Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins says he will scrap the Ministry of Social Development targets which had come to light over the weekend – labelling them "morally and ethically bankrupt".
On Sunday, Q+A reported MSD managers were being individually assessed on whether they keep the emergency housing numbers under the Government's targets.
Managers were also being told they could face consequences if their performance across the KPIs did not meet expectations, according to internal documentation released under the Official Information Act.
It was also reported Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka – who held responsibility for emergency housing – was not comfortable with the targets, and said they "would be something that I’d ask the chief executive at MSD about".
Speaking to Breakfast today, Hipkins said should Labour be elected, the party would put in a place a "fit for purpose" system.
"The current targets are not fit for purpose. So, absolutely, we will not be going ahead with what the current Government are doing."
On Sunday, Q+A reported MSD managers were being individually assessed on whether they keep emergency housing numbers under the Government's targets. (Source: Breakfast)
"People shouldn’t be denied the support that they need and that they are entitled to and that they meet the criteria for, just because the Government set a target and now MSD are incentivising or disincentivising their staff with particular performance measures.
"The reality is, the job of MSD is to give people the support that they’re entitled to, the support that they need. If they meet the criteria, they should get it."
Hipkins also criticised the Government's move-on orders legislation, calling it an "out of sight out of mind" approach to homelessness – but stopped short of suggesting a Labour led government would scrap it entirely.
Instead, Hipkins took issue with the criminalisation aspect of the policy.
"I can understand why people are concerned about anti-social and violent behaviour and they do want to see something done about that, but I’m totally opposed to criminalising homelessness. The move on orders do a number of things, the criminalisation of homelessness is one that I will never support."
'Emergency housing support is available' – Bishop
Speaking at a post-Cabinet press conference yesterday, Housing Minister Chris Bishop said he wasn't aware of the specific instance with MSD, as Potaka "is in charge of emergency housing".
However, Bishop said: "We have made it really clear to MSD what the expectations are."
"The expectation is that those who need emergency housing support get it, and people do get it. Despite the fact some people say the system has been abolished, it hasn’t. There is emergency housing support available."
Bishop added it had also been made clear to MSD if frontline staff can find alternative support, "they should do that".
"That might for example be transitional housing, it might be social housing, it might be private rentals with some additional support offered by MSD to help them with their bond payments for example, because getting a bond payment together and getting a tenancy that is sustainable can be an issue and MSD has a variety of programmes that they work with people on."
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