The Government has released a new report detailing the scale of homelessness in New Zealand. Photo / Michael Craig
A just-released Government report on homelessness shows the number people living without shelter has increased at a rate researchers believe is faster than population growth.
Councils and other groups in the sector are concerned about more people sleeping rough this summer compared to the last one, and families living in cars, garages, overcrowded settings or couch surfing during the harsher winter months.
Measuring homelessness in New Zealand is difficult because of a lack of accurate data. The Government’s best estimate of the number of people living without shelter is more than two years old. It uses the 2023 Census, which showed almost 5000 people were living without shelter.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development report, released today, combined census data with further Government data and observations from councils and groups engaged with addressing homelessness.
“It is not possible to quantify the exact size of this increase; however, it appears to be greater than our 3% population growth.”
The report comes around halfway through this Government’s term, which has included tightening emergency housing rules, and social and transitional housing initiatives.
Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka said although accurate numbers on homelessness were difficult to find, it was “clear we have a real problem”.
“The Government takes this seriously. All New Zealanders deserve a warm, dry place to stay, and the Government is determined to make progress on this long-running challenge for New Zealand.”
Potaka said the Government was seeking advice from officials on further interventions to help rough sleepers, saying “we are also open to new ideas that will make an enduring difference”.
Officials defined homelessness as living situations where people have no way of accessing safe and secure housing. This could include having no shelter at all, living in temporary or uninhabitable accommodation, or staying in a house with others, such as couch surfing.
The report estimates people living without shelter are more likely to be older, with more than a quarter aged over 65. Twelve per cent were under 15 years old.
Concerns from groups, collated in the report, included people and families sleeping rough, in cars, garages or uninhabitable conditions, or couch surfing during winter.
They told researchers there were increasing levels of hopelessness and complex needs because of methamphetamine use, anti-social behaviour and severe mental health concerns.
The portion of applications for emergency housing that were declined increased from 4% in March 2024 to 32% in March 2025, the report found. This statistic comes after Potaka’s emergency housing policy changes in August 2024, which included limiting discretion and tightening rules to ensure it was only accessed “where absolutely necessary”.
Reasons people were declined included that they could meet their needs another way (34.3%), their circumstances could have been “reasonably foreseen” (22.5%), they were not eligible for a grant (16.7%) or their situation was not considered an emergency (14.7%).
Potaka said more than $550 million was being spent annually across a range of programmes run by multiple agencies, including Transitional Housing, Housing First, Rapid Rehousing and many other support services.
The minister argued there was a 37% increase in people living in shelters between 2018 and 2023 when the previous Labour Government was in power and that the Government was also dealing with the large-scale emergency housing “social disaster” it had inherited from Labour.
In January, the Government celebrated reaching its target for reducing the number of people in emergency motels by 75% five years early. But it raised questions over where people went when they left emergency housing.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins accused the Government of kicking “everybody out of emergency accommodation” without having a plan for where they were to go.
“I think every New Zealander living in a main city can walk down the street and see there are more people living on the street, in cars, and that the Government’s actions have contributed to that,” he said.
“When you boot everybody out of emergency accommodation ... this is what happens.”
The report said for around 14% of people who left emergency housing, officials were not sure where they went. Others went into a mix of social and transitional housing, or received housing support supplements.
“We do know where 85% [of people] have gone and we’re really happy that a lot of kids have come out of emergency housing. Those 14% we don’t know where they’ve gone, but they don’t have to tell us where they are going,” Potaka said.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told reporters his Government had spent half a billion dollars helping people in these situations.
“Homelessness is a really complex issue. People often come with a complex set of needs, whether its mental health or addiction. No Kiwi wants to see homelessness.”
Luxon said he was proud of “the fact that we have taken 6000 people off the social state housing list”.
“I’m also really proud that we’ve got 2100 kids out of motels and into really good homes by prioritising those families.”
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.