Covid-19 has "lifted up the carpet" on homelessness in New Zealand, with more elderly coming forward for financial help, according to an advocate for those in need.
Te Tuinga Trust's Tommy Wilson told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning about an 80-year-old man they are helping to house.
"We are seeing a new wave of residents coming in. Before it was the working poor and of course before that Covid lifted up the carpet and we saw the true face of homelessness," he said.
"The elderly is the new one and I think that's just a sum of where they've been living, either with their own children or living in a situation where it could have been a garage or rough sleeping wherever else, but circumstances have brought them out to a place like here where they don't feel so shy and we're going to get that more and more where their circumstances are changing and they're coming out to get help.
"I suppose they watch TV and keep up with the media and when they see organisations like ours they get comfortable enough and brave enough to come in here because it's hard for old people, you know, hard for anyone, but more so old people to come in here."
Mr Wilson talked about an "old fella from the hospital in his dressing gown" who spent nearly 24 hours outside the Trust in his car before staff went out and helped him.
"Now he's in a warm whare," he said.
However, he also said since Covid-19 there had been more patience and understanding from those accessing help, and that owning their own home was still an aspiration for many.
"There's more hope, more belief that can happen and as we say, do the mahi and we can get to level tahi. It's the same with homelessness - just try hard, work hard, be kind and there is hope.
"I do believe that these people now believe they can get a whare."
Kelvin Davidson spoke to TVNZ1’s Breakfast about the report released on September 2. (Source: Other)
His comments comes as a housing affordability report by CoreLogic this morning showed that nationally, the figure for mortgage payments as a percentage of average household income for the second quarter dropped to 32 per cent, down from 33 per cent in the first quarter of this year.
It is also the lowest figure since 2013 when the percentage was 31 per cent.
Economist Kelvin Davidson earlier told Breakfast the 32 per cent might seem high to some people, but that housing affordability on that measure was the best it has been in years.
"Certainly a lot better than it was as we headed into the GFC when that figure was 49 per cent, so generally the message of the report is it's not looking too bad," Mr Davidson said.
"It's a decent proportion [of income], but the thing is it's always relatively high and housing just is generally a bit more expensive in New Zealand than some other countries."
However, he added that housing affordability needed to be looked at relative to its history.
"If you take Auckland for example, currently that figure's 37 per cent in Auckland which is higher than the national average, but if you go back, sort of, three years back when Auckland was really booming in 2016, that figure was 51 per cent so you can see the huge improvement."
Mr Davidson also said super low mortgage rates at the moment had helped household finances, but the biggest hurdle for people looking to buy a home was still meeting the 20 per cent deposit for the bank.
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