The Ministry of Social Development (MSD)'s boss is defending linking staff performance with cutting emergency housing numbers, saying it's executing the government's policy.
By Lauren Crimp of RNZ
The coalition has set out to largely get rid of emergency housing, with ministers repeatedly saying squalid motels are no place for people to live.
As part of that effort it put up a target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing by 75% by the end of 2029 - which was achieved last year - and introduced rules making emergency housing harder to get into, and harder to stay in.
On Sunday TVNZ's Q+A revealed MSD managers have performance measures related to reducing emergency housing numbers, which the Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson labelled a perverse incentive to decline people help.
Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka said it was up to MSD's chief executive Debbie Power how she managed staff performance.
In a sit-down interview with RNZ on Thursday, Power said the ministry was implementing the government's policy.
"These ... are targets that the government has given us to achieve, and so, of course they are part of our performance suite of what we're expecting our staff to achieve," she said.
She was adamant that if anyone sought emergency housing, and were eligible, they would be granted it.
"Performance measures just ensure that people understand what is required from a system point of view," Power said.
"The government set us a target to reduce the number of people in emergency housing."
That target was met last year.
MSD's latest figures showed there were 471 households in emergency housing in May this year - and that number has remained largely static since the end of 2024.
The big drop off happened in 2024: the year began with 2880 households in January, and ended with 498 in December.
"We still need to administer the policy, though, in ensuring that emergency housing is available for those who meet the criteria, and that's what we will continue to do," Power said.
The performance measures were not an incentive to decline people emergency housing, she said.
"We accept our staff making these decisions are really important decisions for people who come in.
"That's part of the reason why every decline is reviewed by a manager to make sure we're making good decisions against the policy, because that's our job."
An MSD document outlining the performance measures indicated staff would keep emergency housing numbers steady.
It said all but two regions had achieved their emergency housing reduction targets.
"Due to this, all regions now have a flat 2029 target," it said.
"Regions who have met this should aim to maintain levels at or below target, while regions who haven't should continue to trend down over time toward their 2029 target."
'We will do everything we can'
There has been much debate about whether toughening up emergency housing eligibility criteria has left more people sleeping rough.
When the changes were proposed, MSD officials advised ministers they risked making more people homeless.
Frontline organisations say that's exactly what's happened.
Ministers have said a correlation cannot be drawn. However, they have responded: first, in September with an extra 300 Housing First places (funding for a person to be housed) plus $10 million for organisations supporting rough sleepers, and again last month with another $14.5m for those groups.
RNZ asked Power whether MSD had a responsibility to address the number of rough sleepers, given her staff were making decisions about granting - or declining - emergency housing.
Power said MSD was doing all it could to help people, within the set criteria.
Of the roughly 35% of people who were declined emergency housing, about 70% were offered other support, like transitional housing or help paying rent arrears or bond for a private rental, Power said.
The rest were not eligible.
"We will do everything we can for people who do not meet the criteria to assess whether they are entitled to any other form of assistance, and that's all we can do," she said.
Power used an example of someone who might apply for emergency housing because they had been given a 90-day notice that their tenancy was ending.
"We might be able to go back and negotiate what's happened with the landlord.
"We might say to them, actually, we can't grant you emergency housing now, because you've still got three months left on your tenancy, but what else can we do to avoid the need for you to be in emergency housing?"
Minister's comments a 'cop out' - Labour
Labour's housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said it was obvious MSD was just doing what the government tasked it with.
"It's an absolute cop-out for the minister to be arrogantly dismissing genuine questions as to why this is, trying to put it onto the ministry, when at the end of the day they are doing what they've been instructed to by the government."
McAnulty said MSD would be helping more people if the government's parameters allowed for that.
"They used to be different, when somebody presented with need, they were found a place to stay.
"Now they've instructed MSD to actively avoid at all costs, it seems, putting people into emergency accommodation to the extent where they are now asked to judge people's circumstances, and if they are deemed to in any way have contributed to their circumstances, then they don't qualify."
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