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Week 10 Soft power/second investigation

Question 2) What is being done about begging from the homeless in Wellington?

Journal task 1

Using my reflection from question one I have decided to shift the focus of my question two for my investigation. When the question on the survey for my first investigation, “have you wanted to help the homeless but not been able/wanted to give money? Nearly nine out of ten answered no to the question. This result surprised me and intrigued me, I wanted to research into the begging issue in Wellington and what’s being done about it.

Investigation 2

What is being done about begging from the homeless in Wellington?

Begging has become a large issue within Wellington due to the rise of homeless people located in the heart of the city. The cause to begging is a controversial topic, a majority of the homeless community are believed to be begging for reasons such as, disposable income to help pay bills, support habits/addictions. A primary cause to begging is that the homeless did not have the opportunity for a positive integration into our society and employment opportunities due to their lack of education/qualifications. As well as having to support themselves, homeless people have had to beg for other reasons, such as, growing up in cruel poverty stricken conditions, battling addictions and battling mental health issues.

Beggars are drawn into wellington, due to the kind nature of the city. Homeless people receive occasional large sums of $50/$100 notes with an average of $60-$80 weekly. Citizens have expressed concern for the increasing number in beggars and a minority are not feeling safe, Wellingtons community also believe this is not an ideal look for Wellington, although a majority are empathetic towards the homeless and believe the issue is due to “a failure of our social welfare system.”  Although this kind nature Wellington has, residents as well as retailers are wanting an enforcement for the short term against begging, a majority of these people believe that the Hamilton City Council’s, “central city safety plan,” is what Wellington should follow. The “central city safety plan,” is where a bylaw was implemented by the work of multiple agencies and the public, the bylaw is through the People project (“The People’s Project was established in Hamilton in 2014 to address the public's concerns about the number of people who were living on the streets or sleeping rough in Hamilton.”) This bylaw illustrates what is suitable public behaviour as well as offering their support to the homeless community through the People’s Project.

The solution to the begging problem is not simple, a resolution must be collaborative. Beggars effect a broad range of organisations, for example, Work and income, resident groups, police, mental health agencies, gambling support, etc. Wellington city council is setting aside $100,000 every year an article on stuff states, in order to supply  "purposeful day activities for people on the street,” and clean up the streets. Another initiative proposed by Brain Dawson, (leader of the council’s social development portfolio) is to offer a plan that confronts the, “antisocial behaviour and street begging in the city,” similar to the Hamilton’s, “The People’s Project.” The council has also considered to follow Auckland’s technique by forcing beggars to relocate and “send the strong message that they were not wanted.” Although the technique Auckland is enforcing is not ideal as the beggars will become another areas issue and is ultimately a short term fix to the problem.

The councils main aim is to address the causes of begging initially to prevent future beggars for generations to come, the council is also doing all they can to ensure the beggars who need help and guidance will get this through the “Housing first,” initiative, putting people living on the streets of Wellington into accomodation.

Begging is a controversial topic with multiple causes, the issue effects the Wellington community, the council and the homeless greatly. The council is taking influence from around New Zealand and is actively working on a long term resolution, collaborating with companies and organisation through Wellington that are all individually impacted by the problem.

Reference list

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/101982292/wellington-to-spend-1m-on-citys-begging-problem-by-creating-beggar-activities

https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/93287917/business-and-residents-call-on-council-to-rethink-begging-ban-in-wellington-cbd?rm=m

https://wellington.govt.nz/~/media/services/community-and-culture/our-stand-on-begging/begging-in-wellington.pdf

https://www.thepeoplesproject.org.nz/

Journal Task 2

Reflecting on my second investigation, I learned a lot about the major controversy the council faces through the begging issue, our community is afraid which is creating a push on the council, although I understand how the resolution to the begging issue will take a lot of time and investment as they need a long term fix compared to an easy short term fix. I believe following Hamilton’s foot steps with “The people’s project,” is smart compared to Auckland’s method where they deal with the issue by forcing the beggars away.

Journal task 3

Reflection

My investigation taught me a lot about the homeless community and the relationship between the upper and middle class in Wellington and the homeless, I also learnt a lot about whats being done about the begging and homeless issue in Wellington. A fragment of my initial thoughts on my first question, (How can we help the Wellington Homeless community?) quickly changed after seeing the results from my survey. Over three quarters answered yes to seeing homeless people on cuba street which supported my previous theory that homeless people tend to migrate to cuba street, but when a majority of people who answered the survey answered “no,” to giving money to the homeless, this shocked and surprised me. The results of my survey inspired me to change my second question, to, “what is being done about begging from the homeless in Wellington?” as I was intrigued by this.

