Latest news with #AaronHendry
Scoop
08-07-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Youth Homelessness Is A Crisis That Triggers So Many Others. Not The Least Of These Is A Health Crisis!
Kick Back, a Youth Development organization responding to Youth Homelessness, is organizing to provide support for young people experiencing homelessness this winter. 'Youth Homelessness is an escalating crisis. But it's more than that, it's also a manufactured crisis, a result of political decisions our elected leaders have made to choose politics over people, to value the protection of a housing system that serves the wealthy, over a one which honours and protects the very basic human needs of our children and our young people!' says Aaron Hendry, Kick Back's co-founder and General manager. Recent decisions by the Government to make access to Emergency Housing more difficult, to increase the use of sanctions on young people experiencing poverty, and to divert funding into building a prison system for children (through the Government's Boot Camp project) instead of investing in housing children and young people in the community, have increased the risk and harm of homelessness for tamariki and rangatahi in Aotearoa. Kick Back's young people are calling for urgent action to respond to this escalating crisis. Troy one of Kick Back's young Rangatira warns that homelessness in his community is increasing. 'This year alone I've noticed more young people on the street than older people. I am worried about both young people and older people on the street this winter because it is going to end up being one of the coldest winters so far.' Troy is concerned that if the Government does not act urgently to respond to this crisis that the consequences could be fatal. "I am worried that during winter the rangatahi that live on the streets or close to the streets will possibly end up sick, in hospital or dead.' Warns Troy, 'I worry about this because I understand how it feels to freeze on the streets. I've slept rough before, quite a few times, I used to sleep on the streets and in parks during winter, this had a huge impact on my health, and I was sick for most of the winter.' Frankie, another of Kick Back's young leaders is warning that the health impact on a young person experiencing homelessness over winter can be significant. "I am worried about young people getting hyperthermia, (sleeping rough in winter) can cause a dangerous drop in body temperatures, your temperature can drop out of nowhere. I've experienced homelessness in winter, sometimes I couldn't get out of bed in the morning because my leg was frozen. At that time, I was sleeping in the park, I was 14 or 15, I used to always get sick, it made it hard for me to breath.' In the face of this crisis, Kick Back's rangatahi Rangatira are demanding urgent action from the Government, yet they are also not sitting back and waiting for change, they are Kicking Back and Making that Change happen themselves! 'I'm worried about young people not having warm stuff or a place to keep themselves warm this winter. Ending Homelessness is not about just about providing housing, it's also about getting our people safe.' Shares Frankie, 'I just want to end homelessness, so that our people can be healthy and safe!' This winter Kick Back's young leaders are hosting several Winter Wellness events for young people over July. The first was on the 2nd July, and subsequent events are planned on the 9th and 16th of July. Hosted at The Front Door, Kick Back's drop in and outreach service for rangatahi experiencing homelessness, these Winter Wellness events are about connecting young people to the support, resources and information they need to prepare themselves for winter. Frankie and Troy are inviting young people to drop into The Front Door, 307 K'rd, Auckland Central, between 11-4pm on the 9th and 16th of July to access Kai, immunisations, get connected to mental health and addiction services, receive support and advocacy for housing, access dental support, health services and much more. 'Through the Winter Wellness event I'm trying to get our people healthy and safe,' shares Frankie 'This event is about supporting them to get their flu shots, getting them help to access housing, warm stuff, like clothes, food, socks, and beanies. and blankets and pillows.' Troy, who is using his developing love of photography to inspire hope and highlight the event, hopes the Winter Wellness Kaupapa will make a difference for his community. 'I am doing the Winter Wellness project because I want to help, I don't want to just sit around waiting for handouts, I want to be out there making a difference.' Kick Back's rangatahi are organizing to do their part in service to their community, yet they are also clear that the Government has a responsibility to act. Frankie believes the Government needs to invest in Youth Specific Immediate Housing services for young people to replace motel use for emergency housing and prevent young people from sleeping on the street. "The Government should build more places so that all young people experiencing homelessness can get a home for the winter. Getting sick every month, every two weeks, it's annoying. The shelter I have is cold, and at times it can get mouldy, and if you're on the street or in a tent, sometimes your clothes get mouldy.' Frankie is also calling on the Government to review their Kainga Ora Policy which has led to increased evictions from Public Housing and believes the Government needs to invest in a long-term strategy to ensure young people can gain access to safe and stable housing. 