Matching Newsitems

• • November Update from DCM - Together We Can End Homelessness

    • 29 Nov 2019
    • Downtown Community Ministry
    • 96 November Update from DCM - Together We Can End Homelessness p{ margin:10px 0; padding:0; } table{ border-collapse:collapse; } h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6{ display:block; margin:0; padding:0; } img,a img{ border:0; height:auto; outline:none; text-decoration:none; } body,#bodyTable,#bodyCell{ height:100%; margin:0; padding:0; width:100%; } .mcnPreviewText{ display:none !important; } #outlook a{ padding:0; } img{ -ms-interpolation-mode:bicubic; } table{ mso-table-lspace:0pt; mso-table-rspace:0pt; } .ReadMsgBody{ width:100%; } .ExternalClass{ width:100%; } p,a,li,td,blockquote{ mso-line-height-rule:exactly; } a[href^=tel],a[href^=sms]{ color:inherit; cursor:default; text-decoration:none; } p,a,li,td,body,table,blockquote{ -ms-text-size-adjust:100%; -webkit-text-size-adjust:100%; } .ExternalClass,.ExternalClass p,.ExternalClass td,.ExternalClass div,.ExternalClass span,.ExternalClass font{ line-height:100%; } a[x-apple-data-detectors]{ color:inherit !important; text-decoration:none !important; font-size:inherit !important; font-family:inherit !important; font-weight:inherit !important; line-height:inherit !important; } .templateContainer{ max-width:600px !important; } a.mcnButton{ display:block; } .mcnImage,.mcnRetinaImage{ vertical-align:bottom; } .mcnTextContent{ word-break:break-word; } .mcnTextContent img{ height:auto !important; } .mcnDividerBlock{ table-layout:fixed !important; } h1{ color:#222222; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:40px; font-style:normal; font-weight:bold; line-height:150%; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:center; } h2{ color:#222222; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:34px; font-style:normal; font-weight:bold; line-height:150%; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:left; } h3{ color:#444444; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:22px; font-style:normal; font-weight:bold; line-height:150%; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:left; } h4{ color:#949494; font-family:Georgia; font-size:20px; font-style:italic; font-weight:normal; line-height:125%; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:left; } #templateHeader{ background-color:#0f288b; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:50% 50%; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:54px; padding-bottom:54px; } .headerContainer{ background-color:transparent; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:0; padding-bottom:0; } .headerContainer .mcnTextContent,.headerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ color:#757575; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:16px; line-height:150%; text-align:left; } .headerContainer .mcnTextContent a,.headerContainer .mcnTextContent p a{ color:#007C89; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; } #templateBody{ background-color:#transparent; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:27px; padding-bottom:54px; } .bodyContainer{ background-color:transparent; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:0; padding-bottom:0; } .bodyContainer .mcnTextContent,.bodyContainer .mcnTextContent p{ color:#757575; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:16px; line-height:150%; text-align:left; } .bodyContainer .mcnTextContent a,.bodyContainer .mcnTextContent p a{ color:#007C89; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; } #templateFooter{ background-color:#333333; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:45px; padding-bottom:63px; } .footerContainer{ background-color:transparent; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:0; padding-bottom:0; } .footerContainer .mcnTextContent,.footerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ color:#FFFFFF; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:12px; line-height:150%; text-align:center; } .footerContainer .mcnTextContent a,.footerContainer .mcnTextContent p a{ color:#FFFFFF; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; } @media only screen and (min-width:768px){ .templateContainer{ width:600px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ body,table,td,p,a,li,blockquote{ -webkit-text-size-adjust:none !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ body{ width:100% !important; min-width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnRetinaImage{ max-width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImage{ width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnCartContainer,.mcnCaptionTopContent,.mcnRecContentContainer,.mcnCaptionBottomContent,.mcnTextContentContainer,.mcnBoxedTextContentContainer,.mcnImageGroupContentContainer,.mcnCaptionLeftTextContentContainer,.mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer,.mcnCaptionLeftImageContentContainer,.mcnCaptionRightImageContentContainer,.mcnImageCardLeftTextContentContainer,.mcnImageCardRightTextContentContainer,.mcnImageCardLeftImageContentContainer,.mcnImageCardRightImageContentContainer{ max-width:100% !important; width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnBoxedTextContentContainer{ min-width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageGroupContent{ padding:9px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnCaptionLeftContentOuter .mcnTextContent,.mcnCaptionRightContentOuter .mcnTextContent{ padding-top:9px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageCardTopImageContent,.mcnCaptionBottomContent:last-child .mcnCaptionBottomImageContent,.mcnCaptionBlockInner .mcnCaptionTopContent:last-child .mcnTextContent{ padding-top:18px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageCardBottomImageContent{ padding-bottom:9px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageGroupBlockInner{ padding-top:0 !important; padding-bottom:0 !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageGroupBlockOuter{ padding-top:9px !important; padding-bottom:9px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnTextContent,.mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{ padding-right:18px !important; padding-left:18px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageCardLeftImageContent,.mcnImageCardRightImageContent{ padding-right:18px !important; padding-bottom:0 !important; padding-left:18px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcpreview-image-uploader{ display:none !important; width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h1{ font-size:30px !important; line-height:125% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h2{ font-size:26px !important; line-height:125% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h3{ font-size:20px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h4{ font-size:18px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .mcnTextContent,.mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .headerContainer .mcnTextContent,.headerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .bodyContainer .mcnTextContent,.bodyContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .footerContainer .mcnTextContent,.footerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } Support DCM this Christmas Each year, Nota Bene hold a very special Christmas concert at Prefab Hall as a fundraiser for DCM’s work with people who are experiencing homelessness. Those of you who were able to visit our 50th birthday photo exhibition will have seen this image by Wellington photographer Mark Beehre which reflected the loyal support of these talented performers. We encourage you to head down and join us at Prefab for a glass of wine in the sun, some beautiful music and a chance to lift up these kaitautoko of our work. Please get the word out to all your contacts and networks!   Tuesday 3 December, 6-8pm Prefab Hall, 14 Jessie Street No cover charge. Koha for DCM. <!-- --> Reaching out to the most marginalised DCM’s Outreach team helps support Wellington’s most marginalised people. It also gives Wellingtonians a way to make a real difference in the lives of people begging or sleeping rough in the city. It’s the bright blue sleeping bag that catches Natalia Cleland’s eye. The woman is lying on a wooden bench in the winter sun outside the McDonald’s on Manners Street. Her long brown hair falls over the backpack she’s using as a pillow as she tries to sleep, facing the back of the bench. While Rob Sarich stays back, both to not alarm the woman and to remain watchful, Natalia approaches and talks to her. After a few minutes, Natalia returns. "I know her. And I’m really glad to see her because she hasn’t been in for a while and I was starting to get worried. She told me she’s hungry, so I said to come in for a feed and a korero. I’ll also check where she is on the social housing register and see if there’s anything I can do." Natalia and Rob are social workers with DCM. Formerly known as the Downtown Community Ministry, for 50 years DCM has been working to end homelessness in Wellington. Offering a variety of services, one of their main focuses is on supporting their taumai (meaning ‘to settle’, and what DCM calls those who use its services) into sustainable housing and back into life. To ensure people who are experiencing homelessness get the support they need, each week day DCM social workers walk the capital’s streets, usually in pairs, on ‘Outreach’, looking for people who are begging or appear to be sleeping rough. While much of DCM’s work is funded by donors and fundraising, the Wellington City Council pays for DCM’s Outreach team as part of its commitment to ending homelessness and street begging. "Many people experiencing homelessness or street begging find their way here to DCM," says Natalia. "But there are others who we aren’t working with and who aren’t engaging with other services. So we go out to speak with them where they are, and to encourage them to spend some time with us at DCM. "We also get referrals from other social services. Like, the team at the Soup Kitchen might call to say there’s someone new in town and can we come talk to them about how DCM can support them? We take the approach that any door is the right door. We don’t mind how they get to us; we just want them to come in and spend time at DCM. Then we can begin to build a relationship with them, with the aim of getting them off the street and into a whare," says Natalia. Rob and Natalia clearly have great memories for names and faces. At Midland Park, on the lunchtime-busy Lambton Quay, the pair spot a man they’ve seen before. He’s sitting on a bench, his duffle bag tucked beside him. "To most people he looks like someone taking a rest, but we immediately see someone who’s not quite fitting in," says Rob. They both go over and talk; Natalia perches a polite distance away on the bench and Rob sits on a concrete step in front of him. They don’t talk long. "But that’s the longest we’ve managed to talk to him. Usually he doesn’t even let us sit down," says Natalia. "He just says, 'No thank you, no thank you,' and waves us off. But we usually get a bit more information each time." It takes a certain chutzpah to go up to someone sleeping rough and begging to talk about their situation.  