August 23, 2016
Red tape blocks door to homeless
MPs have heard how homeless whanau become trapped in bureaucracy, keeping them from being housed.
The inquiry into homelessness being run by the Labour, Green and Maori parties opened yesterday at Te Puea Marae in Mangere, where the problem of homelessness was brought to wider public attention over the winter.
Marae chair Huri Dennis told the MPs many of the whanau who ended up at the marae had previously had multiple dealings with the Ministry for Social Development, Work and Income, Housing New Zealand, and non government organisations.
"Our whanau were getting caught up in this tidal wave of 'he said, they said, he said.' As a result two weeks looks like four weeks, four weeks looks like three months and these whanau were not getting the support they needed from agencies who were paid to do this job," Mr Dennis says.
The inquiry also heard from housing providers, church and community agencies, and from people who had been homeless or were still living on the streets.
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