'The Government needs to build more public housing, and stop kicking innocent people out of public housing, stop funding landlords, fund homes!' Troy's message is also clear. He is calling on the Government to adopt Duty to Assist Legislation in order to prevent young people from being denied housing and emergency support when they reach out to W&I for help, 'I want people to understand that there are people on the streets that could be dying. And things need to change. I want to change the law, so the Government is obligated to help everyone, not just who they select, I want them to see the impact they (the Government) is having on everyone on the streets. The negative impacts of not getting any assistance is people getting sick, or worse... when they have the money and the power to do something, and refuse, that is unfair and cruel.' If you are a young person experiencing homelessness this winter, Kick Back's rangatahi are inviting you to join us at The Front Door for our Winter Wellness Project, Wednesday 9th & 16th, 11am-4pm. 'No child or young person should be experiencing homelessness this winter! If you are a young person experiencing homelessness this winter come to The Front Door. Kick Back is here to help.' Shares Aaron. Troy's message for our community is this. 'I hope the Winter Wellness project will keep them safe, warm and fed during winter. I want our community to know that they are loved, they matter, and they are important! And that they are heard!'
Scoop
23-06-2025
- Scoop
'Nowhere To Go' For More Than 100,000 Kiwis: The Worsening Reality Of Homelessness
An advocate for people sleeping rough says homelessness is reaching 'crisis levels' and he's seeing children as young as nine turn up for emergency accommodation. What's gone wrong in Aotearoa? At 10.30am on a cold day in central Auckland, 61-year-old Cookie sits on a small blue bottle crate on the pavement, strumming his guitar and singing. The impromptu performance is taking place in Cookie's 'lounge'. On the ground next to him is his small mattress with a light duvet - that is his bedroom. All of it is surrounded by road cones to protect his patch. Cookie has lived on and off the streets for most of his life after stints in state homes, a boys home, and jail. He says he has seen a sharp rise in the number of people living rough on the streets in recent months, which puts a strain on available food and resources. Statistics back that up - according to Auckland Council, the number of people sleeping rough or in their cars in the city has risen from 426 last September to 653 this January. Cookie blames family breakdowns and a rise in mental health issues for the increase in street living, and says the latter plays a role in behavioural fallout. Experts point to several other factors as well, including unaffordable housing, a housing shortage, the cost-of-living crisis, and social and systemic factors. "If we're really honest, there's been a crisis around homelessness for a very long time in Aotearoa," says Aaron Hendry, who set up an organisation, Kick Back, to offer wraparound support for young people sleeping rough, including 24/7 accommodation, health services, and legal advice. "I think what we're seeing though is an escalating crisis." At the time of the 2023 Census, 112,496 people were estimated to be severely housing deprived. But the number of people actually living rough on the streets has jumped since then, according to those working with the homeless. "The truth is that no one, no government, has really done enough, fast enough, to respond to homelessness and to respond to youth homelessness specifically. Yet, over the last couple of years, we've seen some very intentional decisions which are exacerbating the crisis and making the experience of homelessness far more dangerous and far more likely to occur." He says one of the obvious examples is the move to introduce stricter entry criteria for emergency housing, and the requirements that make it more difficult to stay. "The reality that we have seen ... is young people going into Work and Income and asking for support for shelter and being denied that support and as a result having to sleep on the streets and not being able to get access to housing. He's seen children as young as nine turn up looking for help. "Experiencing homelessness is really, really dangerous... The consequences are significant trauma, it's often really significant mental health deterioration, physical health deterioration. In the worst-case scenario, people die in really dangerous and complex situations." He suggested New Zealand follow the lead of Wales, which trialled the "Duty to Assist" legislation, which is a homelessness prevention strategy that's been successfully implemented to enforce the human right to housing. It holds local authorities accountable for their role in preventing homelessness. "In practicality in New Zealand this would mean that if you went to Work and Income and you were sleeping on the street or maybe you were at risk of experiencing homelessness because something was going on, Work and Income would have an obligation - a legal