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A homeless person sleeping on a park bench at Victoria Park, Auckland.  (Photo: Dean Purcell/Getty Images)
A homeless person sleeping on a park bench at Victoria Park, Auckland. (Photo: Dean Purcell/Getty Images)

SocietyJanuary 18, 2017

The young and the homeless: New Zealand’s big human rights fail

A homeless person sleeping on a park bench at Victoria Park, Auckland.  (Photo: Dean Purcell/Getty Images)
A homeless person sleeping on a park bench at Victoria Park, Auckland. (Photo: Dean Purcell/Getty Images)

A group of AUT students have banded together to make a documentary on our growing homelessness problem – and to argue that by failing to act, New Zealand could be in contravention of its international human rights obligations.

“I contemplated why I should even be alive right now, when I can’t even put a roof over my head,” says 23-year-old Ben, who lived rough in Auckland and Wellington’s streets for four years.

He’s one of the many homeless youth of Auckland who talk about their lives on the streets – huddling for body warmth, coming into the city for the security of the lights and the safety of being around a lot of people (even if it’s just strangers walking past) – in a new documentary by AUT Master of Human Rights students detailing the extent of the problem.

“For many of us the common stereotype of the homeless is a drunken man rummaging through bins and asking for change,” says student and filmmaker Phoebe Hetherington, who spoke to homeless youth and support providers for the film. “Through these interviews, the issue completely changed in our eyes and became much more of a reality.”

“Instead of it only coming to our attention when walking past a street person holding a sign on Queen Street, we came to understand the complexities of the situation. The causes of youth becoming homeless – family breakdown and conflict, discrimination against LGBT, poor mental health, substance abuse and addictions – are issues deeply rooted in our society.”

The resulting film, On Our Doorstep: A Voice for Homeless, frames the issue as a fundamental abuse of basic human rights.

A homeless person sleeping on a park bench at Victoria Park, Auckland. (Photo by Dean Purcell/Getty Images)
A homeless person sleeping on a park bench at Victoria Park, Auckland. (Photo by Dean Purcell/Getty Images)

Statistics New Zealand defines homelessness as situations where people have no option to acquire safe and secure housing: are without shelter, in temporary accommodation, shared accommodation with a household or living in uninhabitable housing. Several of the human rights treaties to which New Zealand is a signatory define shelter and security as a basic right.

But while most of us think of our country as having a proud history of upholding human rights, around 41,000 Kiwis (at least one in every 100) are homeless; more than half of them are under the age of 25. That’s more than 20,000 young New Zealanders – and the trendlines suggest the situation is only getting worse.

“We have not acknowledged the problem. We’re falling behind most OECD countries – including 17 years behind Australia, which launched their National Strategy to End Homelessness back in 1999,” says Hetherington. “Meanwhile our own government’s Social Services Committee voted against a select committee hearing on homelessness earlier this year.”

Mental health issues are much more prevalent in the homeless population: levels of depression are ten times higher and the mortality rate is two to ten times higher. The students’ conclusion: homelessness clearly violates the ‘supreme’ right to life.

“When the home, the place that should be our sanctuary – one of peace, security and dignity – is not available to us, an adverse domino effect takes place,” says Hetherington. “Mental health is often decreased, contributing to substance abuse and violence. With the lack of security, personal safety and physical health is constantly threatened.

“These are fundamental rights that all human beings are entitled to, regardless of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or any other status. The rights of the homeles must be respected and protected, just like everyone else.”

It’s easy to walk past and wonder why the homeless don’t just sign up for a benefit or government help. But as the documentary shows, that can be a near-impossible task, requiring an IRD number, address, passport or birth certificate – all of which people on the street typically don’t have or can’t easily access. Even if they do manage to get the benefit, it doesn’t cover the cost of accommodation – then there’s the issue of landlords unwilling to rent to young people without references or jobs. Racist attitudes can also come into play.

The students have set up a Facebook page and are calling on people to sign a petition which will be presented to parliament by Green MP Marama Davidson.

“We want this issue to gain importance in the public eye as one that needs action right now,” says Hetherington.

The AUT Master of Human Rights Class will host a screening of the documentary On Our Doorstep: A Voice for Homeless Youth at 6pm on Wednesday 18 January at Auckland University of Technology city campus. All welcome.


