National plans emergency housing changes

Thursday, 7 March 2024

• The Government is planning a raft of changes to emergency housing.

• The aim is to reduce the number of children in emergency housing, Minister of Social Development Louise Upston says.

• The emergency housing grant will also be slashed from covering between one and three weeks, to between one and four days.

Minister of Social Development Louise Upston won’t say whether the National Government’s plan to prioritise families with children and make it harder for people to apply for - and stay in - emergency housing, will force more people into homelessness.

“What we're focused on is fewer children in motels. Front line staff, they make tricky decisions every day. It is not going to be perfect. What I am saying is we will have fewer children in motels,” Upston said.

Upston also promised Wednesday to “increase scrutiny of whether they have unreasonably contributed to their immediate emergency housing need” as well as ensure people have taken “reasonable efforts” to access other housing options. The government spends $340 million a year on emergency housing.

In the Government’s plan, emergency housing grants will also only cover one to four days, cut down from between one and three weeks.

Other planned changes include a more stringent emergency housing verification process, review of eligibility settings, and to clarify an applicant’s responsibilities while in emergency housing.

“These changes will help ensure that emergency housing is only accessed where absolutely necessary,” she said.

Labour’s housing spokesperson, Megan Woods, who was the minister in the previous government, said it had been looking into prioritising children with families.

She agreed with National that there was an emergency housing crisis but said the issue underpinning it was a shortage of housing.

National had not committed to building more state houses beyond June 2025, she said.

“What I'm concerned about with the Government's policy … we have to make sure that we're also building secure warm dry housing for the very many single people that are on the Public Housing Register as well.”

Nicola Willis, the Minister of Finance, wouldn’t confirm whether the Government would be funding more social housing projects, and said people would have to wait until the May 30 Budget.