Whangārei rough sleepers face eviction deadline as MP expects a pause

Whangārei rough sleepers facing an October 8 deadline to leave the council-owned Old Boys’ Rugby Club site in New Zealand may get more time, Northland Green MP Hūhana Lyndon told RNZ on Thursday. Lyndon said she understood the mayor would meet residents at the site and that the eviction was likely to be paused. The reported pause was her expectation, not a confirmed council decision, leaving residents uncertain about whether they must move and where they could go.

The move-on notice was due to take effect on Thursday, October 8, RNZ reported. Lyndon said she understood Whangārei Mayor Ken Couper had agreed to meet residents at the Port Road site that day. She did not say what form a pause would take or how long it might last, and the report did not record the council confirming one.

Lyndon told RNZ that work was under way to help the residents, but that more time was needed to find homes. ‘We’re not sure what the pause will look like,’ she said. Her account leaves the deadline and any housing arrangements unresolved for the people still living at Old Boys.

How many people are affected at the Old Boys site?

As many as 50 people had lived in tents and makeshift shelters at the disused sports ground, RNZ reported, including teenagers and people with high health needs. The number had fallen to 10 in recent months, partly following completion of a major social housing complex in Whangārei. The earlier peak and the current count describe different periods; the report did not identify replacement accommodation for everyone who remains.

Lyndon said residents asked where they would go if they had to leave. She recounted them saying they might have to find another spot. That concern remains central even if the deadline is delayed: RNZ’s report named no agreed destination or confirmed housing plan for the current group.

Why does the council want residents to leave?

Whangārei District Council owns the Old Boys land. It told RNZ that health, safety and operational risks at the site had become unmanageable. The concerns cited in the report included complaints from nearby businesses about safety, waste and dogs, as well as glass on the sports fields, makeshift structures, fire risk and rubbish. The council also raised emergency access to the neighbouring Semenoff Stadium.

Those are the council’s stated reasons for the move-on order. RNZ reported them alongside the residents’ need for somewhere to live and Lyndon’s call for more time. Its account did not establish that the risks had been independently assessed or that a pause had resolved them.

Lyndon said the notices were issued late in September and came to wider attention after a local newspaper report the following weekend. According to RNZ, the sports ground had become a semi-official place for rough sleepers to stay after a ‘tent city’ on Robert Street in central Whangārei closed in 2023.

What happened to the earlier shelter proposal?

The site had already been considered for an overnight shelter. In April 2024, NZ Herald reporting republished by Te Ao Māori News said the council had rejected a proposal at Old Boys because it lacked detail, including funding and support from relevant agencies. The council also said providing a shelter was not its role. That decision concerned a proposed facility, rather than the move-on notice now facing residents.

In that 2024 account, council planning and development general manager Dominic Kula said the council remained committed to working with agencies on sustainable solutions. He said a proposal involving council land required involvement from relevant agencies, with services and security funded. The same report said advocate Carrie Kake and rough sleeper Jason Poutai, working with the Kotahitanga Whakaruruhau Trust, had spent close to 10 months seeking council help to find a suitable overnight shelter location.

Poutai said five people were camped at Old Boys when the 2024 article was reported. That historical figure is separate from RNZ’s account of 10 residents in recent months. Together, the reports show a continuing search for accommodation at the site, while the immediate question is narrower: whether the council will delay Thursday’s deadline and what arrangements, if any, will be made for those still there.