City councillor Jake McLellan said it was not about punishing people who safely solicited support from members of the public, but the council was concerned when people were being threatened or intimidated by beggars (file picture). Photo: 123RF
The Christchurch City Council is considering options, including a bylaw, to address aggressive begging - with fears it is out of control in some areas.
Auckland and Wellington city councils have bylaws in place that prohibit anti-social behaviour associated with aggressive begging.
The owner of a gift shop in Woolston, Rose, said businesses had had enough of aggressive beggars.
"I've been here 27 years and the last two years have been shocking - we've got homelessness, we've got people harassing people for money, it's just unbelievable... and they can be pretty scary for elderly people and they go up to people in their cars and everything it's just not on," she said.
She said she had even had beggars come into her shop and approach customers.
Rose would support a bylaw banning aggressive begging - saying stronger enforcement was long overdue.
"There's no authority that's the trouble. These people are not answerable to the likes of us when we tell them to move on."
A council report said the mayor was seeking advice from staff for options on what could be done.
City councillor Jake McLellan said it was not about punishing people who safely solicited support from members of the public.
"What we're concerned about is people being threatened and intimidated, being stood over at ATMs. That's the type of behaviour that really borders on the legal limits of what you are and aren't allowed to do. So we're happy to look at tools that give the police additional powers to look into that," he said.
McLellan said they would be looking at how effective the bylaws were in Auckland and Wellington.
"I'll support a bylaw if the evidence backs it up, I want to be really clear about that. What I'm almost certain we do need more of is resourcing for the City Mission and other similar agencies that work with people on the street."
Christchurch City Missioner Corinne Haines said genuinely homeless people were often not aggressive beggars.
She feared this behaviour could create a negative feeling towards those who were sleeping rough.
"They may have a little sign, they may say 'hey give me some money', but I don't think they would be the bulk of the people who are aggressively begging on the street. We don't condone aggressive begging, we're here to look after those who are truly homeless," she said.
"Aggressive begging has been around for some time but it's becoming more visible as people are trying to extract cash from passers by, and it can be intimidating and frightening for people."
The City Mission has two outreach workers who go out on the street each morning and support homeless people.
It was important that any bylaw around aggressive begging did not stop the City Mission from helping those people who were genuinely sleeping rough, Haines said.
Haines advised people to not give money to aggressive beggars, and to report threatening behaviour to the police.