Homelessness And Basic Income – Basic Income New Zealand
“With the increasing homelessness in Auckland and other city centres to which the Government is responding with draconian ‘moving on’ measures, the time for a Basic Income is now,” says Bella Moke, Chairperson of Te Utu Hei Tika Oranga I Aotearoa – Basic Income New Zealand.
Guy Standing, co-founder of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) says: “A good society needs people to have empathy, a capacity to project oneself into another’s situation.” We can ask a question along with Guy: “Why should people with particular skills – always accepting they are skills – live a vastly better economic life than others who have different skills?”
Homelessness reflects social and economic inequality rather than personal failure.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms in Article 25 that:
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”
Everyone, includes the homeless. In a TED talk in 2018 Rutger Bregman said that: “Poverty is not a lack of character – it’s a lack of cash.”
Some attitudes toward poverty still reflect ideas from the 1834 Victorian Poor Laws, which incorrectly linked poverty to individual character and irresponsibility, rather than financial circumstances. This has wrongly encouraged the idea that people who are poor or homeless are responsible for their situation.”
There are studies of cash transfer programmes and Basic Income trials where it is shown that the participants use the money received for food, clothing, shelter and medicine. Multiple studies consistently show that participants use the funds responsibly to meet basic needs.
In October 2025, the University of Southern California published a study Miracle Money: California, showing that a Basic Income helped participants meet basic needs and move out of homelessness.
In New Zealand, political parties such as the Green Party and The Opportunities Party have developed Basic Income policies. We encourage all political Parties to adopt a Basic Income as a practical response to homelessness and income insecurity.
References
1. The Precariat (2011) Guy Standing
2. TED talk Rutger Bregman https://www.ted.com/talks/rutger_bregman_poverty_isn_t_a_lack_of_character_it_s_a_lack_of_cash
3. University of Southern California ‘Miracle Money California’ Guaranteed income study finds meaningful results for people experiencing homelessness in ‘cash plus’ approach | USC Social Work