obligation - to provide you with support to prevent that experience of homelessness or get you shelter tonight so they could start supporting you to get into stable accommodation." He has some other "simple advice" for the government. "They could roll back their emergency housing reforms, they could roll back the reforms around the welfare system, which has made it more punitive on people, they could start committing to a strong public housing build programme ... they could invest in a strategy to end and prevent homelessness. "Right now the government could make some really clear decisions to start working toward a future where homelessness doesn't exist. "If my child was sleeping on the street, on Queen Street tonight, it would be a crisis for me and I would do everything I could to make sure that that child was looked after, right? "I think our government needs to understand that they have the same level of responsibility for children in this country and for all of us as a society and we need to understand that homelessness is a crisis, and respond to it with the energy that a crisis would demand." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here.
RNZ News
22-06-2025
- RNZ News
'Nowhere to go' for more than 100,000 Kiwis: The worsening reality of homelessness
Cookie has lived on and off the streets for most of his life after stints in state homes, a boys home, and jail. Photo: Davina Zimmer At 10.30am on a cold day in central Auckland, 61-year-old Cookie sits on a small blue bottle crate on the pavement, strumming his guitar and singing. The impromptu performance is taking place in Cookie's 'lounge'. On the ground next to him is his small mattress with a light duvet - that is his bedroom. All of it is surrounded by road cones to protect his patch. Cookie has lived on and off the streets for most of his life after stints in state homes, a boys home, and jail. He says he has seen a sharp rise in the number of people living rough on the streets in recent months, which puts a strain on available food and resources. Statistics back that up - according to Auckland Council, the number of people sleeping rough or in their cars in the city has risen from 426 last September to 653 this January. Cookie blames family breakdowns and a rise in mental health issues for the increase in street living, and says the latter plays a role in behavioural fallout. Experts point to several other factors as well, including unaffordable housing, a housing shortage, the cost-of-living crisis, and social and systemic factors. "If we're really honest, there's been a crisis around homelessness for a very long time in Aotearoa," says Aaron Hendry, who set up an organisation, Kick Back, to offer wraparound support for young people sleeping rough, including 24/7 accommodation, health services, and legal advice. "I think what we're seeing though is an escalating crisis." At the time of the 2023 Census, 112,496 people were estimated to be severely housing deprived. But the number of people actually living rough on the streets has jumped since then, according to those working with the homeless. "The truth is that no one, no government, has really done enough, fast enough, to respond to homelessness and to respond to youth homelessness specifically. Yet, over the last couple of years, we've seen some very intentional decisions which are exacerbating the crisis and making the experience of homelessness far more dangerous and far more likely to occur." He says one of the obvious examples is the move to introduce stricter entry criteria for emergency housing, and the requirements that make it more difficult to stay. "The reality that we have seen ... is young people going into Work and Income and asking for support for shelter and being denied that support and as a result having to sleep on the streets and not being able to get access to housing. He's seen children as young as nine turn up looking for help. "Experiencing homelessness is really, really dangerous... The consequences are significant trauma, it's often really significant mental health deterioration, physical health deterioration. In the worst-case scenario, people die in really dangerous and complex situations." He suggested New Zealand follow the lead of Wales, which trialled the "Duty to Assist" legislation, which is a homelessness prevention strategy that's been successfully implemented to enforce the human right to housing. It holds local authorities accountable for their role in preventing homelessness. "In practicality in New Zealand this would mean that if you went to Work and Income and you were sleeping on the street or maybe you were at risk of experiencing homelessness because something was going on, Work and Income would have an obligation - a legal obligation - to provide you with support to prevent that experience of homelessness or get you shelter tonight so they could start supporting you to get into stable accommodation." He has some other "simple advice" for the government. "They could roll back their emergency housing reforms, they could roll back the reforms around the welfare system, which has made it more punitive on people, they could start committing to a strong public housing build programme ... they could invest in a strategy to end and prevent homelessness. "Right now the government could make some really clear decisions to start working toward a future where homelessness doesn't exist. "If my child was sleeping on the street, on Queen Street tonight, it would be a crisis for me and I would do everything I could to make sure that that child was looked after, right? "I think our government needs to understand that they have the same level of responsibility for children in this country and for all of us as a society and we need to understand that homelessness is a crisis, and respond to it with the energy that a crisis would demand." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
