April 29, 2020
State agencies fingered in path to homelessness
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The head of a far north community services trust says the lockdown has been a chance to learn more about the lives of his clients.
Ricky Houghton says He Korowai Trust has been looking after about 90 adults and 68 children both in its papakainga on the edge of Kaitaia and its emergency accommodation in the town.
He thought he knew what homelessness was, but over the month the residents have been sharing their stories of fear, prejudice, loss of mana and the forces that break up families.
"Some of them say they've got surpluses of $15 a week and that keeps them homeless. Some of them are saying they've had to walk away from their partners because they're better off with the state feeding them because they can't. They're homeless because they're on the wrong sort of benefits – they really should be on disability benefits. We've got guys that have had strokes but they're on jobseeker benefit," he says.
Ricky Houghton says among the people living at He Korowai Trust they have identified butchers who can process the stock the community grows, caterers to cook it, and even nurses to take people’s temperatures and oversee their wellbeing.
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