But it’s what Natalia, Rob and other members of DCM who go on Outreach do. "We’ll introduce ourselves and say where we’re from, and we’ll invite them down to DCM," says Natalia.  And when they do come down, there’s a lot DCM can offer. They can talk to the physio about their aches from sleeping rough, see a dentist for the toothache that’s giving them constant pain or get something from the food bank. "We look for what’s going to interest them enough to engage, then we can start talking about housing," says Rob.  There is some reciprocity expected. "That might be only that they open up to us a little too, that they give us their real name, or their real date of birth; something that shows some trust in us," says Rob. "What we do is about manaakitanga, which is about hospitality, but also about lifting up people’s mana. So we need to give them the space to show that they can do something too." There’s something the public can do as well, and it’s not about giving money or sandwiches. It’s calling the Wellington City Council if they see someone sleeping rough within the council’s boundaries. The council then calls DCM, who send one of their people out to engage with them, bashing through bush, scrambling up trees or down under bridges if that’s what it takes. "Often it’s people we would never have found on our own," says Natalia. "One time we got a call about a woman sleeping at the Freyberg Beach toilets, and another in the Balaena Bay toilets. We can’t go and knock on all the toilet doors so we wouldn’t have found them without someone calling us." While DCM certainly needs notifications from the public, the best ones come from the taumai themselves, concerned about someone new sleeping rough. "Often they will meet someone at the Night Shelter or somewhere on the streets and they’ll encourage them to come and see us, or they’ll bring them in. We love that. That shows real trust.’" – From the latest One Percent Collective Generosity Journal. Words by Lee-Anne Duncan. Images by Pat Shepherd. We are looking for new kaimahi (staff) to join DCM's Street Outreach Team. If you would love to be part of the amazing work you've just read about, please get in touch with Matt. <!-- --> Giving feels good! One Percent Collective helps to raise money for DCM and 13 other Kiwi-based charities. They’re a tiny crew of two people but they’re making a big difference. Since 2015 their regular givers have contributed $170,000 to DCM. 100% of that money has been passed on to us. One Percent Collective handles all of the admin so the money just shows up in our account – no strings attached. One Percent Collective’s running costs are covered by 50 generous individuals and corporate sponsors but they don’t have big marketing budgets. Between now and March 2020, they’re running a campaign with a target of 200 new givers. That could mean up to $10,000 extra raised per year for DCM! Their campaign celebrates those who give and the good feelings that giving brings. We encourage you to join One Percent Collective. If you already donate to us, please help One Percent Collective inspire generosity in more people by sharing this link via social media. Do good - feel good! Support One Percent Collective and DCM. <!-- --> Buy a gift for DCM We just can’t get by without a reliable freezer here at DCM. We store the wonderful donations of Pandoro products and other frozen goods which we receive from generous Wellingtonians in our foodbank freezers. But our trusty and ageing freezer is beginning to make strange noises, and we really need to replace it in the next few weeks. Can you or someone you know help us with this? A brand new chest freezer will cost us about $1,000.If this is something you'd like to purchase, or contribute toward, please get in touch. <!-- --> Please help us get the message out there! Forward this email on to everyone you can think of who may be interested in how to respond to homelessness, and just generally people who are passionate about Wellington. <!-- --> Read More Success Stories Nāku te rourou, nāu te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi With your basket and my basket, the people will thrive <!-- --> Copyright © 2019 DCM. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: DCMPO Box 6133Marion SqWellington, Wellington 6011 New ZealandAdd us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
    • Accepted from DCM alerts archive 71 months ago by tonytw1
    • Automatically tagged as:
    • religious-groups
  
  

• • Ngā Kōrero - Latest stories from DCM

    • 30 Oct 2022
    • Downtown Community Ministry
    • 96 Ngā Kōrero - Latest stories from DCM p{ margin:10px 0; padding:0; } table{ border-collapse:collapse; } h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6{ display:block; margin:0; padding:0; } img,a img{ border:0; height:auto; outline:none; text-decoration:none; } body,#bodyTable,#bodyCell{ height:100%; margin:0; padding:0; width:100%; } .mcnPreviewText{ display:none !important; } #outlook a{ padding:0; } img{ -ms-interpolation-mode:bicubic; } table{ mso-table-lspace:0pt; mso-table-rspace:0pt; } .ReadMsgBody{ width:100%; } .ExternalClass{ width:100%; } p,a,li,td,blockquote{ mso-line-height-rule:exactly; } a[href^=tel],a[href^=sms]{ color:inherit; cursor:default; text-decoration:none; } p,a,li,td,body,table,blockquote{ -ms-text-size-adjust:100%; -webkit-text-size-adjust:100%; } .ExternalClass,.ExternalClass p,.ExternalClass td,.ExternalClass div,.ExternalClass span,.ExternalClass font{ line-height:100%; } a[x-apple-data-detectors]{ color:inherit !important; text-decoration:none !important; font-size:inherit !important; font-family:inherit !important; font-weight:inherit !important; line-height:inherit !important; } .templateContainer{ max-width:600px !important; } a.mcnButton{ display:block; } .mcnImage,.mcnRetinaImage{ vertical-align:bottom; } .mcnTextContent{ word-break:break-word; } .mcnTextContent img{ height:auto !important; } .mcnDividerBlock{ table-layout:fixed !important; } h1{ color:#222222; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:40px; font-style:normal; font-weight:bold; line-height:150%; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:center; } h2{ color:#222222; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:34px; font-style:normal; font-weight:bold; line-height:150%; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:center; } h3{ color:#444444; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:22px; font-style:normal; font-weight:bold; line-height:150%; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:center; } h4{ color:#949494; font-family:Georgia; font-size:20px; font-style:italic; font-weight:normal; line-height:125%; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:center; } #templateHeader{ background-color:#07486a; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:50% 50%; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:54px; padding-bottom:54px; } .headerContainer{ background-color:transparent; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:0; padding-bottom:0; } .headerContainer .mcnTextContent,.headerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ color:#757575; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:16px; line-height:150%; text-align:left; } .headerContainer .mcnTextContent a,.headerContainer .mcnTextContent p a{ color:#007C89; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; } #templateBody{ background-color:#transparent; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:27px; padding-bottom:54px; } .bodyContainer{ background-color:#transparent; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:0; padding-bottom:0; } .bodyContainer .mcnTextContent,.bodyContainer .mcnTextContent p{ color:#757575; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:16px; line-height:150%; text-align:left; } .bodyContainer .mcnTextContent a,.bodyContainer .mcnTextContent p a{ color:#007C89; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; } #templateFooter{ background-color:#07486a; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:45px; padding-bottom:63px; } .footerContainer{ background-color:transparent; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:0; padding-bottom:0; } .footerContainer .mcnTextContent,.footerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ color:#FFFFFF; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:12px; line-height:150%; text-align:center; } .footerContainer .mcnTextContent a,.footerContainer .mcnTextContent p a{ color:#FFFFFF; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; } @media only screen and (min-width:768px){ .templateContainer{ width:600px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ body,table,td,p,a,li,blockquote{ -webkit-text-size-adjust:none !