30-06-2025
Comments on homeless people spark feud
A Dunedin sports leader has hit back after a former mayor accused him of "punching down" against the city's homeless.
Former Dunedin mayor and Otago Housing Alliance leader Aaron Hawkins made the accusations after Southern Football chief executive Dougal McGowan told the Otago Daily Times action was needed to address homeless people camping at the Oval.
Mr McGowan said he and a group of people from Southern Football went to the Oval every weekend to clean up the grounds and the changing rooms before children arrived to play sports.
The group picked up a variety of rubbish, including soiled clothing, needles and broken glass.
In a Facebook response yesterday, Mr Hawkins said he was embarrassed at the comments.
"As a fee paying member of its junior leagues, it's embarrassing to see Southern Football's leadership continue to punch down on our city's homeless whānau," he said.
"If there were simple solutions we'd already have implemented them by now.
"We now have a co-ordinated approach among local agencies, which is critical to getting a better understanding of the issue."
Mr McGowan said "clearly" his comments were not an attack on Dunedin's homeless people, who were camped in a "river of water" during Saturday's rain.
"We're just there trying to support those people ... all we're interested in [is] that they're safe, that our families are safe," he said.
"This is not a beat up on those people because those people are the victims in this.
The Dunedin Night Shelter did "amazing" work; it was institutions like the city, government and local MPs which had let down those living at the Oval, he said.
"We can see by the comments from those in positions of power that they started blaming each other again and again, rather than doing something."
"The issue has been going on for two years down there, but longer for the city.
"Aaron is just another example of a politician getting sound-bites without producing results but blaming others."
Mr Hawkins and any city leaders were welcome to join in collecting rubbish at the Oval on Saturday mornings, he said.
When approached by the ODT, Mr Hawkins said it was frustrating seeing community leaders talk about "homeless whānau as an inconvenience to be gotten rid of".
"It's not clear what Mr McGowan thinks the solution is. What does he want to happen? Have people trespassed from public grounds?"
Southern Football were welcome to join Otago Housing Alliance — a collective impact network to help address critical housing needs, Mr Hawkins said.
"I've already invited Dougal to attend the next of our regular hui."
