This article was first published in eMessenger in February 2020.
Every new year presents a fresh opportunity to shape our world into something better. So let’s seize the opportunity and be brave. Let’s pluck up our courage to be disrupters. Let’s do all we can to make our society a better place for people to live and not just only survive but thrive.
I had the privilege of attending the farewell for Moira Lawler recently. Moira has been the Executive Director of Lifewise, the Methodist social service organisation in Auckland for six years. One of the tributes from Anglican Care said that Moira would often say, “Things do NOT have to be this way.”
One example of this is Moira’s refusal to accept what was happening for people experiencing homeless as OK, and works collaboratively with other agencies using the Housing First approach to end homelessness.
Housing First is about ending homelessness not managing it. If you believe that permanent, secure, appropriate, safe housing is a basic human right – then you refuse to accept that people living on the street is ok. People are more able to address the issues that put them on the street, such as mental health, and substance use, when they have a home to live in. We know that when people have a safe place to live and have intensive services wrapped around them to meet their needs, they are more likely to sustain their tenancy and to thrive.
This is a radical mindshift for some of us to understand. To provide a home for the person who has very complex needs – they may be mentally unwell and self-medicating with alcohol and other substances, have intergenerational issues such as family violence, poverty and colonisation.
The Housing First model is also being used in Christchurch and Blenheim with workers from the Christchurch Methodist Mission working with people in these areas who experience homelessness.
Wesley Community Action is building 25 affordable rental homes at Wesley Rātā Village. These homes will be made available to applicants on the Government’s Housing Register for people who have been assessed as eligible for social housing and are waiting to be matched with an appropriate house that will fit their needs.
Methodist Mission Southern provides young people aged 16 – 19 years with a safe, comfortable place to live while they continue with foundation education, training and/or employment. These youth transition houses provides a safe place for young people to develop essential life skills they need to make a supported transition to living independently.
Hamilton East Methodist Parish has pensioner units where older people live in affordable units and one refurbished unit has been used for emergency housing for parishioners.
Te Taha Māori established a partnership with Airedale Property Trust and built five two storey homes in Mangere East to provide accommodation for families on MSD’s social housing register, and for those with physical disabilities.
Airedale Property Trust also partnered with Lotofale’ia Mangere Tongan Methodist Parish to build social housing in the Matanikolo project where housing was built specifically for Pasifika families who were living in crowded, unstable or unsuitable accommodation.
There are many other examples where Methodist organisations have partnered to create innovative solutions to the housing crisis.
Methodists have a proud history of being radicals and a long history of providing housing to people who find it difficult to secure a warm, dry and affordable home. Most of this housing was focused on older people, but in recent years has expanded to include families and single people of all ages who are experiencing homelessness. With an ongoing housing crisis in Aotearoa New Zealand, we need to embrace the new opportunities that are emerging for us to strengthen our work in the provision of housing.
Because of our long history in Aotearoa, the Methodist Church has accumulated proportionately large landholdings, which are especially useful in responding to housing issues. Conference 2018 affirmed the recommendation made by the Methodist Alliance:
“Conference supports the work of the Methodist Alliance on housing and asks all parishes and boards of the church to work with the Methodist Alliance on the provision of warm, safe, and affordable homes for all.”
Number of Applicants on the Housing Register: September 2017 – September 2019
Since the Methodist Alliance discussion paper circulated to Synods last year, there has been a further 1,655 households on the register. With no sign of the housing crisis diminishing, we need a radical response – “It does not have to be this way,” as Moira Lawler would say.
As Methodists we need to ensure that we are doing all we can and are using all our resources to respond to the needs of people who are living in cars, overcrowded homes, garages, and on the streets.
Airedale Property Trust, Wesley Community Action and the Christchurch Methodist Mission are registered as Community Housing Providers and are able to apply for contracts to provide a range of services including emergency housing, transitional housing and permanent social housing. We, as Methodists, can do this.
Last year the Methodist Alliance proposed the Connexional church explore the possibility of establishing an investment fund for social housing. Discussions are ongoing with the Board of Administration regarding this.
Now is the time to take radical action, to embrace our radical Methodist roots. Now is the time to follow the words of our founder, John Wesley, and do all the good we can with all the means we can, in all the ways we can, in all the places we can at all the times we can, to all the people we can, as long as ever we can.
We can do this – it does not have to be this way!
Dare to dream about what we as Methodists can achieve for people that are currently living in their car, in overcrowded homes, in unsafe homes they can’t leave as there is nowhere else to go. When we establish a social housing fund, we can build new homes and create the opportunity for people to live in a safe, affordable secure home. We create the opportunity for people to dream of a different future for themselves. It does not have to be this way – let’s be brave enough to embrace our radical Methodist roots and all be part of the solution to bring about a just and inclusive society in which all people flourish.
Carol Barron, Methodist Alliance National Coordinator
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