While some people are shifting out of their homes to capitalise on the Rugby World Cup, the city’s homeless are being forced from their regular doorways and bus shelters as Auckland Council tries to keep them away from the tourists.
The council says it has made arrangements to provide additional support to the homeless during the cup.
But a leading support worker says the effort is only an attempt to manage homelessness for the time being, rather than a proactive solution to the issue.
Cory Haddock, service manager at the Lifewise Hub which provides shelter for Auckland city’s homeless, says the people he works with feel forced out.
“The feedback from [homeless] people is that they have been pushed out of the city.
“It’s the council trying to manage the problem rather than address it.”
First Security has employed three extra security guards to patrol the city during the Rugby World Cup, funded by Auckland Council.
The council allocated $15,000 to increasing security staff.
First Security general manager Mike Rutherford says the firm is usually contracted to enforce bylaws in the central city area, so this is in addition to their usual cover.
“Our whole aim is to ensure [homeless people’s] safety, to not have them being harassed in the street,” he says.
Another $5000 was assigned to providing night shelter services throughout the day when they would usually close each morning.
Project manager of the council’s Homeless Action Plan Betty McLaren says the plan has been in action since 2004, so the Rugby World Cup is “a red herring”.
“To us, it’s just business as usual.”
McLaren says the additional funding is there to ensure the city’s bylaws can be upheld with the increase of people, not “anything sinister”.
“It’s just to allow better services for foreigners.
“The streets are pretty clean, and people have done a whole lot of work to make sure the city’s looking good,” she says.
“With the added catalyst of the Rugby World Cup, politicians, the council and the citizens want the city to look its best.”
She says one section of the Homeless Action Plan deals with antisocial behaviour.
“Such as when people get really drunk and yell at people, they’re not allowed to do that.
“The drinking, the spitting, and then the public complain.”
This is the type of behaviour the security guards are employed to manage.
“We’ve let the homeless people know what the expectations are,” McLaren says.
Haddock says the council could be more focused on a permanent solution to homelessness, as only a quarter of the funding was allocated to night shelter resources.
“I mean, three-quarters of the funding was used for additional security guards.”
Since the Rugby World Cup, he says, the homeless population has largely migrated to the suburbs.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in the homeless populations in Grafton and Grey Lynn.
“The people that have their regular spots there say they have seen a huge increase in people moving from the city.”
Haddock says that because homelessness is a growing issue in the city, forcing people to migrate will not solve the problem.
“Don’t get me wrong, the council has done some good things,” he says.
“We’re one of only two cities that has a homeless action plan.”
But he says this is not enough.
“Right now the council is only managing homelessness, and this will not end it.”
