeless person's predicament would be identified so a 'tailored plan' could be created for them.
Goff pledged 'mechanisms' to make sure the region's homeless were not back on the street after being released from hospitals, mental health facilities and prisons.
Goff wants Auckland's Housing First model applied to those being released from such institutions.
He also promised to work with Auckland City Mission to provide 'targeted assistance' to rough sleeping women, who were 'particularly vulnerable to violence and sexual assault'.
However, examples of what that support would look like, beyond what Auckland City Mission already provided, were not forthcoming.
Heart of the City's Street Guardians pilot programme, which had resulted in 150 volunteers working on community projects instead of begging, could also be extended and made permanent.
'Participants are paid, as well as being given the opportunity to learn new skills, create social connections and give back the community,' Goff said.
But Tamihere, who released his own homelessness policy in early August, believed his rival's effort was too little too late.
'You can not release a policy after thousands of Aucklanders have already voted and be taken seriously,' Tamihere said.
The mayoral challenger's policy, headlined by an 0800-JACINDA hotline to remove beggars, pegged homelessness as a central government issue, not a local government one.
If elected, Tamihere said more social housing would be built by the council.
He would also attempt to have social workers change their hours, saying the profession needed to 'wake up' and realise their job was 24/7.
Under Tamihere's policy, any homeless person was causing any form of nuisance would be asked to accompany a social worker.
But the first-time candidate's homelessness blueprint has drawn its fair share of criticism.
Social Workers Association boss Lucy Sandford-Reed said Tamihere's plan was 'not well thought through'.
'One could be cynical and say he's being provocative and in a way belittling the social work profession,' she told Stuff.
If Auckland Council was to hire its own social workers setting hours would be 'entirely their business'.
But most social workers worked elsewhere, with the majority employed by Oranga Tamariki, District Health Boards and other not-for-profits.
According to data from the Homeless Count in September 2018, at least 3674 people were without shelter or in temporary accommodation across the Auckland region.
While millions of dollars have been spent helping the region's homeless, a 2018 report from Auckland Council's City Centre Advisory Board showed an unmet need for homelessness support services.
It revealed homelessness could rise to 26,522 people by 2021 – almost the size of Timaru's population of 27,650 residents – based on average increases between censuses.
Work completed during the 2013 census suggested there were 771 people sleeping with no shelter across the region.
Another study, by Auckland City Mission chief executive Chris Farrelly, estimated 179 people were sleeping rough within three kilometres of the Sky Tower.
The 2013 census showed 20,296 people were without a house in Auckland.