Real Stories

Will you help bring hope to homeless people?

Tonight, somewhere in Aotearoa, a family will bed down in the back seat of a car because they have nowhere else to go. No warm bed. No front door to lock. No safe place for their children to sleep. For too many Kiwis, this is their reality.

Right now, around 120,000 New Zealanders or two percent of our population are homeless, and the rising cost of living is pushing that number higher every day.

But hope is not lost.

With your support, we can help our homeless move into secure housing, supported by wraparound care—food assistance, advocacy, financial mentoring, emotional support, and life skills programmes. For those who receive this help, it’s a chance to begin their lives over again from a stable footing. Yet many more across the country still need our support.

And then there’s Jack* and Tula*, parents of four, including two sons on the autism spectrum. When every housing option ran out, they had no choice but to live in their van. Cramped. Exhausted. Out of options.

Homelessness offers families nothing no place to live, no place to call home. Children sleep in cars, moving from carpark to carpark most nights, while parents lie awake wondering what tomorrow will bring. It strips away stability, dignity, and hope.

Help from The Sallies

Thankfully, The Salvation Army was able to find them a four-bedroom home. ‘Words cannot describe the relief of having a stable roof over our heads. We finally have space to put down roots and start again,’ said Jack.

Across Aotearoa, countless families are waiting and desperately hoping for the same lifeline.

The impact of stable housing on families like Jack and Tula’s is immeasurable. Right now, many more families urgently need the same support. Out of your kindness, would you please consider making a generous gift to help people transitioning out of homelessness?

You can help change someone’s tomorrow.

Your gift helps provide emergency housing support, food, warm clothing, wraparound assistance, and long-term emotional support like counselling, advocacy, and financial mentoring a real chance to begin again.

*Names have been changed for privacy reasons.