John MacDonald: Is this really the best way to deal with rough sleepers? - Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

On Saturday night I was in Lyttelton for a gig and saw a guy sleeping on the bench outside the local supermarket, which took me a little bit by surprise. 

Maybe I need to get across to Lyttelton more often. 

But that’s the kind of thing we will see way more of if the Government goes ahead with this idea of banning homeless people from congregating and sleeping rough in central business districts. 

Because instead of being an answer, it just raises another question: where would they go? 

We know where they’d go. The suburbs. They wouldn’t go away. And even though I can’t stand being asked for money all the time when I walk through town, some sort of CBD ban isn’t the solution.  

It would start in Auckland apparently and eventually be implemented elsewhere around the country.   

This hasn’t come from the Government itself, which is being all mealy-mouthed about it. It’s come from Newstalk ZB's senior political correspondent, Barry Soper. He says the Associate Housing Minister, Tama Potaka, has been talking to community housing providers and has suggested to them that such a law is on its way. 

Now I’m a realist and I know that we are never going to get rid of homelessness. That’s because there are so many things that lead to someone not having a roof over their head.  

And I reckon most of us are only two or three steps away from being homeless ourselves. 

It wouldn’t take that many setbacks in our life before we looked up one day and realised we were sleeping under a blanket on Hereford Street or Queen Street. 

But banning rough sleepers from downtown areas is not the answer because what happens when the rough sleepers start moving into the suburbs?

I know the Government will say “aww, we’re not just kicking them out, we’re providing the old wraparound services.”

But this isn’t a solution, it’s just moving the problem elsewhere. And, if I had to choose where in town the rough sleepers should be, give me the CBD any day.

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