Housing is a right, not a privilege

Anew initiative to get homeless people off Christchurch streets and into their own homes requires a fundamental shift of thinking. Some people will be sceptical about whether it will work, but they can take comfort from experience and research elsewhere, in New Zealand and overseas. This suggests that it will work, and will save money in the long run.

The initiative is called Housing First, and the details of how it would work in Christchurch are being negotiated between community housing providers and the Ministry of Social Development (MSD).

The idea is that instead of providing emergency shelters for people who are sleeping rough, agencies would start moving long-term homeless people into permanent housing. The scheme could start in Christchurch early next year.

Instead of being required to deal with issues such as drug dependence or mental health problems before they are accepted into housing schemes, the homeless would be housed first and then provided with ‘‘wraparound’’ services to help them.

The concept might present a challenge to people who might consider subsidised housing a privilege to be bestowed only on people who have somehow proved themselves worthy to receive it.

However, it is based on the idea that adequate housing is a fundamental human right, and that people are better able to battle their demons if they have a roof over their heads.

And this is not a new or untested idea. Housing First initiatives have been introduced in dozens of US cities since they were pioneered in New York in the early 1990s. They are now considered by the federal US Interagency Council on Homelessness to be ‘‘best practice’’ in battling chronic problems.

A large research project in Canada tracked outcomes for 2000 people and found that just 16 per cent in a Housing First programme ended up permanently back on the street, compared with 46 per cent who relied on shelters.

The Canadian research also found that the Housing First approach was cost-effective – every $10 spent on it yielded savings of $21 elsewhere. This happened because people who have a roof over their heads and help available spend less time in acute-care facilities, hospital emergency departments and police cells.

In New Zealand, a Housing First project has been operating in Hamilton since 2014, and has moved hundreds of people off the streets and into homes. The initiative was then taken to Central, West and South Auckland in 2016 and is now being looked at for Tauranga.

Housing First requires funding and input from multiple agencies, and has been funded largely by MSD. A report on how the Christchurch City Council can support the project is being prepared and a number of social service organisations are discussing what needs to be done. The problem of chronic homelessness is too complicated to be solved by one agency alone.

There are believed to be more than 200 long-term homeless people in Christchurch. Extra funding in the last National government Budget was aimed at providing Housing First-type services to about 100.

Over time, if the project is as successful as it has been elsewhere, it can be expected to reduce the number of homeless on Christchurch streets by up to 90 per cent. Embracing a different way of thinking could provide a measurable long-term benefit.