Well researching into begging in Wellington for my second question I learnt that beggars are drawn into wellington, due to the kind nature of the city, homeless people receive occasional large sums of $50/$100 notes with an average of $60-$80 weekly, this made sense as to why homeless people are coming to Wellington. I also learnt a lot about not only what Wellington is doing about the begging/homeless issue but what other cities in New Zealand are doing about this issue. (“The People’s Project was established in Hamilton in 2014 to address the public's concerns about the number of people who were living on the streets or sleeping rough in Hamilton.”) I also learnt that beggars effect a broad range of organisations, for example, Work and income, resident groups, police, mental health agencies, gambling support, etc.I learnt that Wellington city council is setting aside $100,000 every year an article on stuff states, in order to supply  "purposeful day activities for people on the street,” and clean up the streets.

If I were to start over my investigation into the homeless/begging issue in Wellington, the techniques that I would apply to investigate would change dramatically. I would initially begin by talking to the organisations and business effected by the begging to know first-hand how they are feeling, I would contrast this information by talking to the homeless so I knew how both parties were feeling about the begging as well as the homeless issue. If I were to continue the project I would talk to all the people effected by the homeless issue then begin to find an answer to stop this problem once and for all with the help from all the different groups effected that I had previously spoken too, I would like to actively be involved in creating a resolution to the homeless issue as it deeply saddens me and I believe we should all have the same opportunities despite the circumstances we were born in to and our past experiences. Wellingtons homeless and begging issue is controversial but i believe that the long term programmes set in place will be effective and make a difference.

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Week 9/ Undertaking your own investigation

Question 1) How can we help the Wellington Homeless community?

Journal task 1:

I want to investigate how we can help the Wellington Homeless community, focusing on Cuba Street. I was inspired to investigate the homeless issue in Wellington as I began to notice the homeless community within the city after we were introduced to this assignment, I was influenced to research this issue and seek ways to help the homeless community. I chose cuba street as my main focus as it is the part of the city I personally spend most of my time and am always noticing the homeless in particular there. I plan to investigate this question, (How can we help the Wellington Homeless community?) through the results of my human-based research, my survey’s answers, the answers are from different age groups within the Wellington society as well as different social groups, e.g- university students, workers, parents.

First investigation:

We want to know what you learned from your research. How has it changed your understanding of your topic or deepened it? Has it changed what you want to focus on or how you do the second part of your investigation?

Have you noticed the homeless issue in Wellington? 100% answered yes

Have you seen homeless people on Cuba street? 77.8% answered yes 22.2% no

Have you wanted to help the homeless but not been able/wanted to give money? 88.9% yes 11.1% no

Are you aware of the "Outreach," programme that helps homeless people in Wellington? 25% yes 75%no

How would you help the homeless community? 44.4% Volunteer at organisations such as the "soup kitchen," and “Wellingtons homeless womans trust.” 44.4% Donate goods, e.g, canned foods, blankets, pillows, clothing. 11.1% Donate money to Homeless shelters/organisations.

The survey I created showed that the homeless issue in Wellington is definitely noticeable to the community, the initial question asks, “Have you noticed the homeless issue in Wellington?” 100 percent of the participants answered yes to this question. This showed me that the community is aware of the homeless problem, it deepened my understanding as the different age groups/social groups undergoing the survey all noticed this issue. My second question draws the attention to cuba street, have you seen homeless people on Cuba street? 77.8% answered yes with 22.2% answering no, over three quarters answered yes to seeing homeless people on cuba street, this deepened my knowledge, it reassured my theory that cuba street is a main hub for the homeless community in Wellington. The next question in the survey surrounds begging and the response from the community,  Have you wanted to help the homeless but not been able/wanted to give money? 88.9% answered yes and 11.1% no, I found this result surprising and interesting, this answer changed my understanding on the relationship between the Wellington society and the homeless community in our city. Nearly nine out of ten answered “no,” to giving money to the homeless, this inspired me to change my focus on question two, I am going to draw the focus to begging in the homeless community. I then changed the topic of the survey to the programme, “outreach,” to see if Wellingtons society was aware of this programme that helped the homeless. Are you aware of the "Outreach," programme that helps homeless people in Wellington? 25% answered yes and a majority of 75% answered no, this deepened my understanding, showing me that our society is not aware that there is an organisation that can help the homeless. My last question focused on how people would like to help the homeless in Wellington, with different options given to the part-taker.  How would you help the homeless community? 44.4% chose option A: Volunteer at organisations such as the "soup kitchen," and “Wellingtons homeless womans trust.” 44.4% chose option B: Donate goods, e.g, canned foods, blankets, pillows, clothing. And 11.1% chose option C: Donate money to Homeless shelters/organisations. The results revealed that a majority of the wellington individuals would physically help the homeless through volunteering and donating apposed to donating money, this outcome was surprising, although I will need to take into consider the financial situation for the people undergoing the survey.

Journal task 2:  Reflect on your investigation.  

