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Omicron adds to woes of those helping homeless

Te Aorewa Rolleston teaorewa.rolleston@stuff.co.nz

Local homeless shelters are already under the pump trying to support those most at risk from Covid-19, now Omicron threatens to create even further strain, with shelter bed numbers at full capacity.

A Waikato homeless shelter says the pandemic has made supporting the most vulnerable unmanageable.

Joanne Turner is the manager of the Hamilton Christian Night Shelters Te Whare korowai tangata o Kirikiriroa, which provides emergency care and accommodation to both women and men.

She said they were already having to turn people away because they had no room left in their shelters.

‘‘Covid as a whole has increased our need exponentially.

‘‘Since the first lockdown in 2020 we have experienced such an increase in need that we have started gathering statistics on how many people we turn away, and generally it is 40-60 people per month.

‘‘We have only got so much capacity; so our men’s shelter for example, we have only got capacity for 26 people,’’ she said.

Turner was adamant that it was not realistic for there to be expectations that those who were homeless would be able to prepare for a wave of Omicron.

‘‘Absolutely not . . . it is kind of a no-brainer response really.

‘‘With Omicron ... for us, we are anticipating that it is going to sweep through our facility.

‘‘We are not avoiding it but managing when it comes,’’ she said.

And due to the high demand and vulnerability of those who come into the shelter, whether the person is vaccinated or not, the shelter would still take them in. The shelter had managed to order rapid antigen tests which they were using on each person in case they did not have access to testing themselves.

‘‘We test new people on arrival whether they are vaccinated or not to see whether they are Covid positive or negative.’’

If the shelter is hit by Covid-19, they will receive support from the Ministry of Health but until then they are not expecting anything else and food supplies are dwindling.

‘‘We are getting into a bit of a predicament at the moment when it comes to food for our guests.

‘‘In previous lockdowns we have had funding to be able to get food provided to us.’’

But when it comes to those who don’t get the chance to access support, Turner said she was ‘‘concerned’’.

She said the additional support that was available during 2020 had not been replicated this time and there would be people who ended up having to survive at the local stadium carparks, in the central city shopping areas and under bridges.

‘‘I am concerned about how they might fare.

‘‘The initial lockdown response from 2020 has not been replicated since . . . civil defence were a huge part of the response in 2020, and they were able to procure hotels to accommodate homeless people.’’

The Hamilton Christian Night Shelters were thankful for the extra support given by members of the community, and were focused on operating ‘‘business as usual’’.

Turner said they would keep up with public health advice and try to be as best prepared as they could for what was to come.

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en-nz

2022-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-28T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://stuff.pressreader.com/article/281509344574314

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