Support for struggling families, our homeless whanau and those living in poverty has not been up to the task for decades says Bernie Smith, CEO of Auckland’s Catholic Monte Cecilia Housing Trust. He is adamant. We might want to blame COVID and the war in Ukraine for our economic woes, he says. But everyone (except Read more
New Zealand’s rapidly rising cost of living is “absolutely a crisis”, says Monte Cecilia Housing Trust CEO Bernie Smith. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday that while rising living costs were impacting, she wouldn’t describe the situation as a crisis. However, the Catholic Housing Trust CEO with first-hand real-life experience of hardship is pushing back Read more
When 1 October arrives, 215 families in Monte Cecilia transitional housing will have nowhere to go. Until now, Monte Cecilia and similar places have used a “redirect contracts” initiative to house families. In this, they find private landlords willing to lease their house for at least a year, then create an agreement where the tenants Read more
You may have heard an increasing number of child poverty experts and frontline support services calling on the Government to increase the amount of income support paid to effectively address poverty in New Zealand. What you may not have heard about is the recent UMR poll in February showing seven in 10 New Zealanders support Read more
New child poverty statistics from Stats NZ paint an optimistic picture for the period before the 2020 Covid lockdowns, Monte Cecilia Housing Trust CEO Bernie Smith says, but the months since then have been brutal for low-income earners and government support is desperately needed. “We’re always happy to see those arrows going in the right Read more
Catholic emergency housing providers in Auckland are struggling to cope with increased demand for shelter as the COVID lockdown continues to wreak havoc on employment. Monte Cecilia Housing Trust chief executive officer Bernie Smith puts the increased demand down to reduced working hours and increasing unemployment. Smith told NZ Catholic the Catholic housing trust received Read more
Thirty homeless families in South Auckland will get new, modern houses this week, and working parents are among the first tenants. The Monte Cecilia Housing Trust has built the 30 two-bedroom units and its new offices on the site of an old rest home in Windrush Close, Mangere, at a cost of $12.5 million. Thirty Read more
A year after the coalition Government took office, its flagship housing plan KiwiBuild is barely off the ground. At this year’s Bruce Jesson Memorial lecture, Monte Cecilia Housing Trust’s Bernie Smith argued KiwiBuild’s flaws not only perpetuate housing unaffordability, but cause further intergenerational social problems. Bernie Smith tells an interesting story. After working in some of the Read more