Homelessness: Government reluctantly open to policy backdown as it seeks ‘urgent’ advice amid rough sleeping rise

Housing Minister Chris Bishop says the Government is open to some changes if it will make a difference to rough sleeping numbers. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Housing Minister Chris Bishop says he is open, albeit reluctantly, to changing the Government’s emergency housing policy to confront a rise in the number of people rough sleeping.

This follows Outreach providers reporting a 90% increase in homelessness in Auckland.

It’s the latest update in a long-running insistence by the Government - namely Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka - that the rise isn’t related to its rule change that denies emergency housing support to people who have unreasonably contributed to their own housing need.

Speaking on TVNZ’s Q+A, Bishop said he is open to altering the Government’s rules but is adamantly against a “large-scale use of emergency housing”.

In recent weeks, the Government has come under increasing pressure over reports from various housing and social support providers that homelessness was spiking amid a persistently high cost of living.

Potaka had been at the centre of this but repeatedly stated no official data confirmed an increase, instead referring to anecdotal reports.

Last month, he released a much-anticipated Ministry of Housing and Urban Development report that showed the number of people living without shelter had increased at a rate researchers believe is faster than population growth.

Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka has acknowledged anecdotal reports of increasing homelessness. Photo / Mark Mitchell

In several media interviews, Potaka had denied the Government’s decision to tighten emergency housing rules, such as a person contributing to their own circumstances, was one of the factors influencing a rise in homelessness.

Bishop, speaking from Christchurch during the National Party’s annual conference, told Q+A he wouldn’t accept that the Government’s rules could be deemed a contributing factor.

“It’s not what the official analysis shows either, which is the homelessness insights report we released [that] actually says it’s not possible to draw conclusions around that increase based on policy changes.

He admitted there was a problem with rough sleeping, which had prompted engagement with providers in recent weeks.

“We’ve asked for some urgent advice about what we can do, but it’s worth remembering that this is a long-running problem for New Zealand.”

Bishop said he would be open to considering change to the Government’s criteria, but only if he could be assured it would make a difference.

“I’m open to it, but I don’t really want to do it.

“I don’t want to go back to a situation where the large-scale use of motels for emergency housing is where we get to.

“I’m open to some tweaks and changes, but the underlying issue is one we’ve got to grapple with, which is how we ended up with people who sleep rough on the streets and it’s not a money issue because we spend half a billion bucks a year in this space already as a Government.”

Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.