Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
New Plymouth retailers are being quizzed about inner-city crime and the problem of rough sleepers in the CBD.
Police and Ministry of Social Development staff have been going from business to business asking them whether they feel safe or if they have been the victims of crime.
Taranaki Regional Public Service Commissioner Gloria Campbell said a multi-agency working group had been put together to examine the issue of people in insecure housing (without a permanent address) and rough sleepers in the region.
"This is in recognition of some community concern around rough sleepers, particularly in the inner city."
Campbell said the group included the New Plymouth District Council, Te Whatu Ora, Corrections, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Kāinga Ora, the Ministry of Social Development and the Salvation Army.
"The working group came together to discuss insecure housing and rough sleepers, to understand the complex issues this group faces, and how the range of agencies that work with them can improve the co-ordination of their services.
"Insights on this issue are difficult, given the transience of this group."
Campbell said as part of this work, MSD staff had been accompanying police who were talking to retailers in the CBD.
Police said officers had been collecting information about criminal behaviour and safety in the central city as part of ongoing crime prevention work.
"MSD and New Plymouth District Council staff are accompanying police at times to provide additional information or take queries that are outside police expertise."
Dianne Gibbons. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Dianne Gibbons, who owned Shampoo Plus on Devon Street, was upfront about her struggle with the homeless when police and MSD staff called in.
"We've had a lot of issues, especially with a few people. Two of them are already in jail, but one of them is still hanging around and causing us trouble every day. He's scaring our customers away.
"I don't fear him like I did. We did have an incident with him quite a few months back, and it was quite a major incident, where he got quite angry and we shut the door and rang the police. We were quite fearful.
"They smoke drugs, they drink alcohol, just yell and scream at people. Just, yeah, irrational behaviour."
Shampoo Plus shared an alleyway with Waimanako / The Hope Centre, which provided a range of social services and a pay-what-you-can Koha Cafe.
And about 50 metres away was Zeal, a youth-orientated charity that ran alternative education for young people not in school as well as creative programmes.
Gibbons supported the work Waimanako and Zeal did, but had reservations about their location.
"I do not think the main street, CBD ... is where those places should be located. They're good for what they do, but not in the places that they are."
Brougham Hairdressers and Gifts was located across from Puke Ariki Museum and Library, a notorious gathering place for teenagers and the homeless attracted by free wireless internet.
Wendy Ashton. Photo: Robin Martin
Co-owner Wendy Ashton said a police officer had also visited her business.
"We just told him about the fights that are happening within the area - but they were well aware of that - and how the homeless sometimes can be an issue, and just the drugs and all sorts of things like that. The disorderly behaviour.
"This afternoon, for example, there's been a group of six kids over at Puke Ariki who've been drinking all afternoon, and they're just abusing everybody and everything. So that sort of behaviour we shouldn't have to put up with."
While RNZ was there, a screaming match broke out and police were called to deal with the teenagers.
Ashton was not sure relocating Zeal or Waimanako would help.
"Look, the work they are doing is good, and you can't always fault what they're trying to do, but it's the behaviour of the people that are hanging around. And they [Zeal and Waimanako] have had enough of it too, you know, but I don't think we've got any control over it at all."
Waimanako was the community arm of the Taranaki Retreat.
Founder Jamie Allen said Waimanako provided support for some of the most at-risk people in society.
"You know, our cities will never be without the vulnerable and never be without those who are experiencing health problems, both physical and mental. They're part of us. They are indeed you and me.
"And homelessness is a domino effect that could happen to me, to you, to anybody. It's a mish-mash of factors which lead to people being in a really desperate and terrible situation."
Allen did not think the homeless problem had got worse.
"Where [we] have been for the last three years ... we've noted a decrease in incidences in the CBD in terms of harmful behaviour.
"We've seen less individuals who tend to be congregating and hanging around in general. Our observation would be that the social problems around the CBD in terms of that kind of behaviour seems to be decreasing over that time."
Allen sympathised with retailers who were going through a tough time with less foot traffic and competition from online shopping.
"The behaviour of individuals may be contributing to that, but I would also say those kinds of individuals have always been part of the fabric of our communities and, to me, an indication of the strength and wholesomeness of our community is how we support our most vulnerable and provide for them."
Luke Galley headed up Zeal in Taranaki, which helped up to 350 young people in-house each week.
The trust ran alternative education and a creative programmes for young people from all walks of life ranging from dance to hip-hop, visual arts, photography to music.
"So we don't do counselling, but I guess, naturally, just given the relationships we hold with some people, they will open up to us. And so we make referrals and have a good relationship with local agencies that are experts in that space.
"In terms of the social work in our alternative education programme, that's obviously led by a qualified teacher. We work closely alongside social workers, and have eight youth workers ourselves who work in schools and out of schools."
Galley also had sympathy for battling retailers.
"Firstly, obviously if any business is affected by crime or theft or anti-social behaviour, we really feel for those business owners and their staff.
"Nobody should have to come to work and experience that and I 100 percent sympathise with them and obviously it's challenging economically as it is."
But Galley said people needed to remember Zeal had been invited into the CBD.
"So, we've been based in the CBD for five years now and all of the discussion in the lead up to that was the significant anti-social behaviour in the CBD, that businesses were being affected by crime and young people needed a safe space to go. So it's certainly not a new issue in any way."
He pushed back on the narrative that Zeal and Waimanako were making problems worse.
"I could tell you hundreds of stories of young people that have been referred to us by the police or Oranga Tamariki or some other social agencies, or even whānau who are desperate because they're struggling.
"Maybe they're dabbling in crime, but as a result of our support, they've found themselves qualified, in work and contributing positively to society."
Galley said he would prefer a deeper look into why people were behaving poorly in the first place.
"I think that's where our focus and our resource needs to go because if we just pass the buck and say that it's Zeal's issue or it's Puke Ariki's issue or it's Waimanako's issue or the council's issue, we'll never get to the core of why this is happening."
Ashton, meanwhile, was sceptical the police and MSD survey would provide a solution.
"Good luck with that. There's nothing they can do. Really. Sorry.
"I don't think there is anything they can do at all, because they're stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"There's just not enough money going into mental health these days, and they [the homeless] don't deserve to be institutionalised or anything like that. So, that's definitely not on the cards. But there's got to be some services out there that can help them."
The New Plymouth District Council had trespassed 32 people from Puke Ariki over the past two years.
In the first six months of this year, police said they attended about a dozen incidents in the same area. Most involved people known to each other or where mental health was a contributing factor.