Current Affairs 🏚️ Homelessness

Is homelessness a problem in NZ?

  • Yes

    Votes: 10 90.9%

  • No

    Votes: 1 9.1%

  • Not sure

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    11
Beastmode

Beastmode

Contributor
Do we have a homelessness problem in Auckland, and the if so, why and how?

Given we have state housing, and government benefit’s, I’m struggling to understand how a society such as ours have to deal with people begging for money, especially on Queens Street. It’s a terrible look for tourists and visitors to this country.

Is homelessness a choice ? What drives people to becoming homeless rather than using the government support available?

Or they homelessness by day, then at home at night? Ie it’s a ”profession” that pays well - like those guys cleaning car screens at intersections for spare change.

I don’t have experience on this topic so happy to hear those with experience and views.
 

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Sure there’s a homeless problem, there has been as long as I’ve been here on earth.

I lived in Auckland CBD for 10 years off K Rd and moved back into a central suburb November last year so I’ve seen it all and knew and spoke to a lot of them and got to know some of them quite well over a decade..

A list of reasons why homelessness exists:

1) Horrible childhoods full of trauma
2) Inabilty to handle life’s responsibilities of “regular” folk.
3) Addiction - although not all homeless are on drugs & booze but most of them are and the ones that are have serious addictions
4) Freedom of not having to adhere to the restraints of bills/debt/caring for loved ones etc, but it still comes with a price to pay
5) Running away from home/authority with no where else to go, especially the young ones
6) Severe mental illnesses
7) No family and/or shunned
8) Can’t be effed working and no ambition
9) Low self esteem & self pity
10) Feelings of worthlessness & hopelessness
11) To “disappear”
12) FTW & society attitude
13) Broken spirit
14) Subconscious belief that being on the street is all they deserve
15) Non conformity
16) Lost “everything”
17) Pure laziness
18) Kicked out of any home they’ve been in and for some they don’t know how to keep a home so landlords/family give them the boot over and over.
19) In and out of jail and no one wants anything to do with them
20) No money…..surprise surprise
21) No education and unemployable

The list goes on, we’ll never solve homelessness and it’s important to know that there’s a fair chunk of them that want to get off the street (and alot of them do) but don’t know how to and any little roadblock they hit they give up.

Some aren’t actually but present themselves as homeless to garner sympathy in exchange for money/food & or obviously to support their addictions (but like I said not all are on the piss & pipe)

My 10 years in the CBD I saw at least 5 with my own eyes die on the street, countless others passed away and I wondered what happened to them.

A quick story, there was a rotund lady built like a dump truck that usually posted up on K Rd with her “homeless” sign…..she was well fed believe me. I saw her all the time, bad attitude and I stopped giving her money and gave her a pie one day instead and she took it from my hand and threw it on to the road and said “I don’t want that, I want some “f*****g money”……I found out from another person that saw what happened and they told me she had a HNZ flat near by and wasn’t homeless.

I’ve heard some horrific stories from the horses mouth and felt absolutely helpless because I wanted to help them. Many are normal people that just found themselves on skid row but they fell through the cracks.

Homelessness is a spectrum as far as the type of person goes.

Some actually want to be on the street believe it or not and some are desperate to get off the street and you have everyone in between.

There’s no cure all, I stopped giving money out because I realised I was perpetuating the problem….. sounds paradoxical but it’s true.

Some of them pull in $100-200 per day no shit.

It’s a real tricky one & a part of society that we’ll always have.
 
Pop Dukez said:
Sure there’s a homeless problem, there has been as long as I’ve been here on earth.

I lived in Auckland CBD for 10 years off K Rd and moved back into a central suburb November last year so I’ve seen it all and knew and spoke to a lot of them and got to know some of them quite well over a decade..

