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RNZ News
11-08-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
New Zealand 'can't talk about homelessness without tackling poverty', advocate says
In Aotearoa, a Pacific advocate for youth homelessness says the country must address poverty and systemic inequities to fix the housing affordability crisis. Research from the Salvation Army last month showed one in 1000 people in the country are without shelter. Youth were reportedly disproportionately affected. Overall, Pasefika communities were also over-represented in the country's hardship figures. For example, the latest government figures showed the Pacific unemployment rate was 12.1 percent - more than double the national average. Brooke Stanley, of youth homelessness collective Manaaki Rangatahi, told Pacific Waves "successive government choices and policies" had failed to prioritise people's housing needs. That had led to rising homelessness, she said. "I think that those policy choices and decisions are actually underpinned by a certain set of values that don't recognise housing as being a human right," Stanley said. "We're looking at a politics of ego, of competition, of division, of greed and profit." Stanley also said the current government's policies were making things worse, and Pasefika communities were bearing the brunt of it. High rents, lack of public housing and affordable housing, as well as socio-economic status all contributed to Pasefika being disproportionately affected by the housing affordability crisis. Tougher rules from Kāinga Ora - the government's public housing agency - also painted a bleak picture. For example, in Manurewa and Porirua, Pacific families were reportedly being kicked out of public housing at disproportionate rates. The pattern was identified in tenancy enforcement data by PMN . In Manurewa, Pacific families represented about half of the agency's tenants, but made up three-quarters of enforcement action. In Porirua, Pacific people represented about the same proportion of Kāinga Ora tenants but made up two-thirds of enforcement action. Enforcement action included tenancy terminations. Kāinga Ora has previously said it applied its policies in "a fair and consistent way in communities around the country." Kāinga Ora spokesperson Nick Maling said the decision to end a tenancy was never made lightly, especially when children and young people were involved. Associate Minister for Housing Tama Potaka has said the government is working to address homelessness. "There's a number of things that this government is doing, whether or not it's the build program - making sure we build another 500 social homes in Auckland, Māori housing, Kainga Ora… resetting the housing system," he told Morning Report in July . He has also said that rebuilding the economy to create more jobs and get people into work is part of the government's solution to homelessness. Stanley believed New Zealand's policymakers needed to shift their approach to housing and homelessness completely. "We can't talk about ending homelessness unless we also talk about ending poverty," she said. "I think we need to look at the different contributing factors… [and the] the structural inequities that also contribute to homelessness. "I think it's really important that our leaders just not only talk about these things, but also have the actions and policies that reflect those values." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
29-04-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Public housing tenancy terminations soar, advocates link to rising homelessness
Housing advocates have correlated the increase to a rise in homelessness and questioned where the hundreds of tenants were going. In March, Auckland Council's Community Committee urged the Government to step in after it recorded a 53% increase in the number of people sleeping rough in the city since September. Brooke Stanley, the spokesperson for youth homelessness collective Manaaki Rangatahi, said it is clearly caused by the Government's new policies. 'It's so wild to me that these guys can have this type of power to wield in our communities. Where does the Government think these people are going to go?' Kāinga Ora wasn't able to detail what happened to each specific tenant when it terminated their agreement, but said they 'typically find alternative housing with another provider, move in with friends or whānau, or potentially move into transitional accommodation'. Stanley said many evicted tenants don't have those options. 'There is nothing for them. This is going to have an impact on harm that happens within our communities and it's going to have an impact on the numbers that are going into prisons.' The head of the Kick Back youth homelessness initiative, Aaron Hendry, said the Government's stronger line is only exacerbating the problem. 'You're going to take another group of people on the housing list who potentially also have all the same challenges back into housing, and what we're doing is creating a loop where people are coming in and out of the system and we're not actually solving the issue,' he said. Hendry was also sceptical of more than 300 tenancy terminations which didn't have a clear reason. 'There's huge gaps there in terms of [Kāinga Ora's] knowledge around why people are being terminated. We think that's unacceptable. Maybe they have that knowledge but they need to be far more clear around why people are being asked to leave.' Litigation lawyer Adina Thorn said it was an improvement but believed the rate of terminations was a far cry from what was needed. 'I did some rough calculations. I thought the figure that needed to be evicted was 1,000 to 1,500,' she told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking Breakfast. 'I'm not really talking about anti-social [behaviour], I'm talking about people doing really egregious violent stuff in housing that is threatening to their neighbours.' Advertise with NZME. Housing Minister Chris Bishop said the rising terminations show the Government is maintaining its promises and handing out real consequences to unruly tenants. 'In our view it's not fair to the neighbours of those abusive tenants to have to live in fear, and it's not fair to those on the social housing waitlist who would treat the home with respect,' he said. Bishop said in most cases formal warnings, known as section 55a notices, were effective in getting disruptive tenants to improve their behaviour. 'For the tiny number of people who carry on with their abusive or damaging behaviour, there are real consequences which, in extreme cases, can involve their tenancy being ended.'
