April 20, 2016
For immediate release

Beggars More Than Just a Rough Sleeping Homeless Issue

Reports in the media this week around beggars harassing cafe goers in Auckland’s CBD are not looking at the whole picture, says Gimme Shelter’s James Crow.

“There is no question the number of rough sleeping homeless and the separate but intertwined issue around growing beggar numbers has become more prevalent in the last 12 months,” says James. “However, simply combining the two issues can be counterproductive and stigmatising.”

Many groups from Auckland City Mission to Wellington’s DCB echo James’ position that the two issues are not always combined and not always something of concern.

“Very few people living on the street wish to be there and also very few beggars want to be begging. For many this is a last resort, and with an increase in either beggars or rough sleeping homeless, we are seeing only the symptom and not the root cause - which is lack of policy around resolving homelessness and affording all New Zealanders with enough to get by,” says James.

New social initiative Gimme Shelter launched its crowdfunding campaign to help end homelessness last Friday to great success.

The PledgeMe campaign, which aims to raise $30,000 in four weeks, attracted more than $3000 in its first few days.

James, Gimme Shelter’s mastermind and best known for co-founding Fairtrade ice block company Nice Blocks and dairy free milk business Little Island Coconut Creamery, is excited with the response.

“This is a great initial uptake, with not just pledges but donations of support and offerings of services and time from a range of businesses as well.”
James could see many similarities between the social issue of ending homelessness and the forming of the business he started with friend Tommy Holden in 2010 and which has grown to a $3m a year company in just five years.
“When Tommy and I began we could see that support and investment weren’t going to come our way without good data on the opportunity and a solid plan.”
What James sees within the homeless sector is that good data is lacking and this affects everything downstream, including policy, funding and public engagement.

So what will Gimme Shelter do?

Through the creation of a mobile phone app that will allow any member of the public or community group to survey a rough sleeper they may know and securely upload that data to the cloud for later analysis, this data can then be used to assess and attend to the most vulnerable first and importantly to understand the size of the issue.

The PledgeMe campaign aims to raise at least $30,000 to develop the Homeless And Rough Sleepers Health (H.A.R.S.H) survey for roll-out on World Homeless Day on October 10th this year.

“We want to make the solution to homelessness fun and engaging, also the rewards for donating are nothing to be sniffed at with fellow businesses from around the country stepping up and offering everything from tofu salad and chocolate coconut milk to restaurant meals and landscaping consults from award winning designers. But of course the best reward is knowing we are looking at the bigger picture and providing something that is highly needed but so far we don’t have: good information.”

ends

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