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Street People Project
Coordinator: spp(at)dcm.org.nz
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THE SURVIVAL GUIDE
Living in Wellington on a low income |
Compassion House, Lukes Lane |
Street People Project
The Street People Project provides banking services for people who cannot open and/or operate their own personal bank account.
Some of the main reasons for this are:
that they have no fixed abode;
they may have previous criminal convictions; and, they may be trespassed from entering a bank because of anger management issues.
There continues to be a steady stream of people either exiting prison or who for various reasons find themselves in circumstances where they require this type of service, and who, without this service, would be disadvantaged and more likely to resort to criminal behaviour.
Service users all have very low incomes, generally from Work and Income benefits.
Once clients have signed up to The Street People Project, the coordinator is able to set up regular automatic payments to ensure basic needs of food, housing and rent are met.
Clients are encouraged to be accountable to their debtors and regular payments are set up to manage this. Developing savings skills is also highly encouraged. Where necessary, the coordinator acts as advocate with agencies such as the Work and Income (WINZ), health providers, retailers, banks and courts.
The beginnings of the Street People Project hark back to the early 1990’s when DCM ran a drop in centre for street people at the Wesley church in Taranaki St. DCM’s focus was on providing recreational activities and finding work opportunities for clients. The street people themselves identified the need for banking services because those without bank accounts were finding it very difficult to access their benefits. One of the street people began organising the project and later became the first SPP coordinator.
The SPP is supported by the Wellington City Council through a Safer Community Grant and by the JR McKenzie Trust.
