A long way to go home
The first time I saw someone sleeping rough was in London. A bearded man slept on cardboard in a doorway of the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. It shocked me, because I had never encountered homelessness in New Zealand in the early 1990s.
Thirty years later in December 2024, approximately 112,496 people, or 2.3% were severely housing deprived. Nearly 5000 people are now living without shelter, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development in 2025.
In Dunedin during the 2022 local government elections homelessness was raised and it has been highlighted as an issue in the elections this year. However, there has been a civic leadership vacuum over homelessness in Dunedin for the last three years that should be urgently addressed.
So what needs to be done? Homelessness is a complex issue that encompasses not just physical shelter, but pastoral care and support. People don’t chose to be homeless, there are external and personal factors that dictate your living arrangements. This is where civic leadership from the Council needs to step up and ensure the issue of homelessness is constantly on the agenda, not just as an election issue.
In Hamilton in September 2014increasing numbers of people were living on the streets or sleeping rough. It was recognised that a community-wide response was required, and that no single organisation working alone had the ability to solve this challenging problem. The establishment of The People’s Project was supported by Hamilton City Council under its Safe City Strategy. This is exactly the initiative Dunedin needs.
Just as the Council led the hospital campaign, so too it should be leading the homelessness issue. It means bringing the many good Dunedin people and organisations together in a coordinated approach. It also means going to Wellington with other Councils and pressuring the government for assistance and support. We cannot continue to act in silos and be leaderless. Our elected council must step into the role of civic leaders to address this silent shame in our streets.
