Government can't guarantee a bed for everyone living on the street — weeks before police get new move-on powers
The government department in charge of helping people who sleep rough on the streets has told RNZ it cannot guarantee there will be shelter for everyone who needs it, everywhere. This comes just weeks before the government plans to give police new powers to order rough sleepers to move on. RNZ
The department, called the Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport (MCERT), said whether someone can get a bed depends on their situation, where they are, and what services and rooms are free at the time. That directly contradicts what Minister Paul Goldsmith said on TVNZ's Q+A — that there were "resources available and places available for people 24/7." Goldsmith is the minister in charge of the new move-on powers. RNZ
Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson said she had never heard the government formally admit this gap before. She said she was "deeply distressed" and called for change. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon separately admitted he did not know Auckland had no night shelter for people sleeping rough. Luxon has said he is "comfortable" with the move-on legislation. RNZ; RNZ Facebook
Under the new law, police could order someone as young as 14 to move somewhere else if they were being disorderly, begging, or sleeping rough. If they refused, they could face a fine of up to NZ$2,000 or even jail. RNZ; The Conversation
The government's main way of providing immediate shelter is through emergency housing grants. These were introduced in 2016 and pay for short-term stays, mostly in motels. Housing Minister Chris Bishop said in July that emergency housing still existed because there will always be people facing genuine housing crises. RNZ; HUD
MSD, the agency that handles welfare, has changed how it measures success with emergency housing. Instead of focusing on reducing the number of people in emergency housing, it now talks about achieving "sustainable housing." That raises the question of what happens to people for whom a stable, long-term home is not available right away. RNZ
This is not the first time the question has come up in Parliament. On 9 December 2025, MP Chlöe Swarbrick asked during a debate whether the minister could guarantee that every rough sleeper could access emergency housing or support. It now appears that question has been answered by officials, not ministers. Hansard
The government's own Emergency Housing System Review previously stated that people who cannot get housing through other means should not be made worse off, such as by ending up sleeping rough or without shelter. A 2018-2019 report from HUD recorded 1,400 people sleeping rough and noted just 45 night shelter places. The ministry uses a broad definition of homelessness, which includes rough sleeping, people in emergency or temporary accommodation, and people living in overcrowded homes. HUD; HUD Annual Report; HUD
During the COVID-19 response in April 2020, the government placed more than 1,000 rough sleepers in motels and connected them with social services. It was an All of Government effort that showed the system could move quickly when there was political pressure to act. More recently, on 2 April 2026, Parliament debated a bill on alcohol laws that touched on connecting rough sleepers to services and helping households coming out of rough sleeping through outreach and housing assistance. Beehive; Hansard
The core problem is simple. The government is about to give police the power to move people off the streets for rough sleeping, while the department in charge of that work has formally admitted it cannot guarantee those people will have somewhere to go. Goldsmith's claim of 24/7 availability and MCERT's more cautious statement cannot both be right. Robinson's point that this was the first formal acknowledgement of the gap suggests the contradiction has been managed by not talking about it, rather than by fixing it. The risk is that move-on orders, used when shelter shortages have been acknowledged, create exactly the outcome the government's own review said should not happen: people left worse off, sleeping rough or without any shelter at all.