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ body{ width:100% !important; min-width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnRetinaImage{ max-width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImage{ width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnCartContainer,.mcnCaptionTopContent,.mcnRecContentContainer,.mcnCaptionBottomContent,.mcnTextContentContainer,.mcnBoxedTextContentContainer,.mcnImageGroupContentContainer,.mcnCaptionLeftTextContentContainer,.mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer,.mcnCaptionLeftImageContentContainer,.mcnCaptionRightImageContentContainer,.mcnImageCardLeftTextContentContainer,.mcnImageCardRightTextContentContainer,.mcnImageCardLeftImageContentContainer,.mcnImageCardRightImageContentContainer{ max-width:100% !important; width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnBoxedTextContentContainer{ min-width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageGroupContent{ padding:9px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnCaptionLeftContentOuter .mcnTextContent,.mcnCaptionRightContentOuter .mcnTextContent{ padding-top:9px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageCardTopImageContent,.mcnCaptionBottomContent:last-child .mcnCaptionBottomImageContent,.mcnCaptionBlockInner .mcnCaptionTopContent:last-child .mcnTextContent{ padding-top:18px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageCardBottomImageContent{ padding-bottom:9px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageGroupBlockInner{ padding-top:0 !important; padding-bottom:0 !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageGroupBlockOuter{ padding-top:9px !important; padding-bottom:9px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnTextContent,.mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{ padding-right:18px !important; padding-left:18px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageCardLeftImageContent,.mcnImageCardRightImageContent{ padding-right:18px !important; padding-bottom:0 !important; padding-left:18px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcpreview-image-uploader{ display:none !important; width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h1{ font-size:30px !important; line-height:125% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h2{ font-size:26px !important; line-height:125% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h3{ font-size:20px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h4{ font-size:18px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .mcnTextContent,.mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .headerContainer .mcnTextContent,.headerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .bodyContainer .mcnTextContent,.bodyContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .footerContainer .mcnTextContent,.footerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } This month’s update takes a slightly different form as we look into New Zealand’s housing crisis from different angles. Building communities where whānau are housed, connected, valued and thriving About Us Contact New Zealand’s housing crisis This month’s update takes a slightly different form as we look into New Zealand’s housing crisis from different angles. We have been talking to everyone from the decision makers, to private landlords helping solve the housing crisis, to those impacted by homelessness – the people we work with at DCM each and every day. Parties agree on supply, differ on other solutions New Zealand’s main political parties are continuing to debate solutions to the country’s housing crisis as new research shows that bipartisan housing intensification law changes are long overdue. Research by the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, reveals that house prices have accelerated since 1980 because New Zealand cities stopped expanding and didn’t develop enough infill housing. Both Labour and National supported legislation in December 2021 allowing buildings of up to three storeys in cities without any need for resource consent. Houses in the Lyall Bay suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. Photographer: Mark Coote/Bloomberg. CC BY. But the parties disagree on other solutions to the housing crisis, and National plan to reduce the bright-line test from 10 years to two, and revisit interest deductibility rule changes for property investors, should they be elected in 2023. National Party Housing Spokesperson Chris Bishop says advice from officials is that the bright-line and interest deductibility changes put pressure on the private rental market. Housing Minister Megan Woods disputes this. “There is no evidence that those measures are putting pressure on the market,” says Woods. “We know that rather than leaving the rental market, multiple property owners account for 36.2% of activity (Q3 2022), close to the long-term average since 2017 of 36.5%. “It’s important to note the changes were made to discourage speculators and even the playing field for first home buyers.” In early 2018, the Labour-led government also banned foreign speculators from buying housing in New Zealand, but Bishop says they were never a big part of the market. “Labour for quite a long time didn’t want to deal with the underlying issue, which is supply. They have this thing around foreign buyers, and they have this thing around landlords – who they call speculators – when the actual issue is just supply,” Bishop says. Supply is where the parties agree, though the bipartisan housing intensification law changes are facing opposition from local councils, and National leader Christopher Luxon has also hinted at revisiting the rules. Bishop says National is committed to housing intensification. “The importance of this is that it gives certainty to the market. To developers, and people doing housing, that there’s now a shared commitment across the two main political parties that housing supply is really important.” Woods agrees. “That’s why this Government brought in the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) to allow more housing in areas where people want to live. In urban centres close to work, schools, public transport, and other amenities. “Similarly, the legislation that Parliament passed last year with near-unanimity, and acceleration of the NPS-UD, allows for more housing types and density to be built to meet the needs of New Zealanders.” Despite the progress made with private builds, public housing has lagged, with emergency housing a dire prospect for some, as revealed in Rotorua after an investigation by TVNZ’s Sunday programme. Labour has built 10,328 additional public homes since coming into office to date, but with 26,664 applicants on the housing register as of 30 June 2022, permanent housing remains out of reach for many. Bishop says he plans to eliminate housing waitlists altogether, but that it must be done through supply.  “The ultimate answer to everything related to housing in New Zealand is more houses. Everything comes back to that,” says Bishop. “You don’t have enough houses for people to buy, they end up renting. When you have more people renting – and less rental properties – rents go up. Some people can’t afford those rents, they end up on the waitlist. The waitlist goes up – there’s not enough social housing – people end up in motels.” Kiwibank has predicted that New Zealand will have a housing surplus at some stage over the next 12 months while building activity outstrips demand. Bishop says he laughed out loud when he heard the Kiwibank prediction. “My response is we will have a surplus when no one lives in a car and no one lives in a motel. And everyone who needs a social house can get one.” Woods looks to the record level of consents made – 50,736 dwellings consented in the year to June 2022, compared to 30,453 in the year to June 2017 – as significant progress. “We’re also mindful that a consent is not a house until it is completed. We’re closely monitoring building activity, particularly as there are headwinds due to global supply issues and other economic factors,” says Woods. “There is more work still to be done to ensure that the right types of dwellings are built where they are needed, and that they are affordable – whether for homeowners or renters.” This article was written by DCM's Kaiarataki Pūrongo Matthew Mawkes as part of a journalism course at Massey University. Special thanks to Lee-Ann Duncan for the newswriting tips. <!