Cold nights see homeless leave CBD | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

A liquor ban and last month's cold snap have seen Tauranga's homeless community drift away from the CBD, but retailers say they are still begging for money in the central city.

Cold weather has seen some of the city's homeless leave the area - possibly for Rotorua or Hamilton where there are night shelters.

But community constable Aaron Fraser said the impression that there were fewer homeless might be because some of the well-known faces had left.

"It just takes one familiar face to not be there and people will think that the problem has gone ... they are quite transient and do move between centres. Old faces will go and new ones will come in."

Mr Fraser said a liquor ban introduced in December 2008 had definitely had an impact because they used to drink in quite big groups.

There had been a movement down the Avenues to Greerton, he said, with homeless often seen on Cameron Rd, in bus shelters and on seats around the area of 13th, 14th and 14th Avenues

"They tend to gather together and follow each other out to where there is no liquor ban."

Council environmental services manager Peter Frawley said it was typical for numbers to drop off in the winter.

Retailers on Eleventh Ave and nearby Cameron Rd said the homeless were still present, but they had not noticed an increase in numbers.

Sandy Crooks of Delicacy & Juz Catering said a free mid-week sausage sizzle put on by the church behind the 11th Ave Plaza attracted many people, including the homeless.

She has seen people sleeping rough under the eves of the church and drinking on the steps that go up from the McDonald's carpark to Target Furniture.

"We go through spates of it being really bad. We notice them more in the summer."

She heard that some homeless had been sleeping rough behind the office building on the former Trevor Lee Autos car yard, until they were issued with trespass notices.

Greerton Village Mainstreet's new manager Victoria Thomas said she had not seen many homeless around the shopping centre, just a few "local identities".

In the CBD, homeless people congregate at the Willow St bus centre.

Broncos Sports owner Ben Tuck said: "They are there every morning when I come into work. We still see at least four or five of the regulars."

Mr Tuck said some of the homeless begged for money "to buy a loaf of bread" or for cigarettes.

He has noticed little, if any, drop-off in the numbers of homeless this winter, although the re-development of the old Bay Nissan site on the corner of Cameron Rd and Elizabeth St had denied them a spot to sleep rough.

Mr Tuck said it was not unusual to see two or three homeless on the seats when he shut up shop in the evening.

Apart from irritating people by begging for money, they did not cause problems except that wherever they sat became a no-go zone for anyone else. "It puts people off sitting near them."

Mr Tuck said the homeless still frequented the alleyway behind his shop although the situation had improved since the council made it a no-exit by putting wire mesh across the Masonic Park end of the alley.

The alley also backed on to restaurants and cafes and the homeless checked out bins for cigarette butts and the dregs left in the bottom of bottles.

He said the alley was also used for drug dealing and drug taking.

Another Willow St retailer, Tony Young, said some homeless had been sent away because they had breached the liquor ban too often.

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