Reflecting on my investigation, my previous thoughts and ideas behind my question, (How can we help the Wellington Homeless community?) have slightly changed and have been enhanced for particular parts within the survey. Focusing on cuba street in my survey enhanced my past theory that the homeless society tends to be centred on cuba street,77.8% answered yes to seeing homeless people on cuba street. The largest change the results bought to my investigation was from the question, Have you wanted to help the homeless but not been able/wanted to give money? Nearly nine out of ten answered “no,” to giving money to the homeless, this inspired me to change my focus on question two, I am going to draw the focus to begging in the homeless community and the investigation two is being done about begging within wellington.

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cuba street image

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week 8-preparation

Task 2: prepare your presentation

Image

Overview: I will be investigating the homeless issue in Wellington focusing on how we can help them as well as integrate them. Cuba street will be the main space i will investigate in the city.

Key resources:

The wellington city council website was a very helpful resource, it addresses the cause of homelessness in detail and the definition of a homeless person. The website also showed statistics relating to a report done in 2016 in relation to the programme “Outreach.” The statistics showed, “148 people were contacted by outreach – 112 men and 36 women.” With the a majority of these individuals being Maori. The report also showed, “The most common ages groups are 18-25 years and 25-36 years. 49 of these people were sleeping rough and 48 were begging.”

Another useful resource I found was the webpage of the soup kitchen in Wellington, the webpage explains how they help the homeless in Wellington swell as the background information on the crisis of homeless people. e.g “The main barrier is limitations around the availability of social housing. The Wellington City Council and Housing New Zealand provide accommodation and there are some supported accommodation options, but demand outstrips availability at present. We would like to see a wider range of housing options available which would include transitional, specialist accommodation tailored to the needs of the individual.”

Aims and questions:

My aim from the investigation is to create a mutual space for Wellingtons homeless community and wellingtons upper class society as well as creating more of an awareness of how we can help the homeless community.

Question 1) How can we help the Wellington Homeless community?

Question 2) What will help Wellington society integrate with the Wellington homeless community?

Answering these questions (refer to task 1.)

For my first question, (How can we help the Wellington Homeless community?) I will be applying the human based research. I have created an online survey relating to the issue, I have sent it to different age groups within the Wellington society to make sure my answers reflect the whole community and not just one group within it.

For my second question, (What will help Wellington society integrate with the Wellington homeless community?) I will be writing an informative piece on this issue relating to quotes,statistics and information I have found online.

Incorporation and addressing of treaty

Partnership, participation and protection are the base of the relationship between the Government and the Māori relating to the Treaty of Waitangi. I will incorporate partnership into my investigation by acknowledging the groups of individuals that help the homeless. Participation will be utilised within my human-based research, participation is shown through incorporating the voices of different people within wellington society, I will protect the individuals who filled out my survey by keeping their identities anonymous.

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week 8-background research

Task 1: background research (2 hours) Write down your artefact/place/topic and your primary interest in it.  (For example, I want to look at accessibility on Mount Victoria.  Or, I want to investigate the sustainability of Oriental Parade beach.)

Conduct background research on your topic.  You are trying to find two things here:

A little more about the context of your topic Information leads - where you will be able to find deeper information For this research, you can start on the internet if you like or you can ask a librarian for assistance.  The Massey University librarians are excellent help (and enjoy working with students) and the city librarians are also great resources.

Keep track of your research in your journal.  This won't be graded but you will need it later.

I will be focusing on the social awareness centred around the Wellington homeless community.

Information leads-

“The main barrier is limitations around the availability of social housing. The Wellington City Council and Housing New Zealand provide accommodation and there are some supported accommodation options, but demand outstrips availability at present. We would like to see a wider range of housing options available which would include transitional, specialist accommodation tailored to the needs of the individual.” “Many people who experience homelessness have complex needs – physical or mental health needs, or addictions – and they also may need good support with these health issues to be able to keep a flat.” “Being homeless can isolate people from Whanau and the wider community while creating a dependence on being part of a homeless or ‘streetie’ community. Being part of a ‘streetie’ community can be a barrier to moving out of homelessness.” “At the Soup Kitchen, we provide people with an opportunity to engage with other agencies, for example around accessing health services and housing support.” https://soupkitchen.org.nz/resources/homelessness/

“The causes of homelessness are complex, involving individual and societal factors.” “Poverty, the lack of affordable housing, and insufficient mental health and addiction support services are national issues.” How people become homeless- “individual factors: including lack of qualifications; unemployment or underemployment; lack of social support; debts - especially mortgage or rent arrears; poor physical and mental health; disability; brain injury; drug addiction; relationship breakdown; cultural alienation or disconnection; and getting involved in crime at an early age family background: including family tragedy; family breakdown and disputes; sexual and physical abuse in childhood or adolescence; having parents with drug or alcohol problems; and previous experience of family homelessness an institutional background: including having been in care, the armed forces, or in prison societal factors: including moving cities, and prejudice in the housing market.”