-- --> The landlords helping solve the housing crisis Matthew Ryan has been in the news a lot lately – you might have read about him on Stuff talking about property prices, or heard him on his fortnightly Hot Property podcast on Newstalk ZB. Often referred to as a ‘mega landlord’, what may surprise many is that Matthew is helping solve New Zealand’s housing crisis by providing properties to DCM’s Aro Mai Housing First team. Matthew Ryan is our largest landlord, currently providing housing for 17 taumai. Matthew was born in Wellington in 1964. He has a lot of love for the city, where he has spent most of his life. He grew up in a working-class family, working at McDonald’s in Porirua from 1981-1985, where he made $4.34 an hour. “I’ve probably come from a bit of a dysfunctional family,” Matthew reflects. “It was a hard upbringing. I guess in adversity sometimes you have to rise above it. You can go two ways with things. You can decide to be a part of it, or you can make it work for you.” By 1987, Matthew had brought his first property with a friend. In the late 1980s, he relocated to London where he sold real estate. “It was a recession time in the United Kingdom, but it was fascinating living in a big city like that – all the opportunity,” Matthew says. “I was in my early 20s. I arrived with $5,000 – about £2,500 – and I ended up buying three properties by the end of it. I wish I had them now of course!” Back in New Zealand Matthew continued working in real estate – becoming a bona fide property expert in the process – and his focus is now on Wellington. “It’s a bit easier to manage houses where you live,” he says. Matthew is Aro Mai Housing First’s largest landlord, currently providing housing for 17 taumai. Our Housing First team started by taking a few properties, and when that worked out, Matthew offered more – in particular in the Hutt Valley, where a large number of taumai have been housed. “The relationship blossomed,” Matthew says. “Because it makes sense. “It’s taken a while to understand how it all works. Like a lot of things, it evolves as it goes, but I now have a better understanding of how Aro Mai works, and who’s responsible for what.” It takes support from DCM, Emerge Aotearoa as a CHP (Community Housing Provider), and property owners, to make Aro Mai Housing First work. And there are challenges, such as obtaining insurance, which infuriates Matthew. “If an insurance company is prepared to insure a building on the basis that I pick John and Mary Smith, they’re happy enough to rent on that basis, but if I give it to Emerge Aotearoa, and they pick the same John and Mary Smith, they go, ‘No we don’t want them’. “That has to be discrimination. And that is not on, really.” But Matthew says Housing First is an attractive option for landlords, because not only are they helping solve the housing crisis by renting to people who have experienced homelessness, properties are managed for them, and they can benefit from changes to tax deductibility rules. Matthew would like to see the government step in to address the insurance issue. “If they can’t force their hand they probably need to say OK, well, we need to assist here.” In the meantime, Matthew continues to offer properties to DCM's Aro Mai Housing First team. Our vision is for a community where whānau are housed, connected, valued, and thriving. In the middle of a housing crisis, we need many more landlords just like Matthew who are truly making that vision become a reality. If you would like to know more about how you can provide homes for the people we are supporting out of homelessness, please get in touch with our Kaiārahi Whiwhinga (Property Procurement Officer) Shaun. For more information about how Housing First works, visit our website and check out the story of Dev. <!-- --> Challenging perceptions about homelessness The phone call to police was simple, but urgent – “Someone’s dead on the side of the street.” So began John’s day rough sleeping in Wellington, as social workers from DCM woke him up, the police close by their side. It was a turning point for John, who is now housed in a property provided by Wellington landlord Matthew Ryan through Aro Mai Housing First, a government-funded initiative that helps people who have experienced homelessness for at least a year get into permanent housing. Aged only 27, John has experienced a decade of living rough, and challenges the perceptions people have about homelessness, which he says is not always about addictions and mental health – though these issues have crossed his path too. For John, homelessness came about as a direct result of being kicked out of home. “Family life was rough. Especially due to the religious abuse of my mother,” says John. “I got disowned two weeks before I turned 16.” John, 27, pictured in Te Aro Park. He is now housed after a decade of homelessness through the Aro Mai Housing First initiative that recognises that it’s easier for people to deal with complex issues if they have a stable place to live. Raised Jehovah’s Witness, Martin’s teenage rebellion saw him take to the streets of Whangarei. He started self-harming and was on a suicide watch for four years. “I’ve been pissed on, I’ve been shat on, I’ve been spat on. Been abused – physically and emotionally.”  Wanting a fresh start, John hitchhiked to Wellington where the lure of free coffee and internet brought him to DCM. John was able to access emergency housing and, through DCM's Aro Mai Housing First team, a permanent place of his own. “I have my own bed, a couch, a TV. I’ve never physically owned any of this stuff. My prized possession has always been my skateboard. Living inside, it’s kind of like – what am I going to do now?” John’s key focus is on his health, and he is currently going through very serious medical treatments. He looks forward to doing some training and getting into work, helping others his age who have also experienced homelessness. “Years ago I was hustling with a little sign out and this guy yells at me – ‘Get a fucking job!’ An hour or so later he comes back, sits down beside me, and we chat. I explained my history and he had suggestions. He found out I had done the yards. I said bro – don’t judge a book by its cover.” We are relieved that John has a whare of his own, where he can recuperate and focus on his wellbeing. To support people like John, we need many more staff, especially for our large and growing Aro Mai Housing First team. Not only does this team procure properties, they provide the wraparound support needed to ensure those properties are maintained, and that taumai are able to thrive. Do you know anyone who would love to work for our amazing organisation? Visit our website for more info. <!-- --> Support DCM We call the people we work with taumai, meaning to settle. This reflects the journey we set out on together – to become settled, stable and well. Nāku te rourou, nāu te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi. With your basket and my basket, the people will thrive. <!-- --> Copyright © 2022 DCM. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: DCMPO Box 6133Marion SqWellington, Wellington 6011 New ZealandAdd us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
    • Accepted from DCM alerts archive 37 months ago by feedreader
    • Tagged as:
    • hutt-valley
    • lyall-bay
    • porirua

    Porirua, Wellington Region, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
  
  
• • 

    A city with a vision? AKL x WLG

    • 6 Sep 2020
    • Talk Wellington
    • Wellington’s got a lot of bustle and noise (Let’s Get Wellington Moving – Spatial Plan – new subdivisions – convention centre – library) but where’s the coherent vision? Hey Auckland – can we learn some things? The Wellington Urbanerds invited some insightful Aucklanders to talk about the Auckland City Centre Masterplan (CCMP) because it’s getting a lot of positive interest in nerdy circles nationwide, and we thought “Wellington needs one of those to galvanise our progress!” But it turns out that the CCMP is not the cause of Auckland’s progress – it’s a milestone marker of a bigger evolution in Tāmaki.  Auckland City Centre’s chief urban designer George Weeks was insightful, visually engaging and occasionally very funny. Auckland city centre’s chief transport designer Daniel Newcombe injected insights that were pithy and thought-provoking. All up it’s worth watching the video – details at the bottom. But this post has some of the big insights for Wellington that we took away.  Hat tip to Charles Dawson for invaluable note taking. A galvanising vision, with a strong whakapapa  What makes the CCMP unusual as an official planning document, Weeks told us, is that it’s not “a planner’s plan” – 2,000 pages of vision down to prescriptive requirements. Instead it’s “the brochure for the city centre”. He told us that “with the 2012 CCMP, we thought it was better to have a 200 page document that 10,000 people see, or at least have skimmed, than a 2,000 page document that 100 people read in detail. We have used this approach to shape the 2020 CCMP.” It has had a major refresh in the last 8 years and the 2020 version is quite something. Galvanising vision  Weeks took us through how the updated CCMP works: how it delivers on the Auckland Plan’s promise of life in Auckland, through the city centre’s form and function. It’s worth laying these out because while we definitely have bits of the formula, there’s some powerful elements we’re missing.   Experience of being there The Auckland Plan (essentially the Tāmaki-Makaurau 30-year plan) sets out ten Outcomes for the city – effectively the promise of life experience that you should get, being in Auckland. The whole super-city is supposed to fulfil these promises, and the city centre’s no exception. In the CCMP, the ten citywide Outcomes or life promises are intertwined with eight place-specific Transformational Moves. The latter are the major initiatives to change the physical environment of the city centre so it can deliver those outcomes – the good Auckland experiences – for anyone who’s there.  A lot of this has come into the 2020 CCMP thanks to Access for Everyone (A4E), the city centre’s transport programme done to support the CCMP refresh process (more on A4E later). Street forms and place shapes… So the 2020 CCMP has street explainers that show – conceptually but with a lot of verisimilitude – the components of the streets and buildings, the overall shape of the whole public realm that’s needed for the city centre to give people that great experience.  