Supporters hope for 11th-hour reprieve for Whangārei rugby ground rough sleepers
Supporters are gathering to protest the eviction of rough sleepers from a disused rugby ground in Whangārei, New Zealand. The council has ordered the encampment to close, citing health and safety risks, while social agencies work to find alternative housing for the remaining residents.
Why it matters
The situation highlights the ongoing tension between municipal public safety mandates and the humanitarian crisis of homelessness.
Whangārei residents opposed to council plans to evict rough sleepers from a disused sports club are heading to the site on Thursday morning in a show of support for the homeless.
The sportsground-dwellers had been given until Thursday 8 October to leave - but supporters were hoping an 11th-hour meeting between Mayor Ken Couper and social agencies late Wednesday could still lead to an extension.
At times as many as 50 people had been living at the Old Boys' Rugby Club grounds, with most staying in tents but a few in makeshift shelters built from scrap timber.
The encampment had semi-official status, with rough sleepers setting up camp on the clubgrounds hill after the Whangārei District Council closed down a "tent city" in the town centre in 2023.
The council had now, however, declared time was up at Old Boys' site.
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