Teenagers as young as 16 are living in a bush camp in suburban west Auckland because they have nowhere else to go.
The group gave 3 News a tour of four camps where they eat, sleep and bathe in a nearby stream, metres from passing traffic.
Thousands of Aucklanders drive past the ordinary-looking shops in suburban New Lynn every day. But little do they know that tucked behind them is something far from ordinary.
Sixteen-year-old Shak says he's been living in the bush for around six months after he was kicked out of home.
"So just I started living here in this little tent with the bro', Maverik," he says.
"Basically that's the only blankets we have," says Maverik. "They're damp though."
Maverik says he left school at 14 and has been on and off the streets since. He was once a window washer, but is now unemployed and can't receive a benefit.
"We can't even afford a room, can't even afford like a $180 room."
While both boys admit they could potentially go home, they say they'd rather be where they are.
There are four different camps, but it's this communal site where everyone hangs out to eat and just be together.
"There's actually more love here than at home," says Shak.
Eighteen-year-old Anneke then took us for a visit to her spot. She's been living there for three months and takes pride in making her place homely.
Anneke concedes some days are awful, but she finds comfort in nature – the birds, frogs and the sound of the stream nearby.
"I wash my hair down there," she says. "Yeah, I shower down there, yeah."
Anneke used to stay in a boarding house but didn't feel safe there.
"Nah, it's just all drug addicts [and] alcoholics," she says. "Yeah, I didn't want to be around it."
Angus says he's been there for the longest – a year – living in a tent with his partner and dog. He moved to Auckland from Rotorua, and when he couldn't find a house there he went to the bush. The 30-year-old is known as the dad of the camp.
"This guy mostly feeds all of us – to be honest, hot chips and stuff," says Maverik. "Just when you were walking down we just finished eating burgers. That's what we mean."
Today 3 News showed the footage to the head of social development charity Lifewise.
"It's sad but it's also frustrating," says Lifewise CEO Moira Lawley. "It shouldn't happen. It doesn't need to happen. There are solutions to supporting people into housing, but they're poorly resourced."
She says youth homelessness is on the rise, particularly in west and south Auckland.
The Government says there are benefits available to 16- and 17-year-olds, and that it's recently launched a new initiative to house up to 21 young people in need.
"I've got beds up here for anyone that wants to crash here," says Anneke.
They're clearly not your regular family, but they say they're a family they can choose.
3 News