a generic “transit street” explainer – from the CCMP These explainers are conceptual, but are tied enough to specific places, that everyone can see the trajectory of how their specific bit of the city will be changing, but crucially they can see a really solid why. …because This means “X street, and its environment, should have Y shape and form because…”. We saw, for example, that one of the biggest streets in the Learning Quarter, Symonds Street, will be a transit street for all these reasons: Symonds St, for example, needs to become a transit street not because of some abstracted notion of “sorting out the transport” but because it is at the heart of Auckland’s city centre universities, and “transit street” is the form for Symonds Street that will let it best serve people in the Learning Quarter with the good experience the Auckland Plan promises. Weeks flicked through a few examples of how the CCMP is signalling change to the built environment of Tāmaki’s city centre (which is pretty interesting – have a play here, the 2020 version is fully digital!) Our impression of all this was that the CCMP, thanks to the Auckland Plan and Access For Everyone (the transport dimension), has pretty well integrated two things that any self-respecting city needs to integrate. This is the roles of movement (transport) and place or exchange (destination activity) in any given area of the city centre. And Auckland manages to integrate these with a nice clear Why and Because for each set of changes. [Hold on, is that anything special? We know about this stuff… This tight integration – of form to function, place with movement, built form to people’s lived experience – seems pretty elementary for self-respecting cities. And you’d be forgiven for assuming Wellington has that integration in place. Indeed, things like the street concepts in Auckland’s 2020 (refreshed) CCMP don’t look too dissimilar to what LGWM put out for the Golden Mile. And the material coming out from LGWM and the Central City elements of the Spatial Plan and Wellington 2040 use a lot of the right words. Golden Mile concept from LGWM But in listening to Weeks’ presentation, we realised just how explicit and unequivocal the CCMP and A4E are about the why, the because for the physical city changes they describe, anchored home to that lived experience promised in the Auckland Plan. And the locked-in coupling between the place / destination train and the movement / transport train so they’re pulling each part of the city in the same direction towards that better experience for all Aucklanders. This coupling is something we’re muddling around in Wellington. We’re hedging our bets on saying explicitly what lived experiences we want to prioritise and privilege in our city centre. This means the transport planning and place planning are making (at best) vague bows in each other’s direction, with lots of hedging our bets about whether and how we’re prioritising “drive-through” vs “go-to” in our city centre. OK back to the presentation…] Galvanising and enabling Weeks told us that in the CCMP, when you combine the Auckland Plan’s Outcomes and the CCMP’s Transformational Moves, the product is the city centre “Opportunities”. Opportunities are projects, quite specific things, and there are quite a few listed. click on the image to have a play in the CCMP Opportunities But they’re not a set of business-case investments that clamp tunnel-vision onto ambition. They seemed to be as much illustrating the kinds of projects that would make the city centre better at giving people that great experience of Auckland living. As Weeks emphasised: “anyone can come up with an Opportunity”. (We imagine the galvanising could run like this… Hello, I’m a developer looking at buying or developing neighbouring Building X and Building Y, I can see the direction of profitable change and unprofitable change that I could make to that property, given the trajectory of change in its environment.  And I can make up a project that creates a much better laneway space between them, plus better delivery access, better stormwater handling, and augmented residential-plus-commercial uses… This bundle of investments will make me money, and enhance really well that little corner of the city – so public investment and other private are likelier to come join me… ) CCMP’s generic laneways explainer (click to expand) Lesson for Wellington: let the vision be the vision, get other activity making it reality A big lesson for Wellington, Weeks said, was to “be clear about what different plans are to do. The City Centre Masterplan sets the vision, which allows many actors to work out how to deliver its different facets, or to develop their own ideas too.” The CCMP is only the green-circled bits in this picture. CCMP: a strong whakapapa The CCMP’s technical pedigree is strong – it makes good application of internationally-accepted principles of urban physics and urban dynamics. But – as Weeks put it – if the CCMP can “see further, it’s because [it is] standing on the shoulders of giants”. Complementing the CCMP’s technical pedigree is its collective human ancestry: the people, organisations, and relationships that have coalesced around it, the support that it’s known and seen to have, and the mana that this contributes to its strong legitimacy and mandate today.  From the presentation a few points stood out on each of these… The technical pedigree of the CCMP  Weeks and Newcombe gave us a whistle-stop tour of the set of transport and urban planning documents of which the 2020 CCMP is the progeny. Auckland Unitary Plan – The supercity’s first joined up District Plan, the “rulebook” for implementing the Auckland Plan. Forced much more collaboration in planning, for everything. City Centre Future Access Study – NZTA, Ministry of Transport, Auckland Council, Treasury, Auckland Transport found the City Rail Link would blitz all other 46 options for getting people to and from the city centre. The City Rail Link (CRL) –  an underground railway link turning the city centre heavy rail terminus into a through-station, building 4 new underground stations. Doubles the number of Aucklanders with 30min access to city centre. After years of arguing, finally underway once tax was to pay 50% (thanks ATAP). Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP) (2016-17, updated 2018) Auckland-region-wide (not just one bit) merit-based priority list of all the big-ticket transport projects, costed and agreed by all funders and deliverers.  Crucially: first acknowledgement by central government that Auckland couldn’t road-build its way out of its traffic problems Business Case for Walking – first quantification of the value of city centre walking to Auckland’s economy, done in 2017. [Hey “walkable capital”, where’s ours?] The creation of documents always sounds more coherent in retrospect, but Weeks and Newcombe emphasised that it’s not been a nice clean sequential progress.  Key principles of urban physics (like the role of people walking) have only been given oxygen relatively late in the sequence. The need to get tax funding to co-fund megaprojects has meant a lot of back-and-forth raruraru with central government, and between the various bits of Auckland’s council family.  And some great documents – like the Business Case for Walking mentioned above – have no official legal weight: a decision-making body can completely ignore them if it wants.  But we heard that the various documents have meant that amongst the bureaucracy and other government power-holders, there’s been an accumulation of key principles of good urban physics, akin to accumulation of organic matter. Sometimes it’s just leaves falling, but sometimes there’s a large trunk. These accumulations in the establishment’s hivemind make it much harder to go back and relitigate, as there’s been some crystallisation in the thinking. (Though, of course, as Newcombe noted, that doesn’t stop people trying!)   Access for Everyone – the complementary transport element of the City Centre Masterplan which was developed as part of the CCMP refresh – is a great example. In traditionally car-mad Auckland, the entire Auckland Council voted unanimously to begin A4E trials “enabling a decisive mode shift away from private vehicles, to make better use of finite city centre space and improve the quality of the environment.” Wow. Access For Everyone’s car-free Queen Street / Horotiu Valley with Low Traffic Neighbourhoods around. And no more driving through the city centre! The human side of CCMP’s whakapapa We heard that a major benefit of the sequence of documents was the relationships and conversations that a document creates a pretext to have.   There’s been a lot of investment in behind-the-scenes engagement, with big stakeholders in the city. This has paid off in an unusual level of big players’ trust and buy-in to the vision and the big moves to get there. From large developers, through Heart of the City (the inner city Business Improvement District), through the AA, NZTA, to the City Centre Residents’ Group  (fun fact: 40,000 people live in Auckland’s city centre alone). This good stakeholder engagement bears fruit: it enabled councillors to support the 2020 CCMP relatively easily, despite it having relatively little engagement from the wider public (a few hundred submissions compared with the Unitary Plan’s ~10,000). It’s not a coincidence that Precinct Properties has seen fit to drop a billion (with a B) dollars of its shareholders’ money into the Commercial Bay development – Weeks observed that it’s on the strength of the new trust and joined-up thinking developed through the CCMP process.  Daniel Newcombe spoke from experience about the collaboration that had eventually started to come, once “you can get people to stop introducing competing plans” and come together. Sometimes this requires biding your time, working by osmosis, and finding the sensible individuals in an organisation on whom to work, and building coalitions that chip away at antipathetic organisations. Getting people to issue formal letters of support on behalf of their organisations can be extremely powerful, he said. Iwi influence  We heard that one major improvement of the 2020 refreshed CCMP over the 2012 original is the inclusion of Māori outcomes. For the refresh, the ADO worked closely in partnership with Auckland’s Mana Whenua Kaitiaki Forum to develop a Māori outcomes plan. This work shaped Transformational Move 1: Māori Outcomes, with proposals for a papa kōkiri at the waterfront and a whare tāpere at Aotea Square.  The 2020 CCMP manifests the Auckland Plan’s Māori Identity and Wellbeing outcome and Te Aranga Māori Design Principles via Outcome 1: Tāmaki Makaurau – Our place in the world. It sets out the big interventions and systemic changes to bring mana whenua presence, Māori identity and life into the city centre and waterfront.  