Latest news with #ScottSanQuentin
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Fears of a state house blacklist: 'You'll never get back in to that level'
Of the 63 people evicted from state houses in the past 10 months, more than half were in Auckland. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Luke McPake Social workers are worried state house tenants who have been evicted are then blacklisted - and end up on the street. Kāinga Ora has evicted five times more unruly tenants in the past 10 months compared with the whole of last year, but denies those families are out in the cold for ever. Auckland man Scott San Quentin was living under a bridge in Grafton for six months last year. He is still recovering from a biking injury that left him with concussion, and left a rental last February when the rent became unaffordable. "So I ended up on the street in Auckland CBD, in Grafton, stayed there for about six months and only because I went to see the doctor in Auckland City Mission I got a referral to a key worker and they were part of a programme Street to Home and I got social housing through Kainga Ora from them." He spent a couple of months on a wait list for housing, still sleeping rough before a unit became available. Now living in a Kāinga Ora apartment in the central city, San Quentin said his primary aim is to stay housed and get a job. "The biggest prerogative is not to get evicted in the first place," he said. "There were quite a few people late last year getting evicted from my building, in the KO units and that was really getting under the skin of the case workers because they thought the body corp and Kainga Ora was stepping over the mark or being too tough." Scott San Quentin with some artwork he created. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Of the 63 people evicted from state houses in the past 10 months, more than half - 37 - were in Auckland, 10 were in Christchurch, four in Northland and one in Wellington. The government is reducing the number of motels used for emergency housing - there are now fewer than 45, about a dozen in Auckland and just one to three remaining in other regions. Meanwhile, a third of those applying for emergency or transitional housing are being declined. Salvation Army mission officer Ian Hutson is worried evicted tenants are blacklisted from re-entering state social housing. "Once you're evicted it's almost like you've got a red mark against you, you'll never get back in to that level. Some of our services say they've got people coming in, they try to get them in one way or the other but once their record [of eviction] is made clear they just cannot get into any emergency or any other kind of accommodation." Hutson said some social workers were reporting it was better for tenants under threat of eviction to leave voluntarily. "When they've got somebody who's on the verge of needing to be evicted because of their behaviour or whatever, they try hard to encourage them to leave voluntarily so it doesn't end up with an official eviction record." Kāinga Ora general manager of national services Nick Maling said its new approach to managing disruptive tenants is providing more clarity to tenants and its frontline teams. "In the majority of cases, tenants are changing their behaviour and the issues for communities are improving. Where tenants aren't responding, we are being firm and consistent in ending tenancies," he said. "It is possible someone who has had their Kāinga Ora tenancy terminated could be assessed as being eligible to receive social housing again, and the Ministry of Social Development [MSD] could place them back on the Housing Register. If that were to happen and they were matched to a Kāinga Ora home, we would manage their tenancy closely to ensure they were meeting their obligations as a tenant." Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson is concerned a person can be denied emergency, or transitional, housing if they are somehow to blame for their lack of shelter - a policy she said is leading to people ending up homeless. "The process has been made so difficult that people either don't or try to apply and are denied access. Often they are referred to what's called low cost housing, so into boarding houses," she said. "What we regularly hear is that it is safer for people to not be in a boarding house than it is to be in one. It becomes a real problem because often the first question people are asked when they do go to MSD is have you tried low cost housing?" She said those who felt unsafe living in a boarding house could have that count against them. "I might got along and say I've gone to this boarding house but it's unsafe. If there's no evidence to back-up that lack of safety, I have been deemed as contributing to my own homelessness so therefore will be denied access to emergency housing." MSD's acting group general manager of housing George Van Ooyen said people who are evicted from Kāinga Ora housing are still eligible to be matched to suitable social housing properties. "Decisions by housing providers about their tenants are made by them, and don't affect eligibility for the housing register. There is also no stand down period until a client can be assessed again," he said. "Clients who have been asked to leave their housing can be immediately assessed for social housing and referred to other suitable housing providers. It is possible an eviction will have an impact on a housing providers willingness to provide that person with housing, but that is at their discretion." Looking ahead, Scott San Quentin said tenants should stick to the rules but many need more support to maintain a tenancy. When he moved into his home after living on the street, it was a big adjustment. "It was actually hard to get used to sleeping on a bed again because I was sleeping for six months mostly on concrete and three layers of cardboard and maybe a blanket or a sleeping bag here or there," he said. "I'm lucky I think there are a lot of people who have transitioned from emergency housing into Kainga Ora and they're still going through a lot of difficulties in life, a lot more than I ever had and unless they're in a place where they've got access to all the support that they need that can be a difficult transition." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Art classes an 'amazing' outlet for homeless in Auckland
This time last year, Scott San Quentin was living rough in and out of hostels and sleeping under a bridge in Auckland. He is unable to work as he recovers from the long-term effects of a cycling crash which left him with concussion but now has housing and is attending weekly art classes at Homeground where he paints. "It's given me a different space to put my mind in. The biggest benefit is because you're completely engaged in what you're doing now with your art, you're not focused on what's happened in the past or what's going to happen in the future," he said. "That's really helped with my anxiety, to bring it down." Scott San Quentin with one of his works. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi About a dozen people attend Toi Ora Trust's free weekly art classes at Homeground and their works are going up for sale. Eight of San Quentin's artworks are in the exhibition, and they are on display at Auckland's City Mission this Wednesday and Thursday from 1-7pm. Many of those attending the classes have experienced homelessness, addiction or mental health struggles. San Quentin said he found housing with the help of the city mission's outreach team last September, after six months on the streets. He said he has made good friendships in the classes, run by Toi Ora Trust with support from the Joyce Fisher Charitable Trust. "Art is a great equaliser, it doesn't matter which background or where you've come from in life you can always find common ground. That's a really good thing with the art class, it really helps you find a common thread." "Art is a great equaliser," Scott San Quentin says. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Auckland City Mission's pou whirinaki Anoushka Berkley said people from many backgrounds were finding ways to tell their stories through art. "They're in there to find a way to express themselves creatively and as a result of it they're also building community, they're finding connections to other people," she said. "It's been really amazing watching the different friendships. For me a measure of a good day in this space is to hear laughter." Some of the works go on sale today. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Each week, Josh Thomson goes along to the classes as peer support, to be a sounding board and encourage the emerging artists. He has been in recovery from addiction since 2023 and knows what it is like to be homeless and find refuge in art - for him, it was drawing. "It was one of my ways of escaping when I was in my addiction, I used to love drawing. Drawing for me was definitely a way for me to escape everything else." Thomson said the art classes at the mission have encouraged those attending to explore Auckland for inspiration. "The ones that come in week in week out, you'd see them in the laneway out here together plotting to go to the museum or the library together. It's amazing, I feel really fortunate to be a part of it." Phil Tu'u is among the class attendees. He has three artworks in the exhibition and said the classes were confidence-building. "The people, the positive vibe. I'd describe this as a family. It's always a joy to come here and see people getting involved and encouraged by one another's gifts." As the paint brushes swish, there's korero. Ahead of the government budget announcement, San Quentin said he would like to see more investment in mental health. "There needs to be a lot more money invested in mental health. In the last 20 years in New Zealand we've seen a lot of cutbacks. I go to a lot of the community meals in the city and you can see the effects of those continued rollbacks." He said he meets people who have fallen through the cracks and cannot access the healthcare or housing the need. Thomson said he had to jump through too many hoops to get access to stable housing and he wanted the government to cut the red tape and invest in more housing for people who needed it. "Definitely would be around housing, food security, things that I've gone without in the past and it's seemed impossible at the time to access those things." Toi Ora Trust emerging creative arts therapist Bailey Wiley said at the art classes, the struggles of the past or the day ahead were in the background. The artists were finding a voice through creativity. "I've been incredibly impressed by their creative artworks, I'm quite moved by what emerges in front of us." She hopes to see red stickers going up on the artists' works - the exhibition is open today and tomorrow at Homeground. "We hope that there will be red stickers going up and we really do hope that the artworks sell because primarily the fee goes to the artists."
