Number of whānau in emergency housing drops by more than half - Tama Potaka

The latest emergency housing figures show a policy to move whānau into social homes is working, the Government claims.

Between December 2023 and the end of August 2024, the total number of households living in emergency housing motels reduced by 57%, from 3141 households to 1365, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka said.

The reduction was partly due to a change, made in April, to prioritise children who had been in emergency housing for more than 12 weeks, he said.

“So far, thanks to Priority One, we’ve seen around 645 households move from emergency housing into social housing.

“That includes over 1311 children who no longer have to live in unsuitable dank motels.”

Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka.

The Government has previously been criticised for not knowing where some of those moved out of emergency housing ended up, with advocates saying many were now living on the streets or in cars.

Potaka said yesterday the Government was “continually improving our insights on those entering and exiting emergency housing”.

About 80% of those leaving emergency housing went into social or private housing, he said.

“The remaining people are not accessing any government housing supports administered by the Ministry of Social Development.

“People don’t have to tell us where they are moving to, and they may no longer need to access government support - people living in emergency housing should not be judged as being incapable of navigating their own lives.

“We need to balance the requirement to monitor the effectiveness of our interventions with the need to respect people’s reasonable right to privacy.”

The Government aimed to reduce the number of households in emergency housing by 75% by 2030.

Meanwhile, a Rotorua residents’ group said while there had been progress on the issue, there was still a long way to go.

Lobby group Restore Rotorua has been concerned by the large number of people being sent to Rotorua from across New Zealand to live in the motels.

Deputy chair Carolyne Hall said the group had long been calling for resource consents for the emergency housing motels to be cancelled.

Homeless people living in backpacker hostels were also a problem for the tourism industry, she said.