There are some big-ticket, high-visibility things and pervasive, interwoven ones. To our (Pākehā) ears this sounded pretty great…  Attack of the roadcones! Plans are essential, but how do you get them going, especially when there’s so many large, cumbersome players with inertia?  Weeks had peppered the presentation with cool before-and-after shots of some iconic Auckland changes, including Te Ara i Whiti / the (pink) LightPath, and localised street improvements like our favourite, O’Connell Street (below). O’Connell Street. oh.yes.melbourne We know (though the webinar didn’t go in depth here) that much of Auckland city centre’s evolution that you and I can see today was driven by the Auckland Design Office, with Auckland Transport and Auckland Council partners. Their projects opened people’s eyes to how good street change could be done, and that actually the good “urban physics” did apply in Auckland too. And they gave Auckland council family a chance to practice delivering street change together, and figure out how it can be done without anyone losing an eye.  They did it with a combination of a figurehead / champion / lightning rod / air cover for the ground troops (AKA Ludo-Campbell-Reid) plus a ninja team of designers, engagers and doers, doing on-the-ground projects that brought to life the good practice of urban design.    Projects like Fort Street, O’Connell Street, Fort Lane, and Jean Batten Place showed that – contrary to received wisdom – replacement of on-street car parking with high-quality streetscape was good for business. Collaboration with Auckland Transport led to the creation of a pop-up cycleway along Quay Street (well before the Innovating Streets for People pilots) which is now being incorporated into a permanent street redesign that will finish this year.  It’s not been an easy road: by now, ten pilots of the street changes for Access for Everyone were supposed to be underway, following that unanimous Council vote, but just one (High Street) has been. And the ADO has now been disbanded, allegedly due to their irritating conservative parts of the establishment with cost-cutting as a pretext.  But there’s momentum now…  Auckland’s changing, and has lessons for us  Throughout the session the Zoom chat pane had been running hot with questions and comments from the “floor” (aka the online audience). Weeks and Newcombe took questions from the pane and from the Urbanerds presenters, and a few highlights stood out including lessons for Pōneke… Lesson for Wellington: get partners on the same transport page Weeks’ and Newcombe’s first lesson was to get a multi agency agreement on transport together. It can’t just be the city council or regional council. It has to have central government buy-in; they can’t be pulling in the other direction from the city or region with their ambitions for the city’s transport. Updated ATAP, with all the partners This consensus shifts the conversation from “Do we need that good stuff replacing the bad stuff?” to “When do we need it?”. You have to keep the focus at that “when” level, not allowing relitigation of the fundamental principle of urban physics that you’ve achieved consensus on. We wonder: is this LGWM? Is it shifting our conversation? Is NZTA pulling in the same direction as the city, as the regional council?   Lesson for Wellington: generate the brochure, together A second big lesson is that you have to have the vision, the brochure, the clear picture of the good life that your city wants to give everyone who’s in the city centre, whatever they’re doing there. This has to be the rationale for any the physical changes that you entertain or consider. The Auckland Plan’s 8 outcomes – promises of the experience of life in Auckland, that the CCMP too must deliver This “brochure” must be developed hand in glove with the actors we want to be supporting it, building on any public mandate you already have but not driven by the wider public. This conversation with the big players should not feel like it’s led by any one player (developers, or transport-planners, or inner-city-residents, or businesses – nor even, we wonder, council?). What it must be is very good quality engagement that builds a strong trust and instils a foundation layer of commitment to (or at least grudging acknowledgement of) solid urban physics, and the trajectory of change needed throughout the city.    Lesson for Wellington: CBDs are doomed Listener Sally asked whether a focus on a city centre had been overtaken by COVID and its boost to working from home, and localism, especially in Wellington where there’s such a large commuter population. Weeks’ answer put it in much more professional terms, but the message came through clearly: if your city centre is mostly a Central Business District, where “business” is the dominant activity, it’s doomed. Monocultures always make a system vulnerable to shocks, in agriculture, horticulture and in cities If it’s a central city, with a hundred or a thousand different reasons for people of all different walks of life to be there, then it’ll be fine – it’ll change and adapt, but the power of people wanting to be there is the lifeblood of a city. “The death of the city has been predicted since the invention of the city, in the Bronze Age” Weeks observed – “and if you’ve got an actual city, it won’t happen.” We wonder… how much of Wellington’s central city is a dead zone by 6.30pm? How much are we reinvigorating and diversifying the reasons to be there?   Lesson for Wellington: lock all good plans to something with teeth Weeks emphasised that the power of these plans comes from linking area plans and other non-statutory plans to ones with statutory power.  So despite being a non-statutory document, the City Centre Masterplan carries weight because they mapped its outcomes tightly against the Auckland Plan (the statutory 30-year plan for the whole city) and councillors have voted overwhelmingly in favour of it. diagram showing how the CCMP is making good on the Auckland Plan’s promises, in the city centre We definitely don’t yet have the vision and its trust, nor the solid hook between statutory and non-statutory … but we have some elements of the recipe.    We wonder… how much of the CCMP-style whakapapa do we have, if not the actual document?  Could we build these levels of trust and vision together?  Some Wellington City Council planning and design gurus attended the session and helpfully fielded some questions about where Wellington was at. Our one-liner summary was: it’s not going to hell in a handcart, but it’s definitely all up in the air. Smart engagement from Urbanerds listeners and Talk Wellington readers is really needed. We’ll pick up “so what for us?” in the next post. Here’s the video: link, passcode SUa&tOC5 Meantime… where have you seen signs of a clear vision of good Wellington city life, for everyone?
    • Accepted from Talk Wellington posts 63 months ago by feedreader
    • Tagged as:
    • draft-spatial-plan
    • supercity
    • waterfront
    • island-bay-cycle-way
    • covid-19
    • libraries
    • convention-centre
    • lets-get-wellington-moving
  
  

• • DCM – together we can end homelessness – one very special story

    • 27 Apr 2022
    • Downtown Community Ministry
    • 96 DCM – together we can end homelessness – one very special story p{ margin:10px 0; padding:0; } table{ border-collapse:collapse; } h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6{ display:block; margin:0; padding:0; } img,a img{ border:0; height:auto; outline:none; text-decoration:none; } body,#bodyTable,#bodyCell{ height:100%; margin:0; padding:0; width:100%; } .mcnPreviewText{ display:none !important; } #outlook a{ padding:0; } img{ -ms-interpolation-mode:bicubic; } table{ mso-table-lspace:0pt; mso-table-rspace:0pt; } .ReadMsgBody{ width:100%; } .ExternalClass{ width:100%; } p,a,li,td,blockquote{ mso-line-height-rule:exactly; } a[href^=tel],a[href^=sms]{ color:inherit; cursor:default; text-decoration:none; } p,a,li,td,body,table,blockquote{ -ms-text-size-adjust:100%; -webkit-text-size-adjust:100%; } .ExternalClass,.ExternalClass p,.ExternalClass td,.ExternalClass div,.ExternalClass span,.ExternalClass font{ line-height:100%; } a[x-apple-data-detectors]{ color:inherit !important; text-decoration:none !important; font-size:inherit !important; font-family:inherit !important; font-weight:inherit !important; line-height:inherit !important; } .templateContainer{ max-width:600px !important; } a.mcnButton{ display:block; } .mcnImage,.mcnRetinaImage{ vertical-align:bottom; } .mcnTextContent{ word-break:break-word; } .mcnTextContent img{ height:auto !important; } .mcnDividerBlock{ table-layout:fixed !important; } h1{ color:#222222; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:40px; font-style:normal; font-weight:bold; line-height:150%; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:center; } h2{ color:#222222; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:34px; font-style:normal; font-weight:bold; line-height:150%; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:center; } h3{ color:#444444; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:22px; font-style:normal; font-weight:bold; line-height:150%; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:center; } h4{ color:#949494; font-family:Georgia; font-size:20px; font-style:italic; font-weight:normal; line-height:125%; letter-spacing:normal; text-align:center; } #templateHeader{ background-color:#07486a; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:50% 50%; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:54px; padding-bottom:54px; } .headerContainer{ background-color:transparent; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:0; padding-bottom:0; } .headerContainer .mcnTextContent,.headerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ color:#757575; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:16px; line-height:150%; text-align:left; } .headerContainer .mcnTextContent a,.headerContainer .mcnTextContent p a{ color:#007C89; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; } #templateBody{ background-color:#transparent; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:27px; padding-bottom:54px; } .bodyContainer{ background-color:#transparent; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:0; padding-bottom:0; } .bodyContainer .mcnTextContent,.bodyContainer .mcnTextContent p{ color:#757575; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:16px; line-height:150%; text-align:left; } .bodyContainer .mcnTextContent a,.bodyContainer .mcnTextContent p a{ color:#007C89; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; } #templateFooter{ background-color:#07486a; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:45px; padding-bottom:63px; } .footerContainer{ background-color:transparent; background-image:none; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:center; background-size:cover; border-top:0; border-bottom:0; padding-top:0; padding-bottom:0; } .footerContainer .mcnTextContent,.footerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ color:#FFFFFF; font-family:Helvetica; font-size:12px; line-height:150%; text-align:center; } .footerContainer .mcnTextContent a,.footerContainer .mcnTextContent p a{ color:#FFFFFF; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; } @media only screen and (min-width:768px){ .templateContainer{ width:600px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ body,table,td,p,a,li,blockquote{ -webkit-text-size-adjust:none !