Barber shop owner Fred McKay could not handle hearing the stories of families or seeing people living in rough conditions.
"It is not fair. Food and shelter are something that every human being should have.
"But, unfortunately, many people don’t have that and struggle to find their feet for the most different reasons."
Mr McKay said in the past couple of years, especially after he moved and opened his business Hair Mechanic in South City, he had noticed an increase in homeless people in the city.
"I couldn’t do nothing. That is not part of who I am.
"My children are grown-ups and have their own life ... I thought I could help those people with a place they can stay safely."
After about one year, Mr McKay now had 10 women living in his property.
The all-female house was to create an environment where they could feel safe, he said.
He had tried to mix it up in the past but noticed it triggered some fragilities in some of the women.
Mr McKay got emotional speaking about their experiences.
"Everybody needs help and if you get a chance — just one chance — sometimes it’s enough to change you.
"The girls that are in my place either want to better themselves or they want a place they could rebuild themselves and leave."
Mr McKay believed more was needed to be done for homeless people in Invercargill.
A couple of weeks ago, he found a man living in the toilet behind his barber shop.
He was now lending him his own van so he could have a better place to sleep.
"When you’re a boxer and you have a bit of energy, you need to burn in the right way, in the right channels.
"If you can make someone else happy or, you know, see the life of those families and kids changing, you can’t get any better feeling."
Southland Community Housing Group member Margaret Cook said the situation with homelessness was concerning.
The group had been advocating and trying to find solutions for adequate housing, but it had been a hard task
because there
were not enough
houses being built.
"It is a complex issue but we’re not supposed to have homeless people because we’re such a small economy. But it’s there!
"You can see people coming out of Queens Park first thing in the morning and the other day I was chatting with a fellow down South who lived in a tent in Kew Bush. It is very sad."
The group had been working to try to help with the overall housing situation in the city, which included for those who continued to live outside the norms such as in parks and doorways, she said.
"The next step will be to identify what needs we can advocate to mitigate their situations — those will not necessarily be generic solutions because people live this way for various reasons.
"However that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try."
Mrs Cook said issues on the drawing board included a night shelter which could offer a hot meal each night, or a shelter like the Christchurch City Mission which would involve the creation of a tiny house/caravan settlement for single males with communal ablution blocks, laundry and kitchen.
Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark said the situation of the homeless people in the city was a big concern for him.
It was very hard to know how many people there were, but he believed between 20 and 50 were facing homelessness, he said.
He would like the council to buy some houses and have agencies involved to help manage it in a kind of night-shelter setting.
"It won’t come around quickly, but something needs to be done."