A list of reasons why homelessness exists:

1) Horrible childhoods full of trauma
2) Inabilty to handle life’s responsibilities of “regular” folk.
3) Addiction - although not all homeless are on drugs & booze but most of them are and the ones that are have serious addictions
4) Freedom of not having to adhere to the restraints of bills/debt/caring for loved ones etc, but it still comes with a price to pay
5) Running away from home/authority with no where else to go, especially the young ones
6) Severe mental illnesses
7) No family and/or shunned
8) Can’t be effed working and no ambition
9) Low self esteem & self pity
10) Feelings of worthlessness & hopelessness
11) To “disappear”
12) FTW & society attitude
13) Broken spirit
14) Subconscious belief that being on the street is all they deserve
15) Non conformity
16) Lost “everything”
17) Pure laziness
18) Kicked out of any home they’ve been in and for some they don’t know how to keep a home so landlords/family give them the boot over and over.
19) In and out of jail and no one wants anything to do with them
20) No money…..surprise surprise
21) No education and unemployable

The list goes on, we’ll never solve homelessness and it’s important to know that there’s a fair chunk of them that want to get off the street (and alot of them do) but don’t know how to and any little roadblock they hit they give up.

Some aren’t actually but present themselves as homeless to garner sympathy in exchange for money/food & or obviously to support their addictions (but like I said not all are on the piss & pipe)

My 10 years in the CBD I saw at least 5 with my own eyes die on the street, countless others passed away and I wondered what happened to them.

A quick story, there was a rotund lady built like a dump truck that usually posted up on K Rd with her “homeless” sign…..she was well fed believe me. I saw her all the time, bad attitude and I stopped giving her money and gave her a pie one day instead and she took it from my hand and threw it on to the road and said “I don’t want that, I want some “f*****g money”……I found out from another person that saw what happened and they told me she had a HNZ flat near by and wasn’t homeless.

I’ve heard some horrific stories from the horses mouth and felt absolutely helpless because I wanted to help them. Many are normal people that just found themselves on skid row but they fell through the cracks.

Homelessness is a spectrum as far as the type of person goes.

Some actually want to be on the street believe it or not and some are desperate to get off the street and you have everyone in between.

There’s no cure all, I stopped giving money out because I realised I was perpetuating the problem….. sounds paradoxical but it’s true.

Some of them pull in $100-200 per day no shit.

It’s a real tricky one & a part of society that we’ll always have.
Click to expand...
Yessir trauma is the key ingredient to this and many other issues

Very misunderstood by many
The rewiring of the brain from early childhood trauma can be undiagnosed and untreated, causing a tsunami effect just as those factors you listed
 
Hippo Bunnie #Beastmode said:
Do we have a homelessness problem in Auckland, and the if so, why and how?

Given we have state housing, and government benefit’s, I’m struggling to understand how a society such as ours have to deal with people begging for money, especially on Queens Street. It’s a terrible look for tourists and visitors to this country.

Is homelessness a choice ? What drives people to becoming homeless rather than using the government support available?

Or they homelessness by day, then at home at night? Ie it’s a ”profession” that pays well - like those guys cleaning car screens at intersections for spare change.

I don’t have experience on this topic so happy to hear those with experience and views.
Click to expand...
Huge misconceptions around this topic

Truth is we are all just a few bad decisions away from this happening

Relationship breakdowns are a big one and sometime those living out of vehicles are actually still working but just don’t have a fixed abode

With the world going the way it is, we may see a rise in these situations and circumstances very soon
 
Lets Eat (YeahNah) said:
Huge misconceptions around this topic

Truth is we are all just a few bad decisions away from this happening

Relationship breakdowns are a big one and sometime those living out of vehicles are actually still working but just don’t have a fixed abode

With the world going the way it is, we may see a rise in these situations and circumstances very soon
Click to expand...

100%

Working class homelessness is increasing around the western world.

www.theguardian.com

‘It’s hard coming home to a tent’: the rise of Australia’s working homeless

People with jobs and families will be seeing out Christmas in camping grounds and motels, as experts warn of a new kind of crisis
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

Everyones story is unique.
 
Pop Dukez said:
Sure there’s a homeless problem, there has been as long as I’ve been here on earth.

I lived in Auckland CBD for 10 years off K Rd and moved back into a central suburb November last year so I’ve seen it all and knew and spoke to a lot of them and got to know some of them quite well over a decade..