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ body{ width:100% !important; min-width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnRetinaImage{ max-width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImage{ width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnCartContainer,.mcnCaptionTopContent,.mcnRecContentContainer,.mcnCaptionBottomContent,.mcnTextContentContainer,.mcnBoxedTextContentContainer,.mcnImageGroupContentContainer,.mcnCaptionLeftTextContentContainer,.mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer,.mcnCaptionLeftImageContentContainer,.mcnCaptionRightImageContentContainer,.mcnImageCardLeftTextContentContainer,.mcnImageCardRightTextContentContainer,.mcnImageCardLeftImageContentContainer,.mcnImageCardRightImageContentContainer{ max-width:100% !important; width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnBoxedTextContentContainer{ min-width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageGroupContent{ padding:9px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnCaptionLeftContentOuter .mcnTextContent,.mcnCaptionRightContentOuter .mcnTextContent{ padding-top:9px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageCardTopImageContent,.mcnCaptionBottomContent:last-child .mcnCaptionBottomImageContent,.mcnCaptionBlockInner .mcnCaptionTopContent:last-child .mcnTextContent{ padding-top:18px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageCardBottomImageContent{ padding-bottom:9px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageGroupBlockInner{ padding-top:0 !important; padding-bottom:0 !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageGroupBlockOuter{ padding-top:9px !important; padding-bottom:9px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnTextContent,.mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{ padding-right:18px !important; padding-left:18px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnImageCardLeftImageContent,.mcnImageCardRightImageContent{ padding-right:18px !important; padding-bottom:0 !important; padding-left:18px !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcpreview-image-uploader{ display:none !important; width:100% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h1{ font-size:30px !important; line-height:125% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h2{ font-size:26px !important; line-height:125% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h3{ font-size:20px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ h4{ font-size:18px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .mcnTextContent,.mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .headerContainer .mcnTextContent,.headerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .bodyContainer .mcnTextContent,.bodyContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:16px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .footerContainer .mcnTextContent,.footerContainer .mcnTextContent p{ font-size:14px !important; line-height:150% !important; } } Many of the people DCM supports die at a young age. Today we share the story of Russell, who died two days before Christmas last year. Remembering Russell Two days before Christmas, the team from DCM stood with two police representatives down on the waterfront, at the site where the body of a man they had all supported over the years had been found that morning. After a karakia led by the police iwi liaison kaimahi, the DCM team sang waiata, beginning with “Te Hokinga Mai”...   ...TANGI ANA TE NGĀKAU I TE AROHA... How my heart weeps with sorrowful love... HEI ORANGA MO TE MŌREHU, TANGI MŌKAI NEI... The survivor cries out with loneliness... E RAPU ANA I TE ARA TIKA... Seeking out the right path...   Russell Fleming was born in Palmerston North and spent his earliest years in Levin. Later the family moved to Lower Hutt. Russell had two older sisters and two older brothers. His mother describes him as her “surprise baby”. Growing up, Russell learned many skills from his father. He loved tinkering with bikes and as an adult, this continued to be something he enjoyed. On the morning of Russell’s funeral, there was a bike in his flat which he had been working on. He rode bikes; he rode scooters. This was part of who he was. His father Hugh helped him get his heavy truck driver’s license. Russell always saw himself as a worker. This had been one of his family’s core values. Drunk or sober-ish, he would say to us “I have to get a job!”; “I have to get my truck driver’s license back.” His mother recalls how, when they were together, he would say, “You sit down, Mum. I will make you a cup of tea.” His house was clean. Even on the day of his funeral, there was his washing drying on a clothes horse indoors. Russell’s undoing was his alcohol addiction. He kind of didn’t have a choice. He faced so many challenges – addictions, mental health, a back injury and a head injury, which he attempted to address through self-medication. Combining his prescription meds with alcohol led to a seizure. Being diagnosed as epileptic meant he lost his truck driver’s license and could not work, something that was so important to him. As a result of this complexity, Russell could not access or receive the support which he needed, something we often see with the taumai we support at DCM when they experience multiple, complex issues. He did not fit in one category; the fact that he needed support around all three (mental health, addiction, cognitive impairment through head injury) meant he slipped through the cracks of secondary health services. Russell lived a mobile life, but was always drawn back to Wellington, to this area, to “home”. And so many people in Wellington were connected to him and were part of his story: his friends in the street community, the street cleaners, the Wellington City Council local hosts, his lawyer, all the different tenancy managers, Mōkai Kāinga and the community gardens – even the police were fond of him! At DCM, Russell connected with and was supported by so many of the team over the years – from the dentists, eye doctor, and Te Aro Health nurses to many DCM kaimahi. Every team at DCM was part of his journey – the Outreach team when he was rough sleeping, the Sustaining Tenancies team when he was struggling to stay in a home, and towards the end of his life, he was housed again through the Aro Mai Housing First collaboration. Here a few of those he was closest to, share their memories and reflections about Russell. Russell loved spending time with Natalia and Rob. Natalia Natalia Cleland, DCM I was the first person Russell met when he came back to Wellington in 2018. He had been living at a campsite in Nelson, and he said to me, “I can’t keep living on the street! I need a house!” He connected with people well, and was able to voice his own aspirations well. I didn’t want to be the one who told him that there was no house for him. I wanted to be in his corner, supporting him. So I put him on the line to the MSD Social Housing team. He howled and screamed down the line – “I need a house! I am going to die out here!” He absolutely demanded a house – and he got one! This is when he got his first tenancy – at Lower Hutt, just around the corner from his parents. “Yes, the housing stuff; well, it’s stuffed!” – this was probably one of the most incredible things Russell said. He was really smart and could see what was going on in the broken system. Not just looking at his personal situation but seeing that he was caught in a system that was “stuffed”. I was blown away by his insight and how he didn’t complain about his homelessness necessarily but rather he called out the problem for everyone. He was such a friendly guy, so happy and gregarious. In every photo shown at his funeral, he is smiling, laughing. This was his strength, but also the challenge. He was so connected, he didn’t always know when to step back and give others some space. His personality could be too much for others at times. Russell was always connected to his family, even in his dis-connection. He always wanted to be re-connected to them all. There was a birthday card from his parents that he kept on his mantelpiece in his final home. When we mentioned this to his mother, she said that it would have been a card from several birthdays ago. He had carried it around with him while he slept on the streets and put it on display when he moved into that final house.   “Yes, the housing stuff; well, it’s stuffed!” Russell Fleming Robert Robert Sarich, DCM How would I describe Russell? He was ENERGETIC – literally a ball of energy. And he was LOVING. He was also completely and utterly committed to social justice. I first met Russell on Lambton Quay. I was out on outreach, walking along the street en route to work early in the morning. I explained where DCM was and left him a card. “Please come down and see us,” was my kōrero. He was open to this, immediately, which was awesome. When he was housed out at the Hutt, I helped him move in. He was always positive. He was only ever negative when he was drinking. I guess that in a past time, he would have been the lovable town drunk. As I say, Russell was committed to social justice. If things were going wrong for other people, he would often raise it with us. He would tell us about the person, tell us that they needed help, tell us that it wasn’t “fair” how things were for this person. You often had to listen and reflect, wait to see what it was that Russell was getting at, what it was that was going on with the person he was concerned for. But often when you got to the heart of it, Russell was bang on. Russell was assaulted a few times, when his behaviour was just too big for others to deal with. He would advocate for himself too. I thought it was very brave; he would go to the police, name no names, but he understood he needed to do this – for himself, and for others. “If they could do it to me, they could do it to anyone, Rob!” he would reflect to me. My feeling is that Russell was a lot more settled in the final months of this life. Russell knew that he was loved, not merely tolerated. Yes, he was a loved ball of energy, dressed in a beautiful korowai. Hamish Hamish Knight, Police City Community team, Wellington I have been in the Police for 14 years, and Russell Fleming is one of those characters like Ben Hana, who you really connect with, who many people know and have connected with. He had that wow factor. He has evolved over time; he has grown and he has changed. And it’s not just that the numbers of bangles up his arm have been added to, the jewellery has changed. But some things have also stayed the same. Russell has always been pleasant to chat to. Banter. That’s the word. Russell and I enjoyed plenty of banter. He went through his camo stage, with that huge backpack, full of everything! I would pretend that I couldn’t see him in his camo gear. He would be calling out to me, and I would be going: “Who is that talking? I can’t see anyone!” Yarns – that’s another word. There were some big yarns about his life. I usually had to cut him off or we would be talking on and on and on – forever. He was talkative, yes, but he was never disrespectful of me, of police, of authority. I didn’t arrest him; there was no offending that I dealt with. I would take the alcohol off him. He would listen to reason. Like when I would explain that he was just being too loud. He knew he needed to tone it down; he just didn’t really know how to go about it. He didn’t go looking for trouble, but it did seem to find him at times. Russell seemed to be on the fringes. In so many ways. On the fringes of many friendship groups, but never at the heart; never quite experiencing the connections and close friendships he seemed to want. That was a bit sad, watching him try to find a place he belonged.   “I am a homeless person. But I look out for others.” Russell Fleming Joe Pastor Joe Serevi, Salvation Army I first met Russell at DCM. He was sitting outside, and he wasn’t having a good day. I said to him, “Come on, let’s go for a walk and have a chat.” I took him for a cuppa. Russell just loved to talk, and that’s how I began to connect with him. Russell was such a character, with his great big backpack, and his military fatigues. He was intelligent, and this shone through whenever you had a kōrero with him, especially when he was sober. He was one of the more challenging people on the streets, and he found it very challenging when he got housed. Those four walls and living alone were difficult for him. Russell was someone who really needed and was always seeking connection with other people. I was privileged to be one of those people, and to be able to support him in different ways over the years. Russell Russell Fleming, in his own words Many of you have “met” Russell through DCM’s film clip. He was keen to be involved with this – he saw it as a way to lift up DCM and acknowledge the support he, and others, had received from the team. At the time, he was rough sleeping. In amongst all of the film footage which Ocular shot while making the DCM film clip are conversations which the film crew had with Russell. Producer Steph Miller pulled some of these reflections out for us this month. There is Russell, in his own words, talking about his life and about homelessness. He speaks about the complexity – of being so used to the street that he often felt more settled there:   “It’s hard. Every time I go in to a house, I am used to being out here.” “A house. It’s just four walls, you just sit there and do nothing. Whereas out on the street… I guess it’s more of a social thing.” ...while at the same time being totally over it, and wanting to have a safe place to be – ”But then again, you want a house cos you are sick of it.” He asks the film crew – “If you were homeless...would you be able to go to sleep at night, in the cold, in the wind, in the rain?” Over and over again, Russell lifts up DCM.    “Natalia is a lovely person; she has put me in to a few houses and stuff”; “Natalia and that; they are cool. DCM are cool fellows!” At the same time, he draws attention to the key underlying issue – too many people experiencing homelessness and too few houses:   “Natalia and DCM; they are doing a really good job! But they have had to help so many people.” “DCM have so much on their plate, dealing with so many homeless people!” “Yes, the housing stuff; well, it’s stuffed!”   And his own kaupapa and commitment to others also comes through, as he shares examples of times when he has been able to help others, especially young people experiencing homelessness and addictions.   “I am a homeless person. But I look out for others”.   Sia Sia To’omaga, DCM Russell was little, and loud, and often all over the place with his thoughts, with his kōrero. When he was referred to our team, he had a property in the Hutt, back when DCM’s Sustaining Tenancies team was still covering the Hutt. When he was living on the streets, he was bullied. I would go out and look for him, go out and find him. He found a safe space for himself, up by parliament. We knew where to find him. At DCM, we have housed him three or four times, and have tried some different options. The challenges were always around his drinking and his behaviour. He could get to a situation where he didn’t feel safe in the whare or living situation we had sorted for him, and then he would return to the street. One day a few months before his death, he came in to DCM; he was drunk and he was loud. He was calling out to me. “I am going on a course, Sia! Then I can get a job.” He had this card; he was anxious that he might have missed the course, the chance to do this. I was asking him to calm down and to explain what was going on slowly and carefully to me. Here I was trying to call the number on the card – and then a phone call came through! Magic, amazing timing. It wasn’t the same name or number as on the card, but it was a man named Tone, calling to ask DCM about Russell and the course. Tone and I figured out that we knew each other, and we were able to make sure there was a spot on the course reserved for Russell. But it wasn’t going to be easy. When I heard that this training course was going to be at a place at the bottom of Ngauranga Gorge, and that it was going to begin at 7.30am – well, I did not know how Russell was going to get to the right place at the right time. But you know what? He made it! And he completed the course!   The last time I saw Russell, I congratulated him on passing the course. He showed me photos of his house on his phone. I said to him “Wow, Russell! You could eat off the floor. It is so tidy! Well done.” Russell kept a beautiful home.   Yes, many things were going well for Russell in the final months of his life. He was housed – in a home provided by a private landlord. He was more settled and was feeling very hopeful that he would soon be able to work again. After his death, Tone called Sia to ask how he could forward on Russell’s certificate. Sia had to let him know that Russell had passed away, but that the team would love to pick up the certificate. Russell would have been so proud of this achievement, and sharing it with the team at DCM has been another way of acknowledging him, and all that he meant to so many. Two days before Christmas, the team from DCM stood with two police representatives down on the waterfront, at the spot where Russell’s body had been found that morning. With Rob Sarich on guitar, the team sang waiata, ending with “Ma te kahukura”... MAU ANA TĀKU AROHA Cloak yourself with my love WHAI AKE I NGĀ WHETU Follow the pathway to the stars RERE TŌTIKA RERE PAI Fly straight, fly true RERE RUNGA RAWA RĀ E Soar high towards the heavens. Russell Mark Fleming 31 Mar 1974 – 23 December 2021 “A loved ball of energy” <!-- --> Support DCM We call the people we work with taumai, meaning to settle. This reflects the journey we set out on together – to become settled, stable and well. Nāku te rourou, nāu te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi With your basket and my basket, the people will thrive <!-- --> Copyright © 2022 DCM. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: DCMPO Box 6133Marion SqWellington, Wellington 6011 New ZealandAdd us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
    • Accepted from DCM alerts archive 43 months ago by feedreader
    • Tagged as:
    • waterfront
    • lower-hutt

    Lower Hutt, Lower Hutt City, Wellington, 5010, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)