Putting A Face To New Zealand’s Homeless – Part 3 | Kamron And Nisa’s Story

Saturday, 22 May 2021, 5:28 am
Press Release: Visionwest

Housing suitability has an impact on a person’s wellbeing. Data from the 2018 GSS (General Social Survey) showed that people who thought their housing was unsuitable or very unsuitable rated their life satisfaction worse, on average, than those with suitable or very suitable housing. In 2018, around 1 in 9 New Zealanders lived in a crowded house, with the highest rates of crowding among Pacific peoples. Rates of severe housing deprivation were highest among young Pacific peoples and young Māori, while overall, severe housing deprivation prevalence rates for Pacific peoples and Māori were close to four and six times the European rate.*

This is the final in a series of three stories putting a human face to New Zealand’s housing crisis as we introduce whānau who have been supported by Visionwest through their struggle with homelessness.

In this article, Kamron and Nisa tell their story.

Nisa: “If you have a home of your own, you don’t see what many others are going through. For homeless families in Auckland, finding a place to live is hard. We were renting but our landlord kept increasing our rent. With each rent increase, we would economise as much as we could, but eventually it just got too hard, especially as Kamron was in and out of jobs. Eventually, we couldn’t afford to pay rent and we were pretty much homeless.”

Kamron: “Through no fault of my own, I lost three jobs one after another. COVID made finding and keeping a job difficult. I’d start a job and then the business would be struggling because of the COVID Alert Levels and I’d be let go. I got caught in that ‘last man employed, first man to be let go,’ cycle.

“We ended up struggling financially and lived in emergency housing at a hotel. Then we were told about Visionwest’s South Auckland transitional housing complex. We came here and couldn’t believe it when we were given a house.”

Nisa: “Being homeless is lonely. It steals your confidence. You feel isolated from society and the rest of the community. That’s how it felt before we moved here. Like many homeless people, we felt like we were battling on our own. We had no idea what support was out there for us, so we didn’t know what to do or where to go. We just battled on blindly.

“Being housed by a supportive housing provider like Visionwest is perfect for us. The wonderful thing is, they didn’t just plonk us in a house and say, ‘There you go. Live your life and get out of here as soon as you can.’ We have support. We get a Social Worker visit every fortnight and, if we need them between times, I phone them and they’re there to check up on us—especially the kids.”

Kamron: “That support is so important. When you’re out of work like I was, it gets to you after a while and it’s hard to keep up the motivation to look for another job. The staff here were so encouraging. I’d chat to them and the words of encouragement they gave would keep me going. I’ve just got another job – my 4th over the past year or so – it’s awesome to be working again.”

Nisa: “A variety of programmes are run giving us support and teaching various skills – things we never learned in school. I’ve done Money Mates and got my certificate for that, which I was very proud of. I learnt so much about budgeting and managing our money from that.

Kamron: “There is also counselling available and programmes specifically for men and women about being a great husband and father, or wife and mother. The men’s programme has been a great place to let go of some of the demons that have been haunting me. It’s changed the way I interact with my kids and with my wife and made me a better person. There’s no doubt, because of those programmes, the way we are now compared to when we first came here is so much better. As wife and husband, as parents to our kids – we are better people.”

The impact of supportive housing has been significant in our communities where many young individuals and whānau often need help that goes beyond simply placing a roof over their head. The focus of Visionwest, and groups like it, is to provide services that provide wraparound support for whānau enabling them to build the hope that will result in a transformation in their life and in the life of entire communities.

* Housing in Aotearoa: 2020. Report prepared by Stats NZ.

© Scoop Media

Visionwest

Visionwest provides wraparound support services to the most vulnerable in our communities to achieve our vision of transformed lives and healthy communities.

Visionwest is one of New Zealand leading care providers, offering housing, food support, budgeting, home healthcare, youth training and employment, counselling, and early learning and care to West Auckland communities; home healthcare throughout Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Rotorua Lakes; and housing in Canterbury/Christchurch.

Contact Visionwest

• Website - www.visionwest.org.nz
• Email - communications@visionwest.org.nz
• Phone - 09 818 0700