Newsroom
22-06-2025
- Newsroom
‘Nowhere to go' for more than 100,000 Kiwis
At 10.30am on a cold day in central Auckland, 61-year-old Cookie sits on a small blue bottle crate on the pavement, strumming his guitar and singing. The impromptu performance is taking place in Cookie's 'lounge'. On the ground next to him is his small mattress with a light duvet – that's his bedroom. All of it is surrounded by road cones to protect his patch. Cookie has lived on and off the streets for most of his life after stints in state homes, a boys' home, and jail. He has seen a sharp rise in the number of people living rough on the streets in recent months, which puts a strain on available food and resources. Statistics back that up – according to Auckland Council, the number of people sleeping rough or in their cars in the city has risen from 426 last September to 653 this January. Cookie blames family breakdowns and a rise in mental health issues for the increase in street living, and says the latter plays a role in behavioural fallout. Experts point to several other factors as well, including unaffordable housing, a housing shortage, the cost-of-living crisis, and social and systemic factors. 'If we're really honest, there's been a crisis around homelessness for a very long time in Aotearoa,' says Aaron Hendry, who set up an organisation, Kick Back, to offer wraparound support for young people sleeping rough, including 24/7 accommodation, health services, and legal advice. 'I think what we're seeing though is an escalating crisis.' At the time of the 2023 Census, 112,496 people were estimated to be severely housing-deprived. But the number of people actually living rough on the streets has jumped since then, according to those working with the homeless. 'The truth is that no one, no government, has really done enough, fast enough, to respond to homelessness and to respond to youth homelessness specifically. Yet, over the last couple of years, we've seen some very intentional decisions which are exacerbating the crisis and making the experience of homelessness far more dangerous and far more likely to occur.' He says one of the obvious examples is the move to introduce stricter entry criteria for emergency housing, and the requirements that make it more difficult to stay. 'The reality that we have seen … is young people going into Work and Income and asking for support for shelter and being denied that support and as a result having to sleep on the streets and not being able to get access to housing. He's seen children as young as nine turn up looking for help. 'Experiencing homelessness is really, really dangerous … The consequences are significant trauma, it's often really significant mental health deterioration, physical health deterioration. In the worst-case scenario, people die in really dangerous and complex situations.' He suggested New Zealand follow the lead of Wales, which trialled the 'Duty to Assist' legislation, which is a homelessness prevention strategy that's been successfully implemented to enforce the human right to housing. It holds local authorities accountable for their role in preventing homelessness. '[It] shift[s] the mentality from homelessness being an individual problem caused by individuals to actually an understanding that homelessness is a collective responsibility,' Hendry says. 'In practicality in New Zealand this would mean that if you went to Work and Income and you were sleeping on the street or maybe you were at risk of experiencing homelessness because something was going on, Work and Income would have an obligation – a legal obligation – to provide you with support to prevent that experience of homelessness or get you shelter tonight so they could start supporting you to get into stable accommodation.' He has some other 'simple advice' for the government. 'They could roll back their emergency housing reforms, they could roll back the reforms around the welfare system, which has made it more punitive on people, they could start committing to a strong public housing build programme … they could invest in a strategy to end and prevent homelessness. 'Right now the government could make some really clear decisions to start working toward a future where homelessness doesn't exist. 'If my child was sleeping on the street, on Queen Street tonight, it would be a crisis for me and I would do everything I could to make sure that that child was looked after, right? 'I think our government needs to understand that they have the same level of responsibility for children in this country and for all of us as a society and we need to understand that homelessness is a crisis, and respond to it with the energy that a crisis would demand.' Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here. You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.
