The number of families living in motels organised by the Government has halved.
Figures from the Ministry of Social Development show households in emergency housing peaked at 5040 in the December 2021 quarter, but has fallen to 2280 in May this year.
Acting group general manager of housing Anne Shaw said the decline has been the result of intensive work to support people in emergency housing to move into more sustainable housing, whether that be private rentals, transitional housing or public housing.
“Our emergency housing support services, which include navigators, housing brokers, and rental readiness programmes, continue to play a critical role in preparing people to access and sustain suitable, long-term housing,” she told 1News.
It comes as the Government has committed to a 75% reduction in the number of households in emergency housing by 2030.
Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka said earlier this year a new priority one category was introduced which “prioritises whānau with tamariki that have been in emergency housing for longer than 12 weeks to move to the top of the social housing waitlist so we can get them into stable housing sooner”.
“We know that children in emergency housing for an extended period are most at risk of poor health and education outcomes,” he said.
“To help achieve our target, the Government is delivering a range of initiatives including funding emergency housing support services. The support will include a range of services for example housing brokers to help people find more suitable housing, and the flexible funding programme that helps support the educational needs of Tamariki.”
The Government is also tightening the emergency housing eligibility settings “to ensure we are returning to emergency housing to a short-term last resort option”.
Potaka said 1500 new social housing places will be provided by Community Housing Providers, and have been allocated $140 million from this year’s budget.
Housing First Ōtautahi manager Nicola Fleming said there is still a big need for emergency housing.
“We have people who are in between homes. They may have a lease end through a private owner and then they can’t find anything else or we can’t for them for a period of time. So where do they go? They’ve been housed. We don’t want them back in the street so emergency housing is our only option,” she said.
She also wants assurances that a range of housing options will be available, and said her organisation needs one bedroom houses “which no ones building at the moment”.
“They’re building high-rise 30 block units for complex high vulnerable needs. That doesn’t work for us. In some cases yes, but if you’ve got anxiety, mental health, addiction, trauma and you get placed in a unit in the middle of a 30-bedroom block it’s just not going to work.”
Fleming said she has 100 people on a waitlist for long-term accommodation and despite homing people that figure never goes down.