The politicians listened as Mrs Peiffer explained the homeless situation, "astronomical rent increases" and the services which have worked for them in Rotorua.
"Homelessness just changed overnight, it exploded," she said.
The key issue for Love Soup was the distribution of funding and Mr Peiffer said the current model wasn't working.
"Just giving all of the money to one agency, that doesn't work," he said.
Mr Shaw said the meeting offered "incredibly helpful insight" into Rotorua's homeless population and that the situation mirrored what they were seeing around the country.
"You're doing a fantastic job, you're chugging along, but what do you need?" He said.
"This kind of situation is ridiculous, the way to do it is to talk to us directly, so you don't end up lost in the bureaucracy."
The next stop on their trip was Western Heights Primary School.
Principal of the decile one school, Brent Griffin, explained the things they have done differently to put the students well being first.
"It's working, but it's not working by chance," he said.
"We give them everything we possibly can."
Western Heights Primary School have a full time social worker, extension classes and Maori immersion, but a transient school population.
Mr Griffin said over the last year they have had 121 students leave the school and 121 new students start.
"The Government has done things so badly, it's all gone wrong," he said.
"Removing national standards and increasing funding is important.
"We're looking at the wellbeing of students as the priority, but that gets squashed for reading and writing and maths. National standards don't show how much students have improved."
Mr Shaw said the Green Party support a value added system.
"We like to think of schools as community hubs," he said.
"Schools should be resourced for other services as well, it's a great place to locate those services."
Mr Shaw ended his visit speaking at the New Zealand Institute of Forestry Annual Conference.
