Kate Hawkesby: Auckland Council needs to get its own house in order to tackle homelessness

Auckland City Mission Homeless Committee members, who are ex-homeless/streeties, open up on homelessness in Auckland. / Video by Brett Phibbs

COMMENT: Is it just me or is it slightly ironic that in the same night Auckland's Mayor Phil Goff was out counting the city's homeless, a report revealed that customer satisfaction with Auckland Council's building consents department is at an "all time low".

Not only that, but the report also states the current dire situation with the consents department poses a risk to the council's "ability to support building construction activity in Auckland".

This report is of course hot on the heels of an apology from council management last year over delays to resource consents being issued, and the latest issues surrounding its inability to decode its own unitary plan.

There are record numbers of consents being sought - and the department is just not meeting current demand, let along anticipated growth, according to the report.

And Auckland's growth is driving the surge.

So here we are, deep in the mire of complicated consenting processes not hitting the mark, with a surge in demand for housing, while the Mayor is out canvassing the homeless.

He's counting up how many more people need housing, in a city already awash with demand for housing, with a council failing to get the bare bones: the consent process for housing right.

How many homeless will the Mayor and co have counted up last night? I'd hazard a guess at quite a few.

There'll be a combination of short-term emergency housing needed, and longer-term more stable solutions.

So what do we have here?

We have a queue of people waiting for consents, a department struggling to keep up, and we're out assessing numbers on more housing requirements.

Both problems need addressing yes, and I'm all for multi-tasking, but here's the thing. No matter what the numbers and stats on homeless are, the people who hold the ultimate solutions need to be getting their end of the spectrum in order first.

You can't cater to more urgent housing issues until the department dealing with these consents actually functions in a way that works to meet the needs.

It's one thing to have numbers on homeless, and tell us how many more people need housing, but you first of all have to get your own house in order - aka the council - to be able to provide it.