Government giving community organisations $14.5 million to support people experiencing homelessness

12:54 pm today

Housing Minister Chris Bishop.

Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

The government is giving community organisations another $14.5 million to support people experiencing homelessness.

It comes as the latest Homelessness Insights Report suggests the number of people living without shelter may have begun to stabilise - though there were both decreases and increases reported in different parts of the country.

In September last year, the government funded an additional 300 Housing First "places" - that is, funding for a person to be housed - to providers in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch who then find homes for rough sleepers, often leasing them from the private market.

It also offered an extra $10 million in those centres to support services for people sleeping rough.

Housing Minister Chris Bishop said those measures were already making a difference, with 674 households who had been sleeping rough moved into stable homes, as well as further support for mental health and additictions, or help registering for a benefit.

The extra $14.5 million over the next year would continue funding existing services in main centres, and $2.7 million would extend it to Tauranga, Whakatāne, New Plymouth, Napier, Whanganui, and Waimakariri, he said.

"Support will be tailored to local needs, recognising that different communities face different challenges.

"Local reporting and the homelessness insights report released today show there is unmet need in a number of communities around New Zealand.

"This additional investment allows us to expand immediate support services for those who need a home right now, while longer-term work continues to address the underlying drivers of our housing crisis."

Homelessness up in some places, down in others - report

The latest Homelessness Insights Report, released by the housing ministry every six months, said available data showed the number of rough sleepers may have begun to stabilise, and there was a decrease in some places.

"However, council staff from most of the areas we engaged with reported increasing numbers of people living without shelter over the past six months."

It said those staff noted better coordination between agencies had seen rough sleepers getting the support they needed.

The report said people living without shelter were the smallest category of homelessness.

"They can be very transient, and their circumstances may change from night to night. This combined with a history of trauma that leaves many with a distrust in authority, means that it can be very difficult to quantify this group."

The report found numbers may have increased in Napier, New Plymouth and Wellington, but dropped in Auckland, Rotorua, Palmerston North, and Christchurch.

In other centres there was no change, or there was not enough data.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.