SHELTERING THE HOMELESS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3774, 13 July 1926, Page 29

SHELTERING THE HOMELESS.

NEW INSTITUTION FOR CITY. SALVATION ARAIY’S PURCHASE. PREAIISES IN AIACLAGGAN STREET. There frequently come before the court on charges of vagrancy unfortunates who have been found sleeping in all sorts of out of the way places. Not infrequently (as the magistrate recognises) the fault does not lie with them. Force of circumstances has compelled them to find a bed somewhere, and in many cases, some ot these homeless ones would be willing to work for the privilege of sleeping under a roof, if work were offering. How to deal with these persons is a problem which has. in Dunedin at all events, become increasingly difficult to handle. Night after night, particularly in the winter time, the Salvation Army, charitable institutions, the clergy, and even the police are besieged with applications for shelter, and find it difficult to comply with every request. So acute has the situation become of late, that a deputation, headed by the Rev. Dr Alerrington and including the Rev. W. Walker, of the Central Mission, Mr H. 11. Driver, Air F. G. Cumming, secretary of the Patients’ and Prisoners’ Aid Society, and Mr 3 Inglis, of the Sailors’ Rest, waited on Commissioner HoggarcL the Salvation Army territorial commander for the Dominion. and urged the necessity in Dunedin of a shelter for men. It was pointed out that whilst all the other centres possessed shelters, such an institution was lacking in this city, where the need of it was particularly pressing. The deputation also stated that at present an application for relief was usually met by an order for bed and breakfast which cost bs 6d, with the result that a constant drain was being made on the funds set aside for other charitable purposes. The Sailors’ Rest was one of the few places where shelter could be given, but only till 10 o’clock, when the rooms closed. Then, the custodian was reluctantly compelled to turn the oocupants out and it had become common knowledge that those who had no home to go to, were forced to sleep under trucks in the railway goods yard. In view of these circumstances, the deputation requested that the Salvation Army should move in the matter as it considered that the Army was most qualified to understand the position and deal with it.

Spoken to bv a Daily Times reporter, Ensign Coombs, through wh hands most of these unfortunates pass, stated that for many winters past she had been faced with the problem of providine shelter for men who had been temporarily stranded. Manv of them came to tho city in search of employment, through slackness of work ir the country. Many were sailors who had signed on in the Old Country and taken their discharge here in the hope of getting work, and this year, the seriousness of the position had been augmented by the fact that numbers of men who came here during the Exhibition period and took jobs, were now out of -employment. Some had obtained situations, some had returned whence they came, but a number, who were completely stranded, still remained. Brigadier Burton told the reporter tha*t he had considered many propositions with a view to obtaining a suitable building for a shelter, among them being the purchase of the quick-lunch building at the Exhibition. Although this was offered cheaply, however, the obtaining of a suitable site was difficult, and the cost of removing the building would have been Drohibitive. After a long search suitable premises had at last been acquired, and another few weeks will see the building in Maclaggan street, next door to th Catholic Apostolic Church, fitted up as a shelter with accommodation for 60 men. With a frontage of 66ft and a depth of 60ft, it is a solid two-storeyed brick structure in excellent condition, which, with a little alteration, will be admirably suited to the purpose for which it will be required. To meet the requirements of th© present winter, these alterations are already being pushed ahead, . and it is anticipated that the shelter will be fully, occupied as soon as they are co-npleted. Although the price of the property was £IOSO onlv, Brigadier Burton estimates that another £7OO will be required before the shelter is in proper running order, and as these amounts have not been provided for in the Army’s yearly financial budget, he stated that he is looking to the public to provide ihe money. Support has already h'*"’! promised from several mercantile and. financial houses in the city, and in addition the Mayor (Mr H. L. Tapley (C.M.G., AI.P.), and the Town Clerk (Mr G. A. Lewin), have Sromised to consider favourably, and to ring before the City Council any request which may be made for the reduction of rates and licensing fees. A tentative promise has also been made that so long as the premises are safe and sanitary <he usual regulations governing boardinghouses -will not be enforced too strictly. Regarding the upkeep of the shelter, Brigadier Burton stated that it was proposed to provide two classes of accommodations—one for those who could not pay and one for those who could. In this wav the profits from the latter would go a long way to balancing the expenditure on the other.