"The state has corporatised welfare, but it isn’t working. More costs, worse outcomes."

"New Zealand has a begging and homelessness emergency and it’s worse than what I recently saw in a country most Kiwis associate with it – India.
    "Begging and homelessness here is the tip of a full-blown social emergency, ... with ram-raiding kids destroying property for the sake of it.
    "RNZ hit the nail on the head saying shopkeepers on Auckland’s K Road are in despair. Not just the ram raids, but the crime and grime, with begging and homelessness. And it’s not just K Road, or Auckland, but in towns across New Zealand....
    "As business owners we agree there are addiction, mental health and a host of 'complex issues,' but the policy response seems to be, 'no action, talk only'....
    "A back-to-the future approach is needed. The state has corporatised welfare, but it isn’t working. More costs, worse outcomes.
    "We need to make the Salvation Army, city missions, Presbyterian Support Services and their counterparts in temples and mosques [and community centres] all central to welfare provision, not just peripheral to it. Give charities a chance.
    "Begging itself must be de-normalised....
    "This is a social investment call to change lives for the better [rather] than throwing benefits and hostel accommodation as answers.
    "It would also help those of us in business to stay in business too."

~ Sunny Kaushal, from his op-ed 'New Zealand has a begging emergency and it demands tough action'