Number of families in Hamilton’s emergency housing keeps dropping

Wednesday, 18 December 2024

Hamilton West MP Tama Potaka says new Government policy has helped ongoing falls in the number of people in emergency housing in Hamilton..

The numbers in emergency housing in Hamilton have dropped significantly over 2024, with the fall helped by a new policy of prioritising whānau with children for social housing rentals.

Figures supplied to Waikato Times by Hamilton West MP and associate housing minister Tama Potaka showed households in emergency housing such as motels in the city had dropped from 507 in December last year to 144 last month.

Tamariki (children) in emergency housing fell from 516 to 165.

Associate housing minister Tama Potaka unveils dropping emergency housing numbers.

A Priority One policy introduced in April played a role in the reductions - this puts families with dependent children in emergency housing for longer than 12 weeks at the top of the waitlist for rental “social housing”.

Priority One had successfully transitioned 147 households, including 303 children, in Hamilton out of emergency housing, a statement from Potaka said.

“This is evident in the changing dynamics at Ulster Street in Hamilton West and surrounds.

“This can mean a world of difference for giving kids a more stable upbringing, improving their health, their school attendance, their connection to their communities and more.”

In an interview on Tuesday, Potaka described Hamilton as “the epicentre of emergency housing in New Zealand … particularly Hamilton West”.

He spoke of how deprivation in communities contributed to emergency housing placements, including in Northland, parts of Auckland, Hamilton, Bay of Plenty and the East Coast.

“A lot of that correlates with higher Māori populations unfortunately.”

Motels on Ulster St - Tama Potaka says the “dynamics” of the street are changing as more and more people move out of emergency housing.

People in emergency housing placements in motels in the likes of Hamilton and Rotorua was “hugely” Māori, some 70%-90% in those two areas, he said.

Potaka acknowledged state agencies couldn’t always be sure whether people leaving emergency housing were going on to better situations.

But it was understood nationally that roughly 55% went to social or transitional housing, 25% went to privately arranged accommodation, while agencies weren’t sure in the other 20% of cases.

However, he said these figures were an improvement on previous data which indicated outcomes for only about 50% of those leaving.

This better understanding in part reflected more data and intelligence gathering.

“It may well be true that some people have left emergency housing and gone into difficult situations.

“But what we know to be true also is when whānau and tamariki left [through] Priority One they were placed through the social housing system into Kāinga Ora or [community provider] housing.”