RNZ News
22-06-2025
- RNZ News
'Nowhere to go' for more than 100,000 Kiwis
Cookie has lived on and off the streets for most of his life after stints in state homes, a boys home, and jail. Photo: Davina Zimmer At 10.30am on a cold day in central Auckland, 61-year-old Cookie sits on a small blue bottle crate on the pavement, strumming his guitar and singing. The impromptu performance is taking place in Cookie's 'lounge'. On the ground next to him is his small mattress with a light duvet - that is his bedroom. All of it is surrounded by road cones to protect his patch. Cookie has lived on and off the streets for most of his life after stints in state homes, a boys home, and jail. He says he has seen a sharp rise in the number of people living rough on the streets in recent months, which puts a strain on available food and resources. Statistics back that up - according to Auckland Council, the number of people sleeping rough or in their cars in the city has risen from 426 last September to 653 this January. Cookie blames family breakdowns and a rise in mental health issues for the increase in street living, and says the latter plays a role in behavioural fallout. Experts point to several other factors as well, including unaffordable housing, a housing shortage, the cost-of-living crisis, and social and systemic factors. "If we're really honest, there's been a crisis around homelessness for a very long time in Aotearoa," says Aaron Hendry, who set up an organisation, Kick Back, to offer wraparound support for young people sleeping rough, including 24/7 accommodation, health services, and legal advice. "I think what we're seeing though is an escalating crisis." At the time of the 2023 Census, 112,496 people were estimated to be severely housing deprived. But the number of people actually living rough on the streets has jumped since then, according to those working with the homeless. "The truth is that no one, no government, has really done enough, fast enough, to respond to homelessness and to respond to youth homelessness specifically. Yet, over the last couple of years, we've seen some very intentional decisions which are exacerbating the crisis and making the experience of homelessness far more dangerous and far more likely to occur." He says one of the obvious examples is the move to introduce stricter entry criteria for emergency housing, and the requirements that make it more difficult to stay. "The reality that we have seen ... is young people going into Work and Income and asking for support for shelter and being denied that support and as a result having to sleep on the streets and not being able to get access to housing. He's seen children as young as nine turn up looking for help. "Experiencing homelessness is really, really dangerous... The consequences are significant trauma, it's often really significant mental health deterioration, physical health deterioration. In the worst-case scenario, people die in really dangerous and complex situations." He suggested New Zealand follow the lead of Wales, which trialled the "Duty to Assist" legislation, which is a homelessness prevention strategy that's been successfully implemented to enforce the human right to housing. It holds local authorities accountable for their role in preventing homelessness. "In practicality in New Zealand this would mean that if you went to Work and Income and you were sleeping on the street or maybe you were at risk of experiencing homelessness because something was going on, Work and Income would have an obligation - a legal obligation - to provide you with support to prevent that experience of homelessness or get you shelter tonight so they could start supporting you to get into stable accommodation." He has some other "simple advice" for the government. "They could roll back their emergency housing reforms, they could roll back the reforms around the welfare system, which has made it more punitive on people, they could start committing to a strong public housing build programme ... they could invest in a strategy to end and prevent homelessness. "Right now the government could make some really clear decisions to start working toward a future where homelessness doesn't exist. "If my child was sleeping on the street, on Queen Street tonight, it would be a crisis for me and I would do everything I could to make sure that that child was looked after, right? "I think our government needs to understand that they have the same level of responsibility for children in this country and for all of us as a society and we need to understand that homelessness is a crisis, and respond to it with the energy that a crisis would demand." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
