Labour promises to stop state housing rent hike, and repeal at least some ‘move on’ orders

Tuesday, 30 June 2026

Labour MPs are promising to undo the Government’s state housing rent hike, and repeal some of its “move on” orders.

But with the promise to reverse an increase to state house rents, Labour leader Chris Hipkins confirmed it would mean Labour would not support increasing the accommodation supplement for tenants in private rentals.

“Taking money away from our lowest income renters to give to another group of low-income renters is cruel, and it is wrong. And the Labour Party will not be part of that. The accommodation supplement ultimately is a subsidy for private sector landlords,” Hipkins said.

Both Hipkins and housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty have taken aim at the Government over its record on housing and homelessness.

Their renewed focus on the issue came after it was revealed that the Ministry of Social Development had put in place employee performance targets to reduce emergency housing use.

As well as promising to unwind at least some of the Government’s ‘move on’ orders, which target beggars and rough sleepers, Hipkins also promised on Tuesday to undo the rent increase the Government pushed onto state housing tenants in May.

At Budget 2026, the Government said it would raise rents for state house tenants from 25% of their incomes to 30%. As a result, the Government expected to collect at extra $387.5 million in rent.

“It’s morally bankrupt, it’s cruel,” he said.

He promised to drop income-related rent back down to 25%, if elected.

The Government planned to divert most of that rent hike revenue to fund changes to the accommodation supplement. That payment goes to hundreds of thousands of renters who struggle to pay for private rentals.

From those changes, 111,000 households would be better off by about $15 a week.

Hipkins told Stuff he had concerns about the accommodation supplement.

“I'm not proposing to decrease the accommodation supplement, but I am saying that the increase proposed by the current Government,” he said.

“Of course, we're going to continue to look at how we can make housing more affordable … We'll have other policies that do that, but we won't be doing that by increasing state house rents.”

McAnulty, Labour’s housing spokesperson, said a “suite” of policies would be released soon.

He said the first of that “suite”, a promise to make it easier for charities to get money to finance community housing, had been announced last week. There would also be policies about affordable rentals, progressive home ownership and transitional housing.

Repealing at least some of the ‘move on’ orders would also be part of Labour’s policies, McAnulty said.

He said the party was discussing the law at its caucus meeting on Tuesday.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith’s “Move On Orders Bill” passed its first reading in May, and would be fast-tracked through the select committee process.

If enacted, it would create new offences under the Summary Offences Act which would apply to anyone aged 14 years or older.

It would create a new offence for those found to be behaving in a disorderly, intimidating, threatening or disruptive manner, breaching the peace, obstructing access to businesses, or begging or rough sleeping.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has insisted the ‘move on’ orders don’t criminalise homelessness.

“Well, again, I'm just saying to you, we've got ‘move on’ orders for a good reason: That’s either disturbance, disorderly behaviour. I would just ask you to compartmentalize a little bit the ‘move on’ orders from rough sleeping and homeless,” he said.

McAnulty responded on Tuesday, saying: “I heard him suggest that. I'm still not 100% sure what he means.”

“It's preposterous for them to say that they're not criminalising homelessness when they are literally putting through a bill that would fine a homeless person $2000,” he said.

He said Labour would consider if it supported other aspects of the bill, such as offences related to disorderly behaviour - but it was opposed to fines for rough sleeping and fines for children.

He said the Government was misleading voters by claiming the bill did not criminalise homelessness.

“I mean, what do they think? People are thick? They can see what they're proposing here, and it's not what they are saying publicly,” he said.

“Make the bill about antisocial behaviour. Don't include rough sleepers. Don't include a provision that would allow you to fine them, and for goodness' sake, don't allow children as young as 14 to be included.”

Parliament’s Justice Committee would be receiving submissions about the ‘move on’ orders bill until July 2.