Homelessness - Combined

Homeless human beings vs. homeless nuisances

It is hard to ignore the human beings sitting, lying, slouching and even sleeping on the pavements of Queen Street, Central Auckland. Passers-by, university students, business people avoid eye contact with the homeless. Ignore their outstretched arms, a shaking cup, a cardboard sign pleading for "spare change". The idea of helping someone is an innate behaviour, especially someone who looks bedraggled and ill-fed. But why do we often find ourselves hesitating to help these people. This illustrates the concept of the human rights approach; the idea that these people are human beings, homeless human beings who are in need of help.


However, some would argue that there's no denying the uncomfortable feeling of having to walk past the beggars, the feeling of obligation niggling at your conscience. To feel a sense of uncomfortable obligation is what we as the general public should not be subjected to. But what makes it worse is the feeling of being intimidated by these homeless beggars. Having to walk on the opposite side of the pavement, or avoid your usual store at the expense of their advances. The homeless are causing people to feel the unwanted feeling of being intimidated and even providing for strangers. This brings to light the concept of the public sensitivty approach; the idea that the general public should not be financially responsible or be intimidated by the homeless. 

Two sides to every argument  

There are always two sides to every argument.These arguments are illustrated in the following approaches; the human rights approach and the public sensitivity approach.

Human rights approach: 

Homeless people are human beings. These people do matter. And they are a part of our society no matter how they are perceived on the social ladder. Graham Anderson, who was homeless for 25 years stated in the NZ documentary Putting Homelessness in Focus: "It doesn't matter if you live in a castle, or on someone's floor. If you're a human, you should be counted." One of the prevalent reasons for homelessness is housing deprivation. Homeless people often "sleep rough" as in to sleep on the streets.  According to a New Zealand Herald article, a homeless man who was sleeping rough on Mills Lane, between Queen Street and Albert Street was fatally assaulted in August 2013. This homeless man had no relation ties died in the streets of Central Auckland. This is a huge cry for the protection and welfare of the homeless as they are prone to violent deaths and insufficent living.

 Public sensitivity approach:

This centers on the idea that the general public should not be financially accountable or intimidated by the homeless. In saying this, the general public should not be subjected to behavior that causes them to become uncomfortable. Statistics show that 69% of Aucklanders voted in favour of a beggar ban bylaw with 22% voting against and only 9% voted as unsure. This means that the people of Auckland would rather not have these people begging on the inner streets of Central Auckland, even Queen St. One of the major reasons for the bylaw invovled the loss of customers for Queen St buisness' as customers were being intimidated by homeless beggars. Heart of the City chief executive Alex Swney stated that: "We have too many examples of behaviour being defended under the guise of exercising a public right to occupy public spaces," Although some would argue that not all homeless intentionally harass or intimidate people, I would agree that the few who do give the homeless a bad name.


Both approaches conclude that there must be a solution for the homeless people on Queen St. But in what ways can we as a society go about this. But more importantly why should we even think about helping the homeless. And this is the problem at hand. Now what is being done about it? 

(Images: google images)

Uniting together in Diversity

Now that we have established the issue of homeless people on Queen St what we need to focus on is how exactly we can help the homeless but more pointedly the importance of helping our fellow countrymen. We as New Zealanders are renowned for our diversity, which should not divide but unite us, including the homeless. We are all New Zealand citizens, single parts of a diverse whole. We should put aside our own prejudices instead of demeaning the value of these homeless human beings, these individuals in our society. We need to give thought to the possibility that any one of us in society could become homeless, to put ourselves in their postion. We need to be vigilant towards the "thousands of kiwi kids" who are homeless. These children should matter because they ultimately represent our future, the leaders of our future generation.

 What can we do as New Zealand citizens to help?

The issue of homelessness is clear. But what is being done about it? Currently, the Labour party has issued a cross party effort to try and end homelessness by 2020. This Labour article illustrates the idea that Parliament should pay attention to the homeless. Also the Auckland City Mission actively work with other agencies to give support to the homeless people. This organisation provides a Drop-In service open all year round providing hot drinks and donated food. Dianne Robertson who works for the organisation appeals to the public to donate not only food but money to help the fund the mission. This is a way where we as New Zealand citizens can help make a difference to not only the lives of the homeless on Queen St, but throughout New Zealand.