Tenants Protection Association (Christchurch) Inc.
Te Tōpū Tiaki-ā-Kainoho
Homelessness
What does homelessness mean?
There are a lot of people who ‘sleep rough’ every night in New Zealand. However, you don’t have to be living on the street to be homeless. You can be homeless if you are sleeping on a friends couch, staying in a short term hostel or living in overcrowded or insecure housing.
Avoiding homelessness.
Keep the roof over your head – pay your rent first!
Most evictions made by the Tenancy Tribunal are because the rent is more than 3 weeks behind. Never stop paying your rent on purpose, and if you do get behind in your rent keep in good contact with your landlord and make a realistic agreement about how you will pay it back – and do your best to keep it. The landlord will only give a tenant so many chances before they won’t give any more.
A break down in relationships, becoming unwell, a change in you life that affects your ability to manage or to pay your rent – any number of things can threaten the security of your living environment. It can also happen to anyone.
Which agencies can help
For people with a history of moving a lot, it is not always about money but other issues or behaviour that makes it hard to stay somewhere for a long time. It is ok to ask for help and there are agencies that can help you make the changes you need.
For agencies in the Christchurch region there has been a resource developed called the No Fixed Abode and Support Services Directory. The source can be found on-line: https://nofixedabode.nz/
New Zealand Coalition to End Homelessness
“He turangawaewae kore he wairua whare kore’
The role of the NZCEH is to raise awareness of homelessness as a political issue, advocate to government for primary legislation, creating a duty to accommodate people who are homeless, and to provide advice, support and best practice to agencies working with people who are homeless in Aotearoa / New Zealand.
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What is homelessness? No home; no place to call your own; No place to be accepted as you are; Nowhere to be yourself without fear; No door to lock on the outside world. No home means searching For somewhere to stay, For a safe place to rest Forever searching, Going from place to place, From one official to the next. Forever on the treadmill Looking for food, shelter, work (it's hard to keep a job without a home). No home means seeking To be accepted as you are, A member of the human race, No different from the rerst, But handicapped without a home.
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© Homelessness as described by a participant of TPA’s ‘Home and Homelessness’ workshop
