Households in emergency accommodation plummet by 84%

Saturday, 29 March 2025

The number of households living in emergency accommodation has dropped by 84% compared to the same time last year, official figures reveal.

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD)'s latest update shows the amount spent on emergency accommodation has also plummeted, down from $24.4 million for the month of February last year, to just $3m in February of this year.

The Government in March last year tightened the criteria to access emergency motel accommodation.

Social Development Minister Louise Upston said at the time, “Staff assessing anyone applying for emergency housing will increase their scrutiny of whether they have unreasonably contributed to their immediate emergency housing need, whether they have taken reasonable efforts to access other housing options and whether they have previously paid their emergency housing contribution.”

She added: “Between now and August [2024], we will be working to strengthen emergency housing verification processes, review eligibility settings, limit discretion and clarify an applicant's responsibilities while in emergency housing. These changes will help ensure that emergency housing is only accessed where absolutely necessary.”

In January, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka said the Government had achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels, five years early.

“We campaigned on ending this disaster. When we came into office, we set a clear target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75% by 2030,” Potaka said at the time.

Concerns homelessness in crisis

But there are fears in the community a homelessness crisis has been created, prompting an emergency hui held in the south Auckland suburb of Māngere on Friday.

It was organised by Mā Te Huruhuru, a charitable trust that provides youth transitional housing, and Manaaki Rangatahi, a group that works to end youth homelessness.

“Organisations that we work with have said that it's a lot harder to access emergency housing, which is a frontline response to people experiencing homelessness,” Brooke Stanley Pao, of Manaaki Rangatahi, told Stuff at the event.

Youth worker Eloni Taulafo, who works at Life Skills, said youth homelessness is rising.

“We're seeing more and more come through our doors and our capacity is quite minimal, you know?” he told Stuff.

PM says 2000 kids out of motels, into houses

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, speaking in Christchurch, said emergency accommodation is still available to those who need it.

“Anyone who needs assistance on housing, our Government is open to support them, but what I'm proud about, is that we have taken 2000 kids out of motels and put them into houses,” he told reporters.

Luxon was referring to social houses, or accommodation provided by Kāinga Ora, the Government’s public housing agency.

The Government introduced a policy to prioritise families into social housing, called 'Priority One', and figures do show that 2,019 children have been housed since May last year.

Social housing waitlist still over 20,000

But there are still more than 20,000 on the social housing wait-list, and Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson - who attended the hui - believes changes to emergency accommodation criteria will make things worse.

“They haven't saved money,” she said of the Government. “They are creating further generational trauma.”

Stanley Pao said: “It's not a long-term or sustainable solution for housing insecurity.”

Karen Hocking, group general manager housing at MSD, told Stuff: “We encourage anyone sleeping rough to contact us and discuss how we may be able to help.”

She added: “Where possible MSD refers youth clients to available placements in transitional housing. That's because transitional housing offers more stability and tailored support than emergency housing.”

While emergency accommodation is funded by Work and Income, there is also transitional housing, which is provided by a range of accommodation services that receive funding from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD).

An MHUD spokesperson told Stuff reports of rising homelessness “are of great concern to us” but highlighted that homelessness is a “difficult area to measure”.

The latest MHUD figures show there are 6422 transitional housing places, but the spokesperson said the vast majority are occupied.