'There's nowhere for the kids to play' - unstable housing's impact on education

'Nowhere for the kids to play' - The children in emergency housing

More than 500 children are still living in emergency housing in Hamilton city and the effect of unstable housing on their education can be profound - but some groups are working hard to limit the impact.

About 30 percent of the students at Whitiora School in central Hamilton are currently living in emergency housing. Deputy Principal Vanessa Cappie gets to see them every day and says they are beautiful kids.

"They may come from all these different backgrounds, but they're very resilient kids and we just want to be able to provide a really strong base foundation for them to be able to succeed in life."

But she said motels were not a great place for any kids.

"There's nowhere for the kids to play in the motel. Some of them are just [stuck] in their four walls, and sometimes you have families in there with five or six people in a one bedroom or two bedroom unit."

To give children a different experience the school, along with the Ministry of Development and New Zealand Police, partner with Youthtown to provide Te Huarahi Hou. It's a free, structured and safe environment for students after-school.

"We know we can provide the fun, engaging pieces - that's easy for us," said Joanna Scott from Youthtown.

But there was also a focus on making sure kids were supported, building their resilience, and helping them work towards life skills. And it was work that took time.

"[We] definitely see the change in kids, but it's more months of change, versus a week of change."

Cappie said the police suggested the programme to the school, wanting to help bored youth in emergency housing who were getting into trouble. But it had done more than that.

"We have police that come in regularly, and if they are called out to motels for whatever reason, if it's a police officer who has been in here it actually brings down the stress level and the anxiety for the kids, and also some of the parents as well, as they see the police in a different light."

Down the road from the school is Mātauranga Ake. Early childhood provider Central Kids set up Mātauranga Ake to help support the increasing number of families they saw in emergency housing.

Service manager Henrietta Cassidy said you could not underestimate the effect of a secure home.

"I love watching the kids when they get housed, and when they get engaged back into education and get that social connection going."

Olive and her two boys are one of the families they have supported into housing. She said she can now focus on the future and her boys can go outside and play again.

"They are going to love it. There's a yard where they can just go outside, you can't do that in emergency housing because there's just too much dangerous people and it's just not nice."

But Cassidy said that the current funding model made it hard to deliver consistent care and they had to reapply for funding every year.

"We are all sitting tight, just waiting, we can't make any moves," she said, until that funding has been once again confirmed.

Cassidy would like to see the government really empower local providers.

"A really good investment in kaimahi and actually building and strengthening our NGOs," she said.

Groups like Mātauranga Ake know their communities really well.

"It's one thing to work in a ministry, but it's another thing when you are on the ground for connecting with our whānua," said Cassidy.

Tracey Smith from the Ministry of Development in Waikato said there was a 33 percent decrease in the number of households in emergency housing in Hamilton last year.

"The same trend can be seen around the country. At its highest point there were 4983 households in emergency housing nationwide, as at November 30 2021. As at January 31 2024, this has fallen to 2880 households - a 42 percent decrease."

She said they will continue to enhance and strengthen their work with other agencies and community groups to support this trend.