More than 500 living in cars as Govt refuses to change emergency housing rules

Friday, 5 September 2025

Ministers have instructed officials to use greater discretion when assessing applications for emergency housing - but they will not change their policy which has made accessing it harder.

And they are still refusing to accept that their changes have contributed to a rise in rough sleeping and homelessness, despite numerous frontline providers telling them so.

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Auckland has almost doubled in eight months while across the country now one in every 1000 Kiwis is sleeping without shelter.

And The Post can reveal more than 500 Kiwis are currently living in their cars.

In 2022, when in Opposition, Housing Minister Chris Bishop was highly critical that there were 435 people recorded as living in a car and he said: “It is heartbreaking that any Kiwi, let alone a child, is forced to go to sleep in a car every night.

“But this Government refuses to take any responsibility. Instead, they continue to bury their heads in the sand.”

When the coalition took office, 582 were living in cars. That peaked in March last year, with 657 and in July that number was 567, according to answers to Parliamentary questions.

“I'm determined to make a difference on in relation to that,” he told The Post.

“It’s a work in progress.”

After coming under pressure to address rising homelessness, on Friday Bishop and Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka announced the Government was taking five steps to expand support for rough sleepers.

“Homelessness has been a problem in New Zealand for decades. It is rooted in our broken housing system, and becomes more severe during challenging economic times,” said Bishop.

An additional 300 social homes will be provided for rough sleepers through the Housing First programme at a cost of $7 million. These homes will be private rentals and will mostly be one-bedroom as that’s where the greatest need is.

Rough sleeping support services will get a $10m funding boost.

Some actions announced by the ministers are already happening: a drive to significantly increase the occupancy rate of transitional housing and that MSD assess all beneficiaries going into social homes for whether up to 25% of their benefit should be paid directly to their housing provider.

“Most people in social housing pay a contribution of 25% of their income. Beneficiaries in social housing can choose to pay this through a direct deduction from their benefit – but many choose not to.

“Non-payment of rent over a sustained period can eventually result in tenancy termination and homelessness. Implementing a redirection where good cause exists was a recommendation from a frontline homelessness provider,” said Potaka.

The ministers are also instructing the Ministry of Social Development to use greater discretion when assessing emergency housing applications.

“We are not changing the requirements people need to meet to qualify for emergency housing.”

Frontline providers across the country have been reporting the Government’s narrowing of entry criteria to emergency housing has directly contributed to more homeless Kiwis.

Potaka and Bishop again denied their actions were directly responsible.

“No,” said Potaka.

“It's not just about housing, and it's not just about one policy, the extent to which we can attribute any rise that those people sleeping without shelter.”

The Auckland City Mission is among those who have told the government it needs to change its policies.

“We are deeply disappointed that today’s announcement leaves these tightened eligibility criteria unchanged. Until the policy settings are changed the number of people sleeping rough will continue to rise.”

The mission called for the instructions provided to MSD staff on how to apply the emergency housing policy to be made publicly available immediately.

It welcomed the creation of 300 new Housing First places, but said the scale of need was far greater than what had been provided for.

“Importantly, not everyone rough sleeping qualifies for Housing First. Eligibility requires at least a year of continuous homelessness, meaning those new to the streets don’t qualify for this support.”

Labour’s housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said the actions announced by the ministers “won’t even touch the sides”.

“It’s just extraordinary that this Government has literally grown homelessness in the thousands and they think 300 places is going to fix the problem.”

McAnulty also slammed Bishop and Potaka for not taking responsibility for the rise in homelessness.

“I think it's a shame that they're too arrogant to admit that the changes have resulted in increased homelessness, and that's preventing them from changing the settings which have led to this.

“So the settings have stayed the same, which means that ultimately homelessness will continue to grow.”