This content is brought to you by AUT. As a contemporary university we’re focused on providing exceptional learning experiences, developing impactful research and forging strong industry partnerships. Start your university journey with us today.

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SocietyJanuary 18, 2017

Homeowners, beware: shun the low-interest seduction and hit your mortgage hard

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Falling interest rates are great news for homeowners – but pocketing your mortgage savings could be the worst financial decision you make, says the Commission for Financial Capability’s David Boyle.

A couple of things happened in 1988 that stick in my mind: I got my hands on The Pogues’ album If I Should Fall From Grace With God, which took such a thrashing on my stereo the neighbours thought they were living next door to an Irish pub. And I bought my first house.

Elsewhere in the world someone grew a seedless watermelon, Sega launched its mega drive console and Prozac was launched. The arrival of the anti-depressant proved timely given what was to follow in New Zealand.

But first, back to my house. I could barely afford to furnish the place; all I had was a bed, that stereo I mentioned, and a couch and TV I’d borrowed from my grandma. I didn’t even have a fridge. Yet I was rapt, despite the interest rate making my eyes water. Did I mention it was 18% back then?

You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face for the first three months, and then the unthinkable happened: interest rates hit 20%. I’m sure I wasn’t the only person who greeted this news with an urge to be sick – or reach for the Prozac.

Instead I relied on rent from some flatmates, but that didn’t stop me freaking out about losing my home if the rate continued to climb.

So I took a long hard look at my spending and came up with a plan to pay off my mortgage as fast as was humanly possible.

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It’s a different story now: money has seldom been cheaper, with interest rates lower than they’ve been for 60 years and a feeling of wealth among homeowners, especially in Auckland.

But I’d say the same to anyone with a mortgage today: get rid of it as soon as you can. Look at whether you can increase your payments: even a small amount can make a big difference over the long-term.

Because, while today’s 5.6% variable rate sounds a hell of a lot more manageable than 20%, I had borrowed less than double my annual income. In Auckland the median house price is nearly ten times the median income. For the rest of New Zealand it is still a hefty six times.

That could leave an alarmingly small buffer to cope when interest rates start to climb again.

And they will. One thing is certain: anything that goes down will eventually go back up; it always has, it always will, and it could be sooner than people expect.

Writer Doug Larson quipped: “People are living longer than ever before, a phenomenon undoubtedly made necessary by the 30-year mortgage.”

But it doesn’t have to be like that. Now is the time to work out a plan, just like I did nearly 30 years ago, to see how much more you can add to your loan repayments. (Use the Sorted mortgage tool to calculate this.)

If you’ve borrowed $600,000, which isn’t unusual in Auckland, are paying it off over 30 years at 5.6%, it’ll cost you $1,589 a fortnight and you’ll end up paying a total of $1.24 million.

Last year, when interest rates were at 6.75%, you’d have been paying $1,795 a fortnight – that’s an extra $206.

If you had carried on paying the same $1,795 when the rate fell to 5.6%, you would be rid of that mortgage seven years earlier and would save yourself $338,000 in interest.

While homeowners are working out how to demolish that mortgage, there’s another group praying for those interest rates to climb.

You’re the ones who are no longer working and rely on savings and investments for an income, with most of your money in bank term deposits.

Things are probably feeling a bit grim right now and there may be a temptation to chase higher returns. At times like this your eye might be caught by flashy ads promoting higher interest rates, however they can come with a lot more risk.

To you too, I offer the ‘p’- word. Make a plan. If you’re lucky you can wing it for a while without one, but there comes a point for all of us when we’ll do far better if we write down what we want and how we’re going to get there.

It doesn’t have to be on a scale with War and Peace – bullet points on a postcard can be a great start.

Even better: talk to someone who knows about these things so they can go through your options. Discuss how much money you have, whether that’s savings, investments or your home, and think about whether now is the time to start spending some of that money you’ve saved.

After all, you worked hard all your life to build it up for the time when you really need it.

By the way, I still give The Pogues a good blasting occasionally, showing some things never change – though I’ve upgraded the stereo and, yes, I paid in cash.

David Boyle is Group Manager, Education and Retirement Villages at the Commission for Financial Capability


This content is brought to you by AUT. As a contemporary university we’re focused on providing exceptional learning experiences, developing impactful research and forging strong industry partnerships. Start your university journey with us today.

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