Labour leader Chris Hipkins has promised to scrap the emergency housing target, and “abolish the criminalisation of homelessness” if Labour wins the election. TVNZ’s Q+A on Sunday revealed Ministry of Social Development managers were being individually rated on whether they were keeping emergency housing numbers below the government’s targets and Auckland’s city mission said it was a “perverse incentive” aimed at keeping people out of emergency housing. Speaking to RNZ’s Morning Report in his usual Tuesday interview, Hipkins said it was a “giant leap backwards”
for the ministry, and homelessness was not going to be solved by denying people support. “I remember back in the work and income days when case managers were given incentives and performance management to stop people getting benefits, even if they were entitled to them,” he said. “A lot of work was done, particularly under Labour governments – under the Helen Clark government, and then again under our government – to create a culture within MSD where people get the support that they need.” He
said he would scrap the target. “Yes, absolutely. I want to see fewer people in emergency housing, but you deal with that by dealing with homelessness, you deal with that by building more state houses, you deal with that by providing people with stable long-term accommodation. “I’m not saying we don’t want to reduce people in emergency housing, of course we do, but the way they’re doing it is just so wrong. They’re pushing people out onto the streets.” And while he stopped short of
scrapping the government’s move-on orders, Hipkins did promise to stop the “criminalisation” of homelessness under that legislation. Now at select committee, the bill would give police the power to order people as young as 14 to move elsewhere or face a possible jail sentence if they were being disorderly, begging, rough sleeping or attempting to inhabit a public place. Hipkins said he recognised antisocial or violent behaviour should be taken seriously. “But criminalising people for rough sleeping is something that is absolutely abhorrent, we’ve got
to do more to support people into sustainable accommodation, and making them criminals isn’t going to do that.” “We certainly would abolish the criminalisation of homelessness.” He said Labour was still working out the best approach, but the move-on orders in their current form would not remain if the party won government at the election. “I recognise with the move-on orders that there is a number of things that the government is trying to achieve here, some of which we do support. “Issues around antisocial
behaviour, violent behaviour, things that are disrupting people going about their everyday lives in our cities, those are issues that we should take seriously. “The police already have a number of the powers to move on the antisocial behaviour that everybody is concerned about. Criminalising people for being homeless, though, is not something that I’m willing to stand beside and allow to happen.” He also pushed back against criticism of Labour for failing to fully implement any of the recommendations from the Welfare Expert Advisory
Group (WEAG) the Ardern government set up in 2018. “We made a number of decisions, a number of changes,” he said. “Introducing the best start payment lifted a lot of children out of poverty. Changing the way benefits are calculated lifted a lot of children out of poverty. Was there work to be done? Of course, there was still more work to be done.” Asked the reason the last government did not implement the recommendations, he said the global pandemic led to a spike in
inflation the world over which led to the cost of living crisis and impacted on child poverty statistics. “So, there was certainly more work to be done, and there’s more work to be done now.” Campbell asked with none of the 42 recommendations fully implemented whether it was fair to ask how hard Labour was trying, which Hipkins dismissed as a “romantic flourish”. He said Labour governments through history had always tackled problems like child poverty, and while he did not commit to enacting all
the recommendations, he did say the party would “certainly be drawing on the WEAG’s recommendations as we formulate the policy that we’re going to be campaigning on”. Defending his policies including a weekly cap on public transport costs, Hipkins said Labour was focused on the things the government could make a difference in to tackle the cost of living crisis, including some things that could be done in the short term to provide some relief. Three free doctor’s visits would only save up to about
$300 a year, and only between 6 percent and 20 percent of New Zealanders use public transport regularly. “Every little bit matters,” Hipkins said. “Not everybody is going to benefit from every policy that we put out through the election campaign . no political party can make that promise but I assure every New Zealander that we have thought very carefully about how we can actually make a difference for as many people as possible because it is very very tough out there at the
moment.”
Chris Hipkins, Labour, emergency housing target, Ministry of Social Development, homelessness, criminalisation of homelessness, move-on orders, police power, rough sleeping, Auckland City Mission, Welfare Expert Advisory Group, WEAG, best start payment, cost of living crisis, public transport cap