Homelessness growing under National – Labour

“The Salvation Army State of the Nation 2025 report shows Labour was making good progress in public housing, but that it has ground to a halt under this Government,” Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said.

“The Salvation Army today gave the example of a pregnant woman who sleeps not in a social house or in emergency housing, but in the doorway of the Salvation Army’s Rotorua base – that is a damning indictment of this Government’s housing policies.

“Chris Bishop promised to ‘build enough state and social houses so that there is no social housing waitlist’. Tama Potaka promised to ‘build more social houses than the Labour Government’.

Nicola Willis signed a pledge to increase the number of state houses in Auckland by 1000 a year, which the Prime Minister wrongly said was on track today.

“According to a Letter of Expectation the Housing Minister and Finance Minister sent in August last year, Auckland will lose a net 199 homes in the year to June 2026.

“It is now clear these promises were never intended to be kept. They’re all full of it.

“The Wellington City Mission says this is the worst they have seen things in living memory.

“Frontline providers say people in genuine need are being prevented from accessing Emergency Housing, just to make the numbers look good.

“To make things worse, we have today learnt the Government has cancelled transitional housing contracts, with no additional funding post June 2025. Ten families in Upper Hutt will soon have nowhere to live.

“It is heartless and cruel for Bishop and Potaka to crow about the money they have saved from their changes to Emergency Housing when pregnant women and families are living on the street.

“This isn’t just about those people who are directly affected. When homelessness goes up the whole country suffers – there is more demand on health services, people are forced into unsafe situations, and kids struggle to learn in school,” Kieran McAnulty said.