7 days ago
Youth Homelessness Crisis Escalates: Urgent Action Needed
Kick Back, a Youth Development organisation responding to Youth Homelessness, is calling for the Government to act with urgency in response to the growing Homelessness crisis children and young people are experiencing.
The recent Homelessness Insights Report confirmed what front line services and our communities have been telling our Government. The Homelessness crisis is escalating.
Kick Back is concerned that an increasing number of children and young people are experiencing homelessness.
About 30% of young people and children Kick Back has served through our outreach and crisis centre, The Front Door, came to Kick Back within 2-4 weeks of their experience of homelessness. Kick Back is concerned that there is a growing number of new children and young people experiencing homelessness.
No child or young person should ever be without a safe or stable home. Kick Back believes this crisis can be solved, but we must act now!
Though recent Government decisions have increased the risk of homelessness for our children, Kick Back believes it is important to recognise that Homelessness is a product of a housing system which views housing as a commodity, rather than a basic human need we all have as people.
"We believe it is important to acknowledge that Homelessness is a manufactured crisis. No service, charity or amount of wrap around services, can fix this problem. If we are going to achieve housing justice for our young people we must begin to understand the manner in which homelessness serves as a product of Capitalism and Colonisation! Until we address the structural issues that allow homelessness to persist, we will never bring this crisis to an end. Our #Right2Housing as people, is a fundamental human need, essential to the thriving of our communities." Says Aaron Hendry, co-founder and General Manager of Kick Back.
Kick Back calls on the Government to act with urgency in response to this crisis by:
• Immediately rolling back the Emergency Housing Reforms
• Providing fast release funding to support local communities to activate community solutions
• Begin an escalated project of work to progress #Duty2Assist Legislation to ensure rangatahi and whānau can access the housing support they need
• Resource a Strategy to End & Prevent Youth Homelessness
• Fund a rangatahi specific Immediate Housing System to support young people in Immediate Housing need
• Commit and resource a strong Public Housing build program with a mandate to #HouseThePeople
"The time to seek advice and gather information has passed. The Government knows what they need to do. Our tamariki are suffering, our rangatahi are dying, the Government must act!' says Aaron Hendry.
