Rough sleeping surges 24% in Wellington as housing cuts bite
Thursday, 24 July 2025
Wellington has recorded a sharp increase in rough sleepers with Labour and the Greens putting the blame firmly on the Government’s crackdown on emergency housing.
The new figures, included in a Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga Ministry of Housing and Urban Development report, said Downtown Community Ministry (DCM) recorded a one year increase of 24% more Wellington rough sleepers with 141 people rough sleeping in the capital from January to March. That number was 80 at the start of 2024 and about 114 a year earlier.
There had also been a 5% increase in the past year in Wellington homelessness with DCM putting the number at 328 people earlier in 2025. Rough sleepers are a subset of the homeless figures.
Auckland rough sleepers jumped from 426 in September to 809 in May while Christchurch jumped from 106 to 270 over a six-month period.
The report also shows the number of emergency housing grant application rejections nationally climbed from about 3% in March 2024 to more than 30% in March 2025.
Wellington Central Green MP Tamatha Paul, also the party’s housing spokesperson, said the Government figures were mirrored in what she heard in her electorate office with increased “cruel” denial to emergency housing and a lack of public housing being the big drivers.
“[Reduced access to emergency housing] is how the Government has so rapidly reduced numbers in such a short time, by discarding human beings to fend for themselves on the streets.
“At the heart of those policy changes is a system that allows people to fall through the gaps and then places the blame on that person for ‘contributing to their own homelessness’,” she said.
Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka said officials should engage with frontline providers, such as the Salvation Army, because they were the ones directly dealing with the problem.
“We will not be returning to the previous government’s large-scale emergency housing model, which cost over $1 million a day at its peak and was a social disaster,” Potaka said.
“New Zealanders – including people sleeping rough – deserve better than that.”
The Government was reviewing housing support services with the aim of making the system simpler, more effective, and reducing duplication. “We want to fund what works,” he said.
Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty also blamed the rise on government cuts to emergency housing.
“Until this week, they have refused to admit that – but now it’s clear for all to see,” he said.
“Many are from outside Wellington, facing complex needs that demand wraparound support,” she said.
“I believe the challenges of homelessness require a coordinated, consistent, and compassionate response – not just from local government, but from central government too. It’s important that we work together.”
The Wellington City Council recently approved $460,000 for a Homelessness Coordination Service which would help frontline agencies working with homeless people and their access to help in evenings and weekends.