A report in 2016 revealed the following statistics:

Outreach: “148 people were contacted by outreach – 112 men and 36 women. The biggest proportion of these were Māori. The most common ages groups are 18-25 years and 25-36 years. 49 of these people were sleeping rough and 48 were begging. Case management 142 people were given someone to manage their case (110 men and 32 women). The biggest proportion of these were Māori.”

What can you do? “Remember that the homeless and those you see begging on our streets are human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity. Homeless people have told us that an acknowledgement or a smile is worth a lot to them.

If you meet someone you believe is sleeping on the streets, or in need of advice or help from homeless services in the city, contact us and ask for a referral to be made to the Outreach Team.” https://wellington.govt.nz/services/community-and-culture/housing-support/homelessness/about-homelessness

The Te Whakamura outreach team, helped by the Council’s Local Hosts team, are the front line people who respond to alerts about concerns of people sleeping rough or who are in some difficulty on the street.

The outreach team conducts rostered, daily outreach walks (five days a week) around Wellington streets. The team gets to know our street community pretty well and is alert to ‘newcomers’ who may need a hand.

The outreach team is key to delivering Te Mahana’s objective to strengthen collaborative working relationships between city organisations.

Te Whakamura Ai Te Ahi is run by two community agencies that are experienced in working with our vulnerable communities: Downtown Community Ministry and Kahungunu Whanau Services. https://wellington.govt.nz/services/community-and-culture/housing-support/homelessness/support-for-homeless-people

Wellington's ratepayers could be about to write a million-dollar cheque to help fix the city's begging problem. In an effort to clean up its streets, Wellington City Council is proposing to set aside $100,000 per year, over the next 10 years, to provide "purposeful day activities for people on the street”. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/101982292/wellington-to-spend-1m-on-citys-begging-problem-by-creating-beggar-activities

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Treating of Waitangi- Workshop Notes-week 8

The Treaty of Waitangi

Extremely controversial conflicting ideas

Information about Treaty comes form the news (white), one sided The news is purposely controversial

Job description- how we talk about the treaty today job- uphold morals within the treaty of waiting

The spirit- why it was signed The provisions- what was agreed to The principles- how some think of it today An implementation plan- what can be done about it

Preamble- introduce key themes to treaty,ideas treaty will address peace between pakeha and maori-land wars, tension at the time

Caption Cooks role- Explorer, set out to find new land and discover, (first person for NZ, British(western person.)) “The doctrine of discovery,” part of a colony (a group of people.) Colonisation- a community, expanding boarders resulting in more resources. Britan- low in resources, Pre-victorian, using up resources and over crowded population, live expectancy, very low. Very bad living circumstances in England.

New Zealand became famous resource wise for, Hare-keke (flax.) An incredibly strong plant resource. Flax uses, rope,clothing, used on ships, weaving (thread from flax.)

Maori- “Noble savages,” doctrine of discovery, okay to take things when the society does not fit into the category of people. Doctrine of discovery morals, (comes from church.) - white/english speaking, christian, needed to be “civilised.” Needing to colonise area to create a colony, (similar societies across countries.)

Government- 350,000 individuals- what will this generation need? Laws- Tikanga Kawa Tapu- knowledge is sacred, our features. Ra- restricted area, preserved. Preserving resources, establishing nursery’s, if someone has died there. Hapu- a tribe, sub-tribe. Avoid word “tribe,” because it comes from the latter word “trebus,” meaning of the lowest classes, (lower class.)

“Are the black people of the world, really people?” Slavery, still happening during 1820’s. Child labour- outlawed in Britian. “Abonesse protection society,” almost straight after the ending of the salve trade. 1837- Report written on this society, part of humanitarian movement. We can no longer colonise if it happens by the brutal death of the society home to these countries. Why is colonisation leading to death and suffering? not treating them like humans, slaughter etc. We went from 350,000 but by the treaty was signed the number of people was 250,000 for our maori. 60,000 dead due to disease, fault of britian

painting maori in a negative light, war savage minded

Edward gibbon wakefield- Business man (entrepenuor,) light ethical standards. Came ups with idea of colonising, quiet a unique approach towards this. Colonies originally for resources but a shift coming in, the idea that the land could be used to live on, (a settler colony.) “A slice of Britan in the pacific.” Parliament rejects idea, (1839.) New Zealand, diseases, maoris- crime=conflict.

Topics- communications Poverty and Homelessness Pollution (e.g Litter) Vacant spaces Transportation accessibility

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Assignment hand in

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Historical buildings/Buildings who complement Wellington and its culture.

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modern architecture/unkept buildings- unlike how it does not compliment, the environment, the historical buildings and the vibe/nature of Wellington itself.