As New Zealand's Covid-19 lockdown stretches into a second week, the organisations who look after the country's most vulnerable say demand for support is sharply rising
Demand for food parcels is spiking as vulnerable New Zealanders seek support, while some emergency accommodation providers are becoming stretched and others in Auckland could come under strain as the city’s lockdown stretches on.
The country’s move to Alert Level 4 has placed more pressure on charities and support providers helping to care for our most vulnerable.
Lifewise community services manager Peter Shimwell told Newsroom the Auckland charity, which provides crisis support for the homeless and marginalised people, had seen a significant surge in demand for emergency food parcels but the need for emergency housing appeared less acute.
The Ministry of Social Development assured providers there was sufficient supply in Auckland, while the majority of those who had been housed during last year’s lockdown were still in place, allowing the organisation to focus on helping them adhere to Level 4 restrictions in difficult circumstances.
“There's one thing if you're a family in a sizeable house having to band together, but if you're a large family just in a small one-bedroom hotel room, that can be pretty tough.”
During the current lockdown, Lifewise was also proactively supporting homeless youth who had failed to secure emergency accommodation during previous lockdowns, and could not be housed in the same facilities as older Kiwis with complex health needs.
Government officials had been offering help by allowing the charity to trial sites in central Auckland where it felt young people could stay safely and have access to the necessary support services.
Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson said the city mission was preparing for an increase of 1000 food parcels a week, with demand between double and triple pre-lockdown levels - which in turn were twice its pre-pandemic figures.
“Some of the programmes that hold families [together], particularly breakfast in schools and the school lunch programme and after-school care, or even the ability to go down the road to your aunty’s when you've run out of money for food, to have dinner there one night to hold you until money comes through the next day … lockdown stops that wider whānau ability to support families."
An outreach team was also travelling around central Auckland to check whether people needed emergency accommodation or access to medical services.
Robinson said the growing number of locations of interest in the city and associated contacts who needed to self-isolate added logistical difficulties: both for those who would need to arrange for a family member or friend to pick up a food parcel and contactlessly deliver it to them, and for city mission staff and volunteers who might find themselves needing to isolate and take a Covid test.
“Thankfully, the breadth of the mission means we are spread over a number of different sites ... but it's tricky, there’s juggling going on all over in terms of our staff.”
Support services beyond Auckland are also being stretched during Level 4, as demand for food and housing grows around the country.
“We did social distancing, contact tracing, we did all the right things, because I knew that those people were going to come to the park ... we had 24 meals and they all went.”
Jackie Galland, a Nelson community volunteer who helps provide meals and essentials to the city’s homeless, said the local night shelter had closed its doors due to the lockdown, and with limited alternatives there were upwards of 10 people now on the street.
Galland said she and other volunteers normally offered meals to the homeless at a local park on Sundays, and they had set up a takeaway service for Level 4 given the demand.
“We did social distancing, contact tracing, we did all the right things, because I knew that those people were going to come to the park ... we had 24 meals and they all went.”
While those without accommodation had been told they could be housed through the Ministry of Social Development, some homeless people had problems with authority which could act as an obstacle, while others would struggle to make contact given it was difficult for them to charge a cellphone during lockdown.
During last year’s nationwide lockdown, Galland said it had taken a couple of weeks for support services to get up to speed, and it was frustrating that similar delays seemed likely this time.
“I sort of feel that we've been let down this time due to the fact that the Government knew that this was going to inevitably happen at some stage, and there was nothing at all put in place for our homeless this time.”
Other cities in the South Island appear under strain: last week, The Press reported that the Christchurch City Mission’s night shelter was already nearing capacity, while the organisation itself said it had fed 350 people on Monday - almost double the usual number.
But while the end of lockdown is at least on the horizon for much of the country, Aucklanders have already been warned they face a prolonged stay at higher alert levels, which will add to the stress for the city’s vulnerable.
Urgency must endure after lockdown
Shimwell said Lifewise expected to see an increase in domestic violence and other relationship issues due to lockdown, which could worsen the longer the city’s residents were at Level 4.
“There's some real push factors during Covid, and that sense that people are dealing with or having to deal with being stuck indoors for long periods of time, and we fully expect to see more pressure around emergency accommodations where relationships have strained and boiled over.”
“My biggest worry is just what happens if this lockdown continues, and then particularly around that resourcing for food,” Robinson said.
“Looking kind of at logistics, you often need to work a week or two in advance, which is obviously quite tricky at the moment – but yeah, we really have been well supported so far.”
Both were also concerned for staff who had gone through multiple lockdowns in Auckland, and along with the wider public were more anxious about the infectious Delta variant.
While there was praise for the flexibility, cooperation and communication of government agencies during the latest lockdown, Shimwell said that sense of urgency and support needed to continue as the country moved back to normality.
“We're still in a housing crisis, we still lack housing stock in the social services space ... I certainly noticed as we moved out of the last lockdown, things started to slow down, progress started to be less acute.”
