Luxon unaware Auckland has no night shelter amid emergency housing crackdown

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was unaware there are no night shelters for Auckland’s rough sleepers who can soon be shifted on from the CBD – and charged if they return – under incoming Government “move on” orders.

Luxon said at Monday’s post-Cabinet press conference he was not aware there were no night shelters in the city.

However, he was comfortable with the Government’s housing work which includes targets to significantly reduce the number of families in emergency housing.

In August 2024, eligibility criteria for the last-resort option were tightened and the number of households using the service declined sharply.

“What I am aware of, is when we put $10 million of extra funding in October last year, 300 extra Housing First places – plus another 374 actually in transitional housing and other housing – have been taken up as well,” Luxon said.

“There has been very good work and progress since September. MSD will always provide housing for people in genuine need but that may take alternative forms than just emergency housing.”

In January last year, the Government celebrated hitting its target of reducing the number of households in emergency housing by 75% five years early.

The Government says this means thousands of children are no longer growing up in “cold, dank” motel rooms.

However, the Auckland City Mission says some people are finding it so hard to access emergency housing they feel like giving up.

For the first time, people have begun sleeping in the Mission’s laneway.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (right) and Housing Minister Chris Bishop arriving for the post-Cabinet press conference at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Demand for the mission’s services, which includes outreach care, a community kitchen, health care and 10 immediate housing beds, were “always full”. Later this week, the mission will expand the number of immediate housing beds it has to 20.

It comes as Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says he has spoken to MSD chief executive Debbie Powers, after it was revealed the Government’s emergency housing target had been embedded into a performance target for staff.

Potaka, who did not appear aware of the target when interviewed on Sunday by TVNZ’s Q&A with Jack Tame, told the Herald he had since discussed the issue with Powers.

Ultimately, staff performance was an operational issue for the agency, Potaka said.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said such performance targets were “absolutely not” appropriate and if he were Prime Minister, he would scrap it.

Auckland City Mission's HomeGround building in Auckland CBD. Photo / Dean Purcell

Graham Allpress, MSD’s general manager of client service delivery, said this was one of 11 measures used to assess performance, and was not a standalone target.

“Our senior managers need to be aware of Government priorities and targets.

“However, the number of emergency housing grants in a region does not trigger performance management – this has not occurred, and it is not the expectation set for our staff.“

Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson has worked for the mission in various roles for more than a decade. She told the Herald the demand for help was on a “scale I have never seen before”.

“We support about 100 people on outreach, we service about 300 people a day at our community kitchen, our day programme has had 1500 unique individuals since December 1,” she said.

Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson.

“Obviously, if you are coming to the mission for support during the day, there is something significant going on. All our services are always full.”

People who had nowhere else to go were now sleeping in the mission’s laneway.

“Just recently, I have started to count the number of people who are sleeping in our laneway.

“People sleep during the day because it is not safe to [sleep in public] at night. I first reported [people] sleeping in our laneway about a year or 18 months ago.”

Government plans to introduce new “move on” orders were “distressing”, she said.

The planned new powers give police the ability to move people who are rough sleeping or begging away from the area for 24 hours, with a breach risking a maximum $2000 fine or up to three months’ imprisonment.

She said the scheme “made no sense” as accessing immediate housing – such as emergency housing – to avoid sleeping on the street, and becoming the subject of a move on order, was harder with tighter criteria.

“Not only does it make no sense to me, but it is actually very distressing,” she said.

“We have had a change to the gateway to emergency housing.

“What we experienced was an increase in unmet need and then a growth in rough sleeping – the introduction of the move on orders, actually if we didn’t have the change to the eligibility criteria [for emergency housing] – that would go a long way to not needing [the move on orders].”

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said the “move on orders” were about “reclaiming our streets and our city centres for the enjoyment of everybody who visits, works and lives there”.

“Every situation will be different. Some people may require support services, some may not. Police have the expertise to assess and determine what support is required, if any,” he said.

“I would note the Government recently announced an additional $14.5 million support for rough sleepers.”

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.