A list of reasons why homelessness exists:

1) Horrible childhoods full of trauma
2) Inabilty to handle life’s responsibilities of “regular” folk.
3) Addiction - although not all homeless are on drugs & booze but most of them are and the ones that are have serious addictions
4) Freedom of not having to adhere to the restraints of bills/debt/caring for loved ones etc, but it still comes with a price to pay
5) Running away from home/authority with no where else to go, especially the young ones
6) Severe mental illnesses
7) No family and/or shunned
8) Can’t be effed working and no ambition
9) Low self esteem & self pity
10) Feelings of worthlessness & hopelessness
11) To “disappear”
12) FTW & society attitude
13) Broken spirit
14) Subconscious belief that being on the street is all they deserve
15) Non conformity
16) Lost “everything”
17) Pure laziness
18) Kicked out of any home they’ve been in and for some they don’t know how to keep a home so landlords/family give them the boot over and over.
19) In and out of jail and no one wants anything to do with them
20) No money…..surprise surprise
21) No education and unemployable

The list goes on, we’ll never solve homelessness and it’s important to know that there’s a fair chunk of them that want to get off the street (and alot of them do) but don’t know how to and any little roadblock they hit they give up.

Some aren’t actually but present themselves as homeless to garner sympathy in exchange for money/food & or obviously to support their addictions (but like I said not all are on the piss & pipe)

My 10 years in the CBD I saw at least 5 with my own eyes die on the street, countless others passed away and I wondered what happened to them.

A quick story, there was a rotund lady built like a dump truck that usually posted up on K Rd with her “homeless” sign…..she was well fed believe me. I saw her all the time, bad attitude and I stopped giving her money and gave her a pie one day instead and she took it from my hand and threw it on to the road and said “I don’t want that, I want some “f*****g money”……I found out from another person that saw what happened and they told me she had a HNZ flat near by and wasn’t homeless.

I’ve heard some horrific stories from the horses mouth and felt absolutely helpless because I wanted to help them. Many are normal people that just found themselves on skid row but they fell through the cracks.

Homelessness is a spectrum as far as the type of person goes.

Some actually want to be on the street believe it or not and some are desperate to get off the street and you have everyone in between.

There’s no cure all, I stopped giving money out because I realised I was perpetuating the problem….. sounds paradoxical but it’s true.

Some of them pull in $100-200 per day no shit.

It’s a real tricky one & a part of society that we’ll always have.
Click to expand...

Thanks. This is a great post and very insightful

I always thought it was a by-product from a lack of support from the government, but it’s looks far more complicated than that.
 
Hippo Bunnie #Beastmode said:
Thanks. This is a great post and very insightful

I always thought it was a by-product from a lack of support from the government, but it’s looks far more complicated than that.
Click to expand...
The support is there but it’s up to the individual, our system isn’t great by any means. We all know that aye and the system operates on a “just another number” basis and if you don’t take full advantage of it and take accountability, one must take accountability at a certain age regardless of what caused them to be homeless then in the gutter they go. Sad but true.
My 10 years in the CBD taught me not to judge…. I met some incredibly intelligent, kind, talented, and giving people. They are not all thieves, vandals, drunks, thugs etc…..just hit a massive speed bump and went flying into the wayside.
 
Pop Dukez said:
Hang in there bro, I’m only a DM away 🤙🏽
Click to expand...
We probably all know what it is, call it black dog, or the meaninglessness of a cold godless universe or whatever, we all have our ways of dealing with it, drugs, alcohol, God or antidepressants. The homeless population seem to have fallen through the cracks and haven't found their personal way of coping, I don't know what the answers are for them except going back to institutionalisation to keep them out of sight under the carpet so they don't frighten the horses.
 
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Hippo Bunnie #Beastmode said:
You’ve raised another interesting discussion, perhaps for another day - pharmaceutical medicine like antidepressants

Does it really help or does it pull you further down the rabbit hole.
Click to expand...
Different strokes for different folks…..they hand them out like tic tacs at the Doctors. It’s a scientific fact that they only work for around 20% of people with those afflictions. The rest have to find another alternative and the adverse side effects can outweigh the benefits. Double edged sword.
People are trying micro doses of psychedelic drugs under supervision ie Ketamine, Magic mushies etc with great results but they’re not subsidised and